JYMV

The Techne

 Let’s get into it. The NK65 ships in a plain box in which lies The carrying case. This case, while not incredible, seems adequate. It’s rigid enough to probably provide a good amount of protection

 But my point stands for the bottom. Screws. The plate and the PCB are connected to each other by two screws.

. I think this keyboard is about the quality you’d expect from the $ 95 price tag.. There are certain qualities that show some enthusiast attention, but if you start to detach it from it’s community origin, you can see it for what it really is

. As always, I purchased this with my own money and to the best of my knowledge, Novelkeys had no way to connect my order to the channel.. Let me say right off the bat that this is definitely worth getting over the previous meta like the GK64, but if you’re paying even a single dollar over MSRP, you will have played yourself

NK65 Entry Edition Review - It's a Good Prebuilt

The NK65 Entry Edition was the first such
keyboard to come from an enthusiast vendor,

and it’s been the choice of many looking
to get into the hobby.

In its early days it had some issues keeping
in stock but as that normalized, I was able

As always, I purchased this with my own money,
and to the best of my knowledge, Novelkeys

had no way to connect my order to the channel.

Let me say right off the bat that this is
definitely worth getting over the previous

meta like the GK64, but if you’re paying
even a single dollar over MSRP, you will have

The NK65 ships in a plain box in which lies
the carrying case.

This case, while not incredible, seems adequate.

It’s rigid enough to probably provide a
good amount of protection.

It seems alright and if you’re into just
laying your coil right above your board like

some kind of crazy person, it's appropriately
shaped for that.

I'm happy that these two accessories feel
pretty solid.

It does make you think about customs that
cost five times as much shipping in haphazardly

The overall shape of the NK65 is a wedge.

It’s got pretty thin bezels and has visible
internal marks if you got one of the translucent

On the right side are three holes for LEDs
that activate on different layers

The black aluminum plate gives the border
a dark outline, and the silicone slab gives

the bottom half a milky look when viewed from
the side.

Looking closely at these sides, you can see
that as the piece moves from the top to the

From a cursory Google search, it seems like
this is called draft and it’s more or less

necessary on injection molded parts to help
with release.

This isn’t really big enough to be noticeable
though.

The rear just has the USB Type-C port located
between the backspace and the plus key.

This is recessed properly and has a tight
cutout as one would expect from an injection

On the bottom is the Novelkeys logo as well
as two long feet.

Overall, this is much more clearly see-through
than the often frosted polycarbonate cases.

This means you can more easily see the screw
threads and various injection molding marks.

When you look up close, there are various
small texture differences as well as some

Getting even closer, you can see some screw
holes looking a little banged up with fracture

We’ll see why this might happen later in
the video.

If I was buying this for myself, I would probably
go for an opaque one because the clear really

brings out all of the things you don’t want
to see in a case -- these random little circles,

extraneous ridges, fractures and the like.

I think milled polycarbonate looks more purposeful
having no marks that are not necessary for

Maybe if there was RGB underglow to accompany
the backlighting, you could take advantage

of the translucency but no such feature exists
on the NK65.

So all in all, nothing special about the design
of the board.

It’s a wedge and it’s seamless which is
a step above the HHKB at the very least, but

Getting into this thing is a little different
from what you may be used to.

You’ll need to undo six screws from the
top under the keycaps, and then sort of wack

Taking a look at this first, you have this
giant slab of silicone that actually contributes

a significant portion of the total weight.

This too appears to be molded in some way
because it has all sorts of intricate holes,

The bottom piece itself is pretty similar
to the stuff I’ve seen on other plastic

prebuilts with these posts but no ribbing.

Even so, it doesn’t seem to flex as much
as I’d expect

On the outside, we see first of the many headscratchers
for the NK65.

You may be looking at these long rubber feet
and thinking about Rama boards, but they're

These strips are raised significantly on the
two ends.

I checked under them to see if something in
the case was pushing them up, but no, these

So my question here is what is even the point
to having long feet if they’re going to

be practically four standard feet anyway?

I can’t comment on the efficacy of four
corner feet versus two long feet, but this

to me just seems like it’s trying to pose
as something it’s not.

Making our way to the top, we can see the
plate mounted at a crazy 12 points.

8 on the long edges and 4 on the short ones.

These screws, much like the plate screws are
not the machine screws we've come to expect

in customs but rather pointy ones with sharp
threads.

These are similar to screws in other prebuilts
which can be forced into holes at odd angles

There are some threads that look damaged already.

I’m not sure if I was the one who cracked
these or if it came like this from the factory

but this doesn’t seem that great for the
board’s longevity.

I would have much preferred to see threaded
inserts here with nicer screws.

To be fair, the way the NK65 is constructed,
you don’t need to undo the plate screws

really ever, but my point stands for the bottom
screws.

The plate and the PCB are connected to each
other by two screws.

These are typically used to provide enough
rigidity to install switches into hotswap

sockets without having to take the board apart.

The installation video linked on the site
shows bracing from underneath anyway and having

just two won’t work well for the top and
bottom rows, so this plays no role in hotswap

capability other than for basic alignment.

I found that the plated PCB hole connects
to the USB shield, which means this aluminum

plate is grounded, likely preventing it from
getting damaged by shocks.

If this is the same solution used in the aluminum
edition, this should also effectively ground

A detail much appreciated from me, and probably
necessary for hitting a larger market who

won’t be so happy to deal with bs issues
that’s been resolved in gaming keyboards

The PCB has per-key RGB as well as correct
facing switches.

 They really are for that price range right. Are they the best keyboards you're gon na find? No? Definitely not, as you see on the bottom, i got a little bit of flex from that case down right there and that's because of that plastic. You know so that's kind of a stinker like if you constantly take this thing apart over and over you're, going to loosen up those slots in there and again you're going to have some of that give, but it does have really nice weight to it. It does feel solid, like i'm happy with my purchase, but again i bring it back there

 Is it the best keyboard? Maybe let's focus on. Is it the best keyboard you're gon na find, for, i believe, with this board being 100 bucks, you can probably get out the door 150, i'd probably say more around 200 after taxes and shipping. So let's look at that. Is it worth 150 to 200

 You got foam underneath foam on the top and everything has. I don't know it just has a little bit of better uh, sound and feel in my opinion and then because i'm sure i would have got asked for it. I brought out my ever so favorite maya pro, and i just i don't know if you guys can go back and listen to that sound test right there. The maya pro is just with that thick thick plastic case right there again, this one being a little bit thinner right here

 Here so again, we're gon na use a red nk 65. Here i got these uh red white with black print uh key caps here from drop they're pbt, but they're really smooth. I'Ve used them on other builds before and actually got another set for the smoke. When it's going to be pretty sweet but uh we're going to be using these, i think what they're called i'll have all the links right down in the description for you and then with the board, i'm going to go with some kale silvers here

NovelKeys NK65

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