CIY X77 Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard/RGB Gaming Keyboard/USB C/Anti Ghosting/N-Key Rollover/Compact Layout 87 Key/Detachable Magnetic Upper Cover/Wired Keyboard for Mac Windows

Absolutely love this keyboard! It’s stunning, and the price makes it even better! There are so many bright colorways to choose from with different animations. Works great with my iMac, it’s sturdy and is the perfect weight where it won’t slide on my desk mat.

I’m an old school mechanical keyboard user. Like, I was around back in the day when IBM Model M and Leading Edge keyboards were the norm, not the exception. Also, they cost a few hundred dollars, adjusted for inflation.The CIY isn’t a tank you can use to beat off home intruders. However, it’s surprisingly solid for the money. Heavier than a full size membrane. It doesn’t look tacky or gaudy. I like the removable frame feature. I found replacement frames in different colors on a prominent “buy cheap stuff from across the Pacific” site. Stabilizer keys (space, return, shift) have zero rattle. Like, none. The best of any Cherry MX-based keyboard I own.I got the version with blue switches. I like clicky switches, and the stock blues are perfectly fine; no worse than plain Cherry blues. Unmodded, the board can sound a bit hollow when typing, and the blues could be a nuisance in an office setting.Probably like most people who bought this keyboard, I made some mods. Tactile switches (cheap Ajazz blue something), Akko PBT keycaps (the ABS keycaps that come with the keyboard are about what you’d expect for a US$40 keyboard), and a thin layer (1/4” or 6 mm) of foam liner inside. No switch or stabilizer lubing, no tape, nothing else. Post-mod, the result is a really pleasant medium-pitch thocky sound when typing, with no hollowness. It’s quiet enough to use in an open office or cubicle without bothering anybody, too.I turned off the KeWL xTREeM GaMeR lighting. For what it’s worth, lighting is full RGB; not a fixed rainbow pattern. (I think the Ajazz version of this keyboard has the fixed rainbow LEDs.) I don’t use the driver software.At work, I use the keyboard with a Windows-based PC. It works fine with my MacBook Pro M1, too.I bought this keyboard to make use of some spare parts I had lying around, but I actually use it full time at work now; it’s that good. My work endgame is a Keychron Q-something, but for now, the modded CIY more than meets my needs.

The media could not be loaded. For the price, this keyboard is rock solid. I'll be going over every nook and cranny in depth.Keycaps: They're not bad. The legends are uniform, there's no excess plastic around the edges, but they can get a bit cluttered on the keys with FN layers to them. The layout is standard, so you can change these all day, every day.Stabilizers: These are a lot better than I thought they'd be. They're mounted on the PCB, so you'll need to disassemble the entire thing to get to them, but there's minimal rattle compared to other boards at this price and well above it. You won't find much better in a prebuilt.Switches: I got a board with red switches, and I'll admit they're pretty scratchy with some ping out of the box. as shown in the video, I lubed them up with some Tribosys 3204, and they hold up WELL. I intended to swap these switches out, but I'm just lubing them all and leaving them in.Everything else: The case does sound a bit hollow, but that's easily remedied with some cheap foam. Something that genuinely surprised me is the tolerances on the hotswap sockets. I've had issues with other boards where switches would get pulled when pulling keycaps, but I didn't have that issue once pulling them all off. 10/10 on that. The top section of the case that's advertised as easy to remove is held on by magnets, and it gets pulled off with no issue. I'm definitely going to be painting this one, just because it'll be easy. It has two stages of flippable feet, so you have some options in typing angles.The only single issue I've had is that my custom cables don't fit, since there's a pretty small ring around the USB-C connection on the board. I might be able to Dremel that off to change that.Overall, I'm verrrrry pleased for the price. I'd recommend this to anyone looking to get into the keyboard game on a budget, since the stabs feel good, and there's plenty of modding capability with the board.