The Alpaca Pro 2 Keyboard: A Budget-Friendly Option with a Twist

When it comes to budget-friendly keyboards, few options come close to the Alpaca Pro 2. This compact 60-percent keyboard is designed for those who want a lightweight and portable typing experience without breaking the bank. With a price tag of around $80-$90, depending on where you buy it, this keyboard is an attractive option for anyone looking to upgrade their typing game.

One of the standout features of the Alpaca Pro 2 is its wireless design. Unlike some other keyboards on the market, this one offers the flexibility to use it either wirelessly or wired over Bluetooth. This feature alone makes it a compelling option for those who want to be able to type wherever they please. Additionally, the keyboard can connect to up to four devices at once, making it perfect for those who need to switch between multiple devices throughout the day.

Another unique feature of the Alpaca Pro 2 is its ability to include extra colored accent key sets. These colorful key caps are included in the box and can be added or removed as desired, allowing users to customize their keyboard to suit their personal style. The key cap puller that comes with the board also makes it easy to swap out keys and experiment with different designs.

While some may find the lack of flip-out feet on the Alpaca Pro 2's design to be a drawback, this feature actually works in its favor. Without the extra bulk of the feet, the keyboard is incredibly compact and lightweight, making it easy to take on the go. And with the ability to connect to up to four devices at once, users can switch between their laptop, phone, tablet, and PC without needing to constantly plug and unplug cables.

The switches used in the Alpaca Pro 2 are a bit harder to get information about but it appears that they have been swapped out for Browns. The keyboard also comes with some RGB lighting options, although these can be a bit finicky to use at times. Some users may find the flickering effect of the LEDs to be distracting or annoying, while others will appreciate the ability to customize the lighting effects and brightness levels.

In terms of overall performance, the Alpaca Pro 2 is a solid option for those who want a reliable typing experience without breaking the bank. While it may not have all the bells and whistles of some other keyboards on the market, its compact design, wireless connectivity, and customizable key caps make it a compelling choice for anyone looking to upgrade their typing setup.

Top Three Keyboard Favorites

In my opinion, the Alpaca Pro 2 is one of the top three keyboard favorites I've had the chance to try out. While it may not be the most feature-rich keyboard on the market, its compact design and wireless connectivity make it a great option for those who want a portable typing experience.

But what really sets the Alpaca Pro 2 apart from other keyboards is its ability to offer customizable switches and key caps. With the Browns switch swapped out in this particular model, users can expect a smooth and responsive typing experience. And with the extra colored accent key sets included in the box, users can customize their keyboard to suit their personal style.

The GMMK Compact, on the other hand, is a different story altogether. This keyboard is designed for those who want a hot-swappable switch experience without having to spend hundreds of dollars on individual switches. With its compact design and removable plate, users can easily swap out switches and customize their keyboard to suit their needs.

But what really sets the GMMK Compact apart from other keyboards is its ability to offer hot-swappable switches in a variety of options. From Cherry Browns to Outemu Blues, users have access to a wide range of switch options that can be swapped out on the fly. And with the keyboard's compact design and wireless connectivity, it's perfect for those who want a portable typing experience.

The Ducky 1.2 Mini is another top contender in the world of keyboards. This compact keyboard is designed for those who want a lightweight and portable typing experience without breaking the bank. With its compact design and wireless connectivity, users can expect a smooth and responsive typing experience from this keyboard.

But what really sets the Ducky 1.2 Mini apart from other keyboards is its ability to offer customizable key caps and RGB lighting options. With its compact design and removable plate, users can easily swap out switches and customize their keyboard to suit their needs. And with the extra colored accent key sets included in the box, users can add a pop of color to their typing experience.

Overall, each of these keyboards has its own unique features and benefits that make it stand out from the crowd. Whether you're looking for a compact and portable typing experience or a customizable switch setup, there's a keyboard on this list that's sure to meet your needs.

Additional Keyboard Related Content

If you enjoyed this video, be sure to check out my other keyboard-related content in the future. From reviews of new keyboards to tutorials on how to customize your existing setup, I've got you covered. And if you have any questions or comments about the Alpaca Pro 2 or any other keyboard, feel free to reach out and let me know!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's up guys I'm random Frank P and today in this video we're gonna be checking out my top three favorite 60% mechanical keyboards will we take a look at the new white ducky 1/2 mini RGB keyboard the glorious pc gaming race compact or the GMM k compact keyboard this has been a fan favorite lately and then the good ol and pro 2 so all three in the 60% layout again if that's not for you then don't worry about it I know for me personally I'm more of a fan of the 10 keyless sports that's just you know kind of more my style but 60% are very popular because it helps you know cut down the desktop clutter my sand small boards overall and obviously not going to be a review of all three individually more so a quick little run-through highlighting the features of each and what makes them unique and stuff like that so first off we're we taking a look at the ducky one two mini this keyboard right off the bat is just eye candy and since it now comes in this white variant obviously the RGB lights are gonna shine and pop really nicely it's nicely added an all-white variant to the lineup because as you guys saw and I reviewed a few months ago the black ducky one-to-many RGB looks just as nice but now you have the option to pick between the reverse color now one of the things I'm gonna do that customize my unit is I picked up the now very popular putting shine through key caps but in the new white color as well so I can match the whole board and still make that RGB shine even more which is gonna be crazy you guys have seen these before and again the black color I've used them with in a lot of keyboard videos and stuff and we're even got a preview B's in a minute cuz these are actually from glorious the black ones are but the new white ones obviously it has that like the side of it is translucent so it shines through we're just gonna help accentuate everything and obviously I'll put a link for you guys down below if you want to check out the key sets and these keyboards but yeah so the one two mini just looks really nice I'm a fan of the lift edges I haven't really seen this on any other keyboard before you know aside from like custom ones and stuff the top of the case is a matte white with a glossy white finish on the backside they have their branding on the back right quarter of the board and on the left side is the USB C port if we put it over we have to flip out feets you can decide the elevation of the back of the bored you don't see this too often that's definitely a nice touch +4 dip switches this is for swapping things like the window key the function key if you're using this on say like a Mac or something like that it's the e tail in the manual but nothing else two out of the ordinary inside the box along with the key cap puller they include 10 additional PBT key caps of a random color although everyone I've seen who has the white board also got this light like baby blue color and they also said some boards will also have a year the peg spacebar now in my unit I have cherry brown switches but at checkout you can also pick from cherry black blue red silver speed switches and silent red switches to pick from we'll do a sound test of these browns you can hear how they sound now moving on I'm not gonna show you all of the RGB effects because we would be here for hours if I did every one for all three of these keyboards but I'll show you a few and there actually is no software that comes with this board in particular at least not as of like right now everything is done on the board so switching profiles creating and recording macros is all done on board as well as picking between all your RGB lighting effects and navigating through all the RGB effects is by holding function Alt + T you could cycle through the effects there and for certain ones when it wants you to pick a certain color for an effect Z X and C will light up that they can control the individual RGB effects literally the RGB and really pinpoint a color but to make it easier if you just press space then all the keys will light up and you can you just bend pick which color you prefer and then go from there so it is a bit more tedious having to do everything for a macro managing to all the RGB on board as opposed to just having something easy like software so that's kind of a downer but then you factor in this is only a $100 keyboard it's $99 which is extremely budget-friendly for keyboard with all these capabilities and the overall quality then next up is the GMM k compact from glorious so what I love about this keyboard is just how minimal it is it looks really nice and stealthy with that aluminum plate and as you saw from the stock key cap since the plate is black the RGB lights shine decently well but then when you pick up you know the extra set of the aura key caps where it says P bTW once that's when the RGB really comes to life here this key cap set can also be purchased through glorious but for me I think the big selling point of this and where it separates itself from the rest of the keyboards out there is the fact these have hot-swappable switches meaning you can just without soldering your desoldering you just take these switch out of the PCB and then swap it with whatever other switch you want cherry kale gather on that's some customization so in this set here I had the Cherry MX browns but I picked up the kale pro purple switches to swap matte with browns and purples are very similar I think the only real difference here is that the appropriate requirements for swell Browns are 45 but they're both pretty linear inside the box is a key switch puller the whole process is very simple you just press in those pins and easily wiggle it out and then pop a new one in and you're good to go some extra added goodies include their red ascend escape key and a nice glorious bearded man windows key I will say the only thing I'm kind of bummed about is the fact that it is micro USB and not USB type-c but let's be real we'll get over it so the board itself is just $60 nuke event pick from a pack of 120 switches ranging from around 30 to 35 dollars depending on which one you choose or you could skip this and save some money if you already have your own switches then keycaps either $20 for a normal set or 25 for the aura shine through set so you can spend as little as just $60 for the board and then the most expensive this can be is $120 which is still just a crazy good value and then yes of course there is also software for this board it's very easy to use you can go and switch between the three onboard profiles gears you can also go in and really reconfigure each key of what they do from certain macros up you can record and just change what the key is to maybe something like a multimedia control and they sort of the usual functions that you would see from other companies and other software out there you can do here as well and then before enabling the RGB lighting one thing I'm a big fan of that not eat enough companies do is show you real-time the effects in the software so you have that on the keys and there are just tons of different ones to pick through tons of different effects and they gives you the full option to change the speed the directions were some of the effects you could pick the have you know of some of the effects just certain static colors or one color or a toggle the colorful mode to have the 16.8 million RGB effects going on and stuff but yes very easy to use software lots of customization right at your fingertips and like I said I just like that you can see the effects real time like I said before not going to show you each RGB effect individually but you can get a good idea of how it looks especially with this or a key cap set it's gonna add some pop to your desktop but now I'll do a sound test of a kale pro purple switches so again just complete customization here from different key caps to actual key switches you can easily swap out and make your very own keyboard and then we have the and pro 2 keyboard and the big thing about this is not only is it very budget-friendly in between 80 to 90 dollars depending on where you buy it it's also a wireless mechanical keyboard so you can use it wired or wireless over Bluetooth and that could definitely be an appealing feature to certain people taking a look at it the footprint is very very small probably one of the tiniest compact 60-percent keyboards I've seen the frame around the board is just extremely thin and you can get this board also either black or white now one of the things Albin's lab does with the an pro 2 is include extra colored accent key sets we have teal green pink purple and yellow included inside the box you can kind of add them to your keyboard if you want switch it up add a little pop of color here and there you the key cap puller and a red USBC cable kind of an odd color choice because then leave include red key caps but I digress in this board unlike the other 2 does not feature flip-out feet within back to the main feature of this being Wireless obviously that has a disadvantage for some people listen also connect to up to 4 devices at once so say you know a laptop your phone a tablet your PC anything like that switch between all 4 - switch of a button and just right now I'll show you guys I have a connected to my phone hopefully you can kind of see the screen I don't know but it's connected wirelessly and that's one thing that the other two keyboards don't have it's a feature that not a lot of mechanical keyboards out there feature in terms of switches yet again I have gather on Browns in this unit we can also pick these up in different variants from gather around brown blue and red with the cherry equivalent of brown blue and red available as well we'll do the sound test now for the gather on Browns before we wrap it up in terms of RGB lighting it's also controlled on the board itself and you can note the flickering that is not actually on the board it's just with the camera settings and despite me adjusting my shutter speed it did not seem to fix the flickering probably due to the quality of the actual LED lights because you can see they are not nearly as bright as the other two keyboards nor are the colors as is saturated we're using function f9 is how you can toggle between the different lighting effects in the modes as well as the brightnesses with f10 through f12 and yes there's also software for this but you can go in and as you'd expect create the macros switch up all the different keys to be different functions and stuff as well as you know control the RGB lighting and stuff through here software is like a love it or hate it kind of thing I understand where you could obviously take advantage of it to quickly change everything up and have more details right in front of you as opposed to tediously doing it on the board but at the same time it's just another extra step of installing something on your keyboard so yeah all in all it is a pretty solid keyboard for the price out there and a lot of people who are getting into the whole keyboard enthusiast community they start out with an pros because they are so affordable and with it being sixty percent and customizable in the sense you can you know get different switches for it and customize the key cast and stuff to make it your own it's definitely a good starting point but I think out of the three probably one of my least favorites compared to the other two but these are still my top three favor out there on the market so like I said before it's a little overview of my top three favorites out there not an in-depth review but I feel like each one has their own you know kind of think that makes it special and their each time you know features that kind of edge the other ones out there on the market I think you know just taking a quick little recap the ducky 1 2 mini is one of those keyboards that's like the jack-of-all-trades it's good at everything the gmm K compact is great because it has the hot stoppable switches you can really customize the board and the amp pro to and the fact that it's also a wireless mechanical keyboard is pretty awesome as well so hope you guys enjoyed this video I'll put a link for you in the description down below case you want to check any of the three out as well as all the key caps if you like this video you want to see me more do you know other keyboard related stuff in the future let me know by hitting that thumbs up button down below as well as job in a comment feel free to follow me on Twitter at random Frank P last if you haven't already hit that subscribe button well hope y'all enjoyed have a good daywhat's up guys I'm random Frank P and today in this video we're gonna be checking out my top three favorite 60% mechanical keyboards will we take a look at the new white ducky 1/2 mini RGB keyboard the glorious pc gaming race compact or the GMM k compact keyboard this has been a fan favorite lately and then the good ol and pro 2 so all three in the 60% layout again if that's not for you then don't worry about it I know for me personally I'm more of a fan of the 10 keyless sports that's just you know kind of more my style but 60% are very popular because it helps you know cut down the desktop clutter my sand small boards overall and obviously not going to be a review of all three individually more so a quick little run-through highlighting the features of each and what makes them unique and stuff like that so first off we're we taking a look at the ducky one two mini this keyboard right off the bat is just eye candy and since it now comes in this white variant obviously the RGB lights are gonna shine and pop really nicely it's nicely added an all-white variant to the lineup because as you guys saw and I reviewed a few months ago the black ducky one-to-many RGB looks just as nice but now you have the option to pick between the reverse color now one of the things I'm gonna do that customize my unit is I picked up the now very popular putting shine through key caps but in the new white color as well so I can match the whole board and still make that RGB shine even more which is gonna be crazy you guys have seen these before and again the black color I've used them with in a lot of keyboard videos and stuff and we're even got a preview B's in a minute cuz these are actually from glorious the black ones are but the new white ones obviously it has that like the side of it is translucent so it shines through we're just gonna help accentuate everything and obviously I'll put a link for you guys down below if you want to check out the key sets and these keyboards but yeah so the one two mini just looks really nice I'm a fan of the lift edges I haven't really seen this on any other keyboard before you know aside from like custom ones and stuff the top of the case is a matte white with a glossy white finish on the backside they have their branding on the back right quarter of the board and on the left side is the USB C port if we put it over we have to flip out feets you can decide the elevation of the back of the bored you don't see this too often that's definitely a nice touch +4 dip switches this is for swapping things like the window key the function key if you're using this on say like a Mac or something like that it's the e tail in the manual but nothing else two out of the ordinary inside the box along with the key cap puller they include 10 additional PBT key caps of a random color although everyone I've seen who has the white board also got this light like baby blue color and they also said some boards will also have a year the peg spacebar now in my unit I have cherry brown switches but at checkout you can also pick from cherry black blue red silver speed switches and silent red switches to pick from we'll do a sound test of these browns you can hear how they sound now moving on I'm not gonna show you all of the RGB effects because we would be here for hours if I did every one for all three of these keyboards but I'll show you a few and there actually is no software that comes with this board in particular at least not as of like right now everything is done on the board so switching profiles creating and recording macros is all done on board as well as picking between all your RGB lighting effects and navigating through all the RGB effects is by holding function Alt + T you could cycle through the effects there and for certain ones when it wants you to pick a certain color for an effect Z X and C will light up that they can control the individual RGB effects literally the RGB and really pinpoint a color but to make it easier if you just press space then all the keys will light up and you can you just bend pick which color you prefer and then go from there so it is a bit more tedious having to do everything for a macro managing to all the RGB on board as opposed to just having something easy like software so that's kind of a downer but then you factor in this is only a $100 keyboard it's $99 which is extremely budget-friendly for keyboard with all these capabilities and the overall quality then next up is the GMM k compact from glorious so what I love about this keyboard is just how minimal it is it looks really nice and stealthy with that aluminum plate and as you saw from the stock key cap since the plate is black the RGB lights shine decently well but then when you pick up you know the extra set of the aura key caps where it says P bTW once that's when the RGB really comes to life here this key cap set can also be purchased through glorious but for me I think the big selling point of this and where it separates itself from the rest of the keyboards out there is the fact these have hot-swappable switches meaning you can just without soldering your desoldering you just take these switch out of the PCB and then swap it with whatever other switch you want cherry kale gather on that's some customization so in this set here I had the Cherry MX browns but I picked up the kale pro purple switches to swap matte with browns and purples are very similar I think the only real difference here is that the appropriate requirements for swell Browns are 45 but they're both pretty linear inside the box is a key switch puller the whole process is very simple you just press in those pins and easily wiggle it out and then pop a new one in and you're good to go some extra added goodies include their red ascend escape key and a nice glorious bearded man windows key I will say the only thing I'm kind of bummed about is the fact that it is micro USB and not USB type-c but let's be real we'll get over it so the board itself is just $60 nuke event pick from a pack of 120 switches ranging from around 30 to 35 dollars depending on which one you choose or you could skip this and save some money if you already have your own switches then keycaps either $20 for a normal set or 25 for the aura shine through set so you can spend as little as just $60 for the board and then the most expensive this can be is $120 which is still just a crazy good value and then yes of course there is also software for this board it's very easy to use you can go and switch between the three onboard profiles gears you can also go in and really reconfigure each key of what they do from certain macros up you can record and just change what the key is to maybe something like a multimedia control and they sort of the usual functions that you would see from other companies and other software out there you can do here as well and then before enabling the RGB lighting one thing I'm a big fan of that not eat enough companies do is show you real-time the effects in the software so you have that on the keys and there are just tons of different ones to pick through tons of different effects and they gives you the full option to change the speed the directions were some of the effects you could pick the have you know of some of the effects just certain static colors or one color or a toggle the colorful mode to have the 16.8 million RGB effects going on and stuff but yes very easy to use software lots of customization right at your fingertips and like I said I just like that you can see the effects real time like I said before not going to show you each RGB effect individually but you can get a good idea of how it looks especially with this or a key cap set it's gonna add some pop to your desktop but now I'll do a sound test of a kale pro purple switches so again just complete customization here from different key caps to actual key switches you can easily swap out and make your very own keyboard and then we have the and pro 2 keyboard and the big thing about this is not only is it very budget-friendly in between 80 to 90 dollars depending on where you buy it it's also a wireless mechanical keyboard so you can use it wired or wireless over Bluetooth and that could definitely be an appealing feature to certain people taking a look at it the footprint is very very small probably one of the tiniest compact 60-percent keyboards I've seen the frame around the board is just extremely thin and you can get this board also either black or white now one of the things Albin's lab does with the an pro 2 is include extra colored accent key sets we have teal green pink purple and yellow included inside the box you can kind of add them to your keyboard if you want switch it up add a little pop of color here and there you the key cap puller and a red USBC cable kind of an odd color choice because then leave include red key caps but I digress in this board unlike the other 2 does not feature flip-out feet within back to the main feature of this being Wireless obviously that has a disadvantage for some people listen also connect to up to 4 devices at once so say you know a laptop your phone a tablet your PC anything like that switch between all 4 - switch of a button and just right now I'll show you guys I have a connected to my phone hopefully you can kind of see the screen I don't know but it's connected wirelessly and that's one thing that the other two keyboards don't have it's a feature that not a lot of mechanical keyboards out there feature in terms of switches yet again I have gather on Browns in this unit we can also pick these up in different variants from gather around brown blue and red with the cherry equivalent of brown blue and red available as well we'll do the sound test now for the gather on Browns before we wrap it up in terms of RGB lighting it's also controlled on the board itself and you can note the flickering that is not actually on the board it's just with the camera settings and despite me adjusting my shutter speed it did not seem to fix the flickering probably due to the quality of the actual LED lights because you can see they are not nearly as bright as the other two keyboards nor are the colors as is saturated we're using function f9 is how you can toggle between the different lighting effects in the modes as well as the brightnesses with f10 through f12 and yes there's also software for this but you can go in and as you'd expect create the macros switch up all the different keys to be different functions and stuff as well as you know control the RGB lighting and stuff through here software is like a love it or hate it kind of thing I understand where you could obviously take advantage of it to quickly change everything up and have more details right in front of you as opposed to tediously doing it on the board but at the same time it's just another extra step of installing something on your keyboard so yeah all in all it is a pretty solid keyboard for the price out there and a lot of people who are getting into the whole keyboard enthusiast community they start out with an pros because they are so affordable and with it being sixty percent and customizable in the sense you can you know get different switches for it and customize the key cast and stuff to make it your own it's definitely a good starting point but I think out of the three probably one of my least favorites compared to the other two but these are still my top three favor out there on the market so like I said before it's a little overview of my top three favorites out there not an in-depth review but I feel like each one has their own you know kind of think that makes it special and their each time you know features that kind of edge the other ones out there on the market I think you know just taking a quick little recap the ducky 1 2 mini is one of those keyboards that's like the jack-of-all-trades it's good at everything the gmm K compact is great because it has the hot stoppable switches you can really customize the board and the amp pro to and the fact that it's also a wireless mechanical keyboard is pretty awesome as well so hope you guys enjoyed this video I'll put a link for you in the description down below case you want to check any of the three out as well as all the key caps if you like this video you want to see me more do you know other keyboard related stuff in the future let me know by hitting that thumbs up button down below as well as job in a comment feel free to follow me on Twitter at random Frank P last if you haven't already hit that subscribe button well hope y'all enjoyed have a good day\n"