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Drop + MiTo Laser ALT High-Profile Keyboard

Drop + MiTo Laser ALT High-Profile Keyboard

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Product Description
Our five-star ALT High-Profile keyboard just got a makeover straight out of the ‘80s. This version kicks it up a notch with a purple aluminum case and MiTo’s signature SA Laser keycaps.

Customer Reviews

4.2
(131 reviews)
5star
(58)
4star
(54)
3star
(9)
2star
(4)
1star
(6)
88% would recommend to a friend
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Fabulous!
Holy shit I’m happy with this set up. Damn.
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Recommends this product? Yes
rowiethat looks awesome!
kuok
59
Jul 16, 2020
rowieOh man that looks so good
knispo
16
May 6, 2020
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Long wait, but well worth it!
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Great craftsmanship and can't think of many cons for this keeb. The waiting was the worst part, but it's here now! Thanks again!
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
index.html
82
May 23, 2020
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Fantastic keyboard with some flaws
This is the first time using a 65% keyboard so I used it for a week before deciding to write a review about it. I'll start with the purchasing experience. I missed the first time when the group buy was posted last year. I've been kicking myself for not getting in on it and second chances don't come easily in mechanical keyboard group buys. So when it was posted for sale back in April, I immediately jumped on it. There were shipping delays due to the manufacturer having forgotten to include the deep dish F and J keys. It's disappointing but really not the end of the world. It's something you'll have to get used to in group buys. Once out of the packaging, this keyboard is a stunner. I'm gonna get the color thing out of the way since I know other reviews here talk about the color being lighter than the renders. Personally, I don't mind the lighter purple because it adds a nice contrast to the deep purple in the keycaps. It's unfortunate that the renders made it seem like the anodized finish was much deeper than it actually is. You had to look at 3rd or 4th picture in the product page to see even a hint of lighter anodization. I'm glad Drop at least updated the product photos now so people who haven't purchased it yet aren't misled into thinking this is a deeper purple. However, anodized aluminum looks very different depending on the lighting you have set up. The anodized finish soaks up the surrounding lighting color. If you have a sunlight, or a daylight white desklamp shining directly on the keyboard, yes, the case will be light lavender purple. But if you have a colored lighting setup, this keyboard will look very different depending on your lighting setup. This is what it looks like in neutral white shining directly on the keyboard (directly from an iPhone camera with no post processing):
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And here's what it looks like with more of an "Outrun" color scheme lighting:
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Holding this keyboard in my hands, it is as heavy as much as it is THICC. I've had full size mechanical keyboards in the past and this 65% outweighs them. It has a low center of gravity being milled from a solid block of aluminum with a bias towards a heavy bottom piece. This keyboard comes in at almost 3 lbs (1.3 kg). Once you plop it down on your desk, it's not going anywhere. I ordered this keyboard with the Kailh Box White switches since I prefer clicky switches. I daily drove a Matias Tactile Pro keyboard which uses ALPS SKBM white clone switches before getting this keyboard. And I can say with confidence that the Box Whites feel like garbage compared to the Matias switches. I immediately swapped these out for NK_ Sherbets from NovelKeys. If you like clicky switches like myself, you're probably better off swapping these out for the Sherbets, Box Jades/Navy. My wife also agrees that the difference between the Box Whites and the Sherbets are night and day and feel much better. While we're on this topic, the switch puller that comes with this keyboard WILL scratch the anodization finish on the plate if you're not careful. Do yourself a favor and buy a proper switch puller instead of damaging your expensive keyboard. While we're on the topic of key feel, I would like to address the stabilizers. These are absolutely horrendous. The rattle on these stabilizers was so bad that within the first day of using it, I took them out and lubed them with Krytox 205g0. Even after lubing them, these are still terrible! I'm pretty disappointed that a keyboard that's almost $400 can come with such craptaculous stabilizers. After using this keyboard for a week, I broke down and bought an authentic Cherry plate mount stabilizers from ZealPC because I can't even. I hope Drop sources the stabilizers from a different manufacturer for subsequent revisions because this is really unacceptable. On to the keycaps. What can I say, I fell in love with them ever since I first saw the renders. The color of the keycap matches the Outrun theme of my VS Code text editor perfectly:
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Disclaimer: I'm a software engineer by trade and I type 8-10 hours a day for a living. This is my first time trying out the SA keycap profile. First the goods: I like the concave curvature that cradles my finger tips. This is one of the thickest keycap profiles you can get so the sound profile is definitely more bassy with a satisfying thock paired with my Sherbet switches. And I'm glad they sent out the deep dish F and J keys because without it, it's pretty hard to touch type since there's no way of knowing where your hands are positioned. I only wish they included another deep dish F and J keys for the extra keycaps I purchased with it. The downside of this keycap profile is that it's very thick. I don't know if this was the right keycap choice for the High Profile ALT because the case itself is already very thick to start with. Paired with the SA profile keycaps, this combination WILL DEFINITELY tire out your wrists more quickly and is an ergonomic hazard if you don't take frequent breaks and adjust your wrist angle. If Drop does a re-run of GMK version of these keycaps, I'll definitely try them on and let y'all know if the typing experience is better. That being said, the 65% form factor is better ergonomically for mice usage since you don't have to move your arm further out to the right to use it. The included keycap puller comes with a screw driver. I appreciate the clever design:
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However, this keycap puller is too narrow for SA profile keycaps. This makes it awkward to pull the keycaps since you'll have to turn and align the puller diagonally to pull out the keycaps:
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The metal wire is also much thinner than other keycap pullers. Here's a comparison with a keycap puller from WASD Keyboards:
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This keyboard is QMK compatible which is a huge plus. If you're just starting out or have no experience with writing custom QMK firmware, you can use the Keyboard Configurator webpage on the product description. However, it's pretty limited and you'll also have limited RGB lighting options (more on that later). In my case, I write code day in and day out which means I use the GRAVE/TILDE (`/~) characters a ton. So in the default layout configuration, it was crazy annoying whenever I try to change to a subdirectory under the home directory by typing cd ~/projects but end up typing cd /projects because the SHIFT+ESCAPE results in an empty character. But I also use VIM text editor in the command line which requires frequent use of ESCAPE key. To make typists day a lot easier, the QMK firmware comes with a GESCAPE keycode which basically converts SHIFT+ESCAPE into a TILDE (~) character, WIN/CMD+ESCAPE into a GRAVE (`) character. The downside is that this is missing in Drop's Keyboard Configurator! You have to download and set up QMK toolchain on your computer which can be daunting if you're diving into custom mechanical keyboard firmware for the first time or not a software/firmware engineer (it was definitely daunting for me for the first time to be completely honest). I hope Drop updates the Keyboard Configurator in the future so this part is more accessible for more casual users. While we're on the topic of QMK firmware, I want to talk about RGB lighting. Considering this is a limited run of the High Profile ALT, I really wish Drop paid attention to finer details like a custom RGB lighting that suits the color scheme of the keyboard. How much cooler it would've been if they used an outrun themed color rainbow in the firmware that shipped with the keyboard instead of the default rainbow pattern in the vanilla ALT. If you want to come up with a custom lighting animation using Drop's Keyboard Configurator, you're fresh out of luck since the lighting options are really handicapped. This leaves writing custom QMK firmware the only option for a lighting scheme you want. This is a huge usability oversight on Drop's part and something that should be remedied in the future considering this keyboard is a starter mechanical keyboard for many. If you have the means to write a custom firmware and flash it, I highly recommend it because you can get lighting effects that fit the theme of this keyboard better:
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In conclusion, this is not a perfect mechanical keyboard. It's definitely not an endgame out of the box in stock form. And that's okay! The whole appeal of this keyboard is that it makes it super easy to swap out the components to make it your own. Don't like the high profile SA keycaps? Switch it out for GMK or DSA keycaps. Don't like the RGB lighting? Flash it with your own firmware. Don't like the stock switches? Get switches that matches your tactile and sound preference! Once tailored to individuals' subjective preferences, I feel like this keyboard will be endgame worthy for vast majority of users. For others, it's a great gateway drug to the world of custom mechanical keyboards. After all, at $380 price point, once you add the stablizers ($25 from ZealPC), aftermarket switches ($70-$150), lubes ($15-$30), custom keycaps ($100+), custom cables ($50), etc. you're entering the price territory of mid-tier custom keyboards. So if you're on the fence, I highly recommend that you pick up one of these! EDIT1: Fix spelling and grammar mistakes EDIT2: Looks like MiTo is doing a round 2 for the GMK version of these keycaps. So if you don't like SA keycaps, I'd buy this keyboard in barebones form and wait for these to drop. Also in the interest check form it also looks like he's introducing a Laser65 keyboard with the darker electric purple everyone wanted in the first place. For those who want those color options instead, you should check here and decide if this case color is more for you and join the waitlist.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
sorcerersupreme
9
Jun 4, 2020
index.htmlThanks for the detailed review. What are those desktop speakers?
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82
Jun 4, 2020
sorcerersupremeThey're Bose Companion 3 Series II speakers.
Forbiess
38
May 30, 2020
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Great if you're willing to make it better.
Out of the box I didn't even type on this keyboard. I've seen the reviews. The Stabilizers are awful, and who wants to type on unlubed switches? I went ahead and took the halo true's apart, and put the stem inside of NK Creams, Effectively making "Paco's". Lubed with 205g0 aswell. I then took the stabs apart, did the typical clip (no bandaid mod) and lubed with 205g0/105gpl and the end result when finally put back together is an amazing sounding board, that feels solid and looks hot af. the SA Lasers are a really nice addition, but I think i'll be buying GMK Laser R2 here soon, 'cause like everybody else here: We want Japanese Gaijin keycaps.
Recommends this product? Yes
badaim
37
Apr 24, 2020
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Terrible Color
Not the color that was in the picture at ALL
Recommends this product? No
wynkenblynken
12
Jun 9, 2020
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Nice board, but a missing keycap and terrible customer service
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Long story, but it needs to be posted. So I picked up this board on the extras sale. Arrived two weeks ago, everything seemed to work great. The stock stabilizers are garbage but I replaced them with Cherry plate-mount stabs that I clipped and lubed with 205g0. Much better. Mounted it with 67g Zealios V2 switches for what i thought would be a beautiful all-purple board. And it is beautiful, but sadly the board I received was not in the condition I hoped it would be. As I was putting the keycaps on, I realized that the down arrow keycap was missing. They came in a plastic bag and it was nowhere to be found. No biggie, I’ll contact support about it. Two weeks went by before I got a response, and the response was basically “sorry! But we can’t help you. Instead you can have a small store credit, a small partial refund, or send it all back and get a full refund.” After some back and forth, including me offering to send the keycaps back in exchange for a replacement set, they would not budge. First they said there were no single keycap replacements, then they said there were, but not of the keycap I needed. So the story is changing. This is still ongoing, but I’m writing this review because I am fairly certain I will be canceling the rest of my orders with Drop and looking elsewhere to obtain what products I can. Long story short, I received an incomplete keycap set and I am very unhappy with the way the situation was handled.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? No
b0gl
8
May 22, 2020
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Color is not accurate.
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I was expecting a darker purple color but it looks more like a light pink color in real life. Kinda dissapointed about that. The build quality of the case is solid though. Sadly my keyboard arrived with one dead switch. Not a big deal since it is hot swappable, but after waiting a year I was expecting more to be honest. It seems like they updated the pictures with some that are closer to what it looks like in real life. Good job.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? No
Jiii
8
May 17, 2020
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It’s nothing like the pictures
It’s lavender not dark purple :’(
Recommends this product? No
Jiii
8
May 20, 2020
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Squirly
38
May 20, 2020
JiiiWow. Thanks for the images. Now it looks a lot darker than the renders. Less distinction between keycaps and frame. Or is that just the purple reflecting off the keys and onto the case?
lukelight27
129
May 21, 2020
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Build quality nice, color not so nice
Look, the renders that are on the product page are significantly darker than was delivered. That being said, the build quality is still nice and a lot more hefty than the original ALT. I know I'm not the only one who was a little dissatisfied with the shade of purple. I mean, at just the right angle it looks fine but it is a very light shade of purple in comparison. When aesthetics are a pretty large facet of this hobby, I feel like 2 stars sounds fair for the extensive wait, the wrong color, but a nice board in the end EDIT: it seems that they have updated the photos with an actual photo of what the "purple" looks like
(Edited)
Recommends this product? No
Jlogan
38
Apr 26, 2020
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Color is off from picture
Recommends this product? Yes
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