Melgeek Pixel Review: Lego First, Keyboard Second
My hobby with mechanical keyboards is all about customization and experimentation. That’s why companies are constantly testing new mount designs that look and feel great. The same goes for Lego, the little plastic building blocks that allow you to bring your ideas to life.
Melgeek Pixel is a combination of both of these worlds. This is a gasket-mounted tenkeyless (TKL) mechanical keyboard, made up almost entirely of Lego-style parts (with the exception of the PCB, switches, etc., of course). The Pixel is a wireless keyboard with both low-latency 2.4GHz and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, available in 3 colors: “Palette” (white base with red, blue and yellow keycaps) and “Christian” (light pink base with pink). Available in two base colors. and gray keycaps), or “Canvas” (white keycaps and a white base with a colorful legend).
of pixel is available now on Kickstarter for a Super Early Bird price of $199, an Early Bird price of $219, and a Kickstarter Special price of $239. The official suggested retail price is $269. Accessories such as extra cables, keycaps, switches, and packs of LEGO bricks are also available for $10-$30.
This might sound like great news for both mechanical keyboard enthusiasts. When Lego lover. Unfortunately, the Pixel isn’t very good at typing. He better spent $200+ on a keyboard. Also Lego, not a gimmick mashup.
Melgeek Pixel Specifications
switch | Kailh Box Red (with yellow upper housing) |
lighting | none |
Onboard storage | none |
media key | With FN |
connectivity | USB Type C to Type A |
cable | 4 feet, rubber |
additional port | 0 |
key cap | Lego style |
software | KB tools |
Dimensions (LxWxH) | 444.5×165.1×25.4mm |
weight | 2.64 pounds |
Melgeek Pixel design
The Melgeek Pixel is a tenkeyless (TKL) gasket-mounted mechanical keyboard, unlike any other keyboard on the market, the exterior consists of Lego-style parts. It comes in three colors, white with red, yellow, and blue keycaps. Pink with pink and gray keycaps. White and white keycaps (with colorful legend). Our review model was the latter, called “Canvas”.
Pixel is inspired by a popular toy company, giving you a big canvas to build any LEGO design you want. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most uncomfortable keyboards I’ve typed on. Not because the keycaps are made out of Lego-style pieces (not bricks, anyway). However, I’ll get to my complaints about the Pixel’s typing experience a little later. The board has many other great features to discuss.
At first, I thought this was just a regular gasket-mounted keyboard with a Lego case, but it wasn’t. Aside from the major mechanical parts such as the hot-swap PCB (which supports 5-pin switches and has a weird gasket-mount design), everything about this keyboard is truly Lego-inspired.
The switchplate is made from the same type of plastic as Lego. The same goes for the power switch, keycaps, and case. Even the 2.4GHz wireless dongle and the keyboard’s USB-C to USB-A cable have Lego-inspired designs.
This plank wouldn’t be a Lego-inspired keyboard without pieces to assemble, right? Melgeek included about 6 colors (65 flat pieces per color) in the board, but the It didn’t quite match the marketing image. For example, many of the pictures show yellow bricks and yellow is not provided. Melgeek offers blue, white, red, orange, green and purple. In addition to this, unfortunately no minifigures were included.
When I removed the keycaps to inspect the switch, I was greeted by a Kailh Box switch featuring a yellow upper housing and a red stem that matched the Lego logo. Thanks to Melgeek for making his Kailh Box switches in custom colors for this board. When you buy a Pixel, you can choose between these custom Kailh Pixel L switches or custom Kailh Pixel T switches. You can also purchase Kailh Box White v2 switches, Gateron Pro Yellow switches, or Gateron Pro Silver switches as add-ons.
Typing and gaming experience with Melgeek Pixel
Pixel uses an unusual gasket mount design. It sits on a rubber dome that looks like a thin membrane switch. It’s hard to explain, but gasket-mounted keyboards aim to provide flexibility with each keystroke and a softer typing feel than standard tray mounts. But typing on this board was frankly terrible.
The board is designed to look like a Lego set, with keycaps that have clear plastic tops on top of Lego-style blocks to maintain that visual. (The plastic tops are removable, allowing you to further customize the keyboard’s design.) The keycaps are flat and wide, with slightly concave tops, but overall too flat for comfort. No. Plus, typing on this super-flat design resulted in a ton of typos because there’s barely any space between the keycaps.
Uncomfortable, flat keycaps were largely responsible for the Pixel’s brutal typing experience, but the flat, wide case didn’t help. Most keyboards on the market are at least somewhat angled. increase. This is what I am used to. However, the Pixel is a flat rectangle and doesn’t support your wrist. I felt like I was putting my wrists on the keyboard like a piano player (and I’m a terrible piano player).
So forget your typing experience on the Pixel. That said, Melgeek has tuned this board to sound much better than most mainstream mechanical his keyboards. The board sounds deeper than average thanks to the Lego plastic construction.
I’ve reviewed quite a few keyboards so far, but the only one I’ve really struggled with typing on is the Ergodox 76 —This makes sense since it is a segmented ortho-linear board. The Pixel may be Lego-inspired, but it’s still a keyboard, and it should be somewhat comfortable to type on, especially for its price.
Gaming on the Pixel was also difficult. I only use W, A, S, and D when playing first person shooters, but I’ve had no problems with any keyboard I’ve used in games so far.I played Call of Duty Modern Warfare (to prepare Modern Warfare 2), and even after 45 minutes of playing, I still couldn’t get used to the Pixel’s flat, closed keycaps. Instead of moving forward with the W key, I accidentally held down the Q key and accidentally threw a stun grenade. I don’t usually get frustrated when playing games, but this board gave me a boost.
Software for Melgeek Pixel
The Melgeek Pixel has more external customizations than any keyboard I’ve used, thanks to its Lego frame. However, the customization inside… doesn’t work. Melgeek’s KBTools software didn’t recognize his Pixel and the software crashed when he clicked on the tab. Since this is a TKL board, it has all the necessary keys (except the number pad), but some configuration would be nice.
As for external customizations, you can bring your Pixel to life on Melgeek’s website.
Not only did I lack the artistic skills to reproduce this, Pokemon The Bobasaurus design — there was no yellow brick either. I’m not very artistic, so I gave the board to my friend John who made the most of the Pixel’s canvas.
Conclusion
The Melgeek Pixel falls short as a keyboard and as a Lego-style set, especially for the price. The Super Early Bird special on Kickstarter is $199 — I know Lego isn’t cheap, but it’s ridiculous. Melgeek should have taken more inspiration from Lego and offered this board in a kit.
I can’t recommend the Melgeek Pixel because it’s a novelty and a keyboard all in one. We’re sure LEGO enthusiasts will love this board as a collector’s piece, but it doesn’t come with the necessary blocks to recreate most of the designs floating around the internet. I assume you have your own blocks and minifigures, so that might not be an issue.
more: best gaming keyboard
more: How to choose keycaps for a mechanical keyboard
more: All Motherboard Content