A $60 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Designed for Mac Users: The Philosopher M87

The Philosopher M87 is an intriguing mechanical gaming keyboard designed specifically for Mac users, including typists, programmers, and gamers. At first glance, this keyboard boasts a pretty decent construction, with a metal backplate that provides stability and durability. This sturdy build ensures that the keyboard remains rigid, even when subjected to intense typing or gaming sessions. The plastic components of the keyboard, however, may feel somewhat unfinished around the edges, which could detract from an otherwise excellent overall design.

One of the standout features of the Philosopher M87 is its attention to detail and luxurious feel. It does not skimp on luxuries such as a braided cable, poured keycaps, and rubberized feet at the back. These features elevate the keyboard to a more premium level, enhancing the typing experience for users. The keyboard's design prioritizes both form and function, making it an attractive option for those seeking a high-quality gaming experience.

The Philosopher M87's keys are designed to work seamlessly with Mac devices, thanks to firmware that allows native function keys and controls. This means that users can easily adjust the brightness, volume, and media playback settings using the function row. The keyboard also includes dual command keys next to the spacebar, which are characteristic of most other Apple keyboards. These features provide a familiar interface for Mac users.

One significant departure from traditional Apple keyboard designs is the placement of the FN key on the right side of the keyboard. In contrast to Apple's typical placement at the bottom left, this positioning makes it easier to access the control function when using Ctrl as a Crouch key or other custom shortcuts in games. This change allows for greater flexibility and customization options.

The Philosopher M87 also includes several additional keys that can be found on most Mac keyboards. Dedicated home, page up, and page down keys provide easy access to frequently used functions. Additionally, the keyboard extends the function keys to F15, which is a thoughtful touch that simplifies navigation.

When it comes to typing feel, the Philosopher M87's keys are marketed as having brown key switches with an average actuation force of 45 grams. These switches imply a soft and tactile feedback when pressed, making them suitable for both gaming and everyday typing tasks. When examining the keycaps more closely, however, it becomes apparent that they appear to be Cherry MX brown key switches in color but are not genuine Cherry MX products.

According to Vilasa Fire, manufacturers of these keyboards, they utilize a cheaper Chinese brand for imitation Cherry MX brown key switches in their less expensive models. This substitution may impact the overall performance and longevity of the keys compared to using authentic Cherry MX components. Despite this, the keyboard's designers have taken steps to make up for this difference by including an impressive array of patterns that can be activated on the individually backlit keys.

Each keycap is illuminated with white LEDs instead of RGB lights, which may not be a concern for some users but could also limit the visual appeal of the keyboard. Nevertheless, the result is a fun and dynamic light show when the keyboard is powered on. With approximately 800 billion possible combinations available, users can experiment with various lighting effects to suit their preferences.

For those who are not fond of using mechanical keyboards for typing due to issues like low travel distances or unreliable performance, the Philosopher M87 has an alternative solution. Its design prioritizes a lower profile, making it suitable for users who prefer a more subtle typing experience. This allows them to navigate keys with ease and accuracy without sacrificing comfort.

The keyboard is designed to work seamlessly on both Macs and PCs, thanks to its universal compatibility. Users simply need to plug the keyboard into their computer to start using it. The Philosopher M87 has undergone testing in this regard, and its performance has been consistently praised for its reliability and functionality.

In conclusion, the Philosopher M87 is an excellent choice for Mac users seeking a premium gaming experience. Its luxurious features, attention to detail, and flexible design make it an attractive option for those who value both form and function.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is a $60 mechanical gaming keyboard designed to work with your Mac yes you heard that right this is a mechanical keyboard designed for Mac users such as typists programmers and gamers it's called the philosopher m87 and it's actually pretty intriguing to start this keyboard has a pretty decent construction the backplate is metal so the keyboard is very sturdy with little flex to the chassis the rest of the construction is plastic which can feel somewhat unfinished around the edges but doesn't detract too much from the overall feel of the keyboard it doesn't skimp on luxuries such as a braided cable poured keycaps and rubberized feet at the back which elevate the keyboard for a better typing experience as for the keys themselves what exactly makes this a Mac keyboard and not just a normal mechanical keyboard well this one like the keyboards the Apple themselves cell has firmware to allow native function keys and controls it has essentially the same layout as the keyboard that ships with your iMac if you look up at the function keys we have the same functions that Apple maps to their keyboards so by default you can adjust the brightness the volume and media controls as well as launchpad and Mission Control right from the function row just like you could on a normal Apple keyboard additionally next to the spacebar you'll find the dual command keys that you'll find on pretty much every other Apple keyboard there are however a few aspects to this keyboard that don't mirror apple's layout and I think they're a welcome change the biggest one the one that allows this to be a viable keyboard for gaming is that philosopher has moved the FN key to the right side of the keyboard Apple places there's on the bottom left so if you use ctrl as a Crouch key or something when you're playing games playing games on a Mac keyboard sucks every time you go to Crouch you hit function you hit FM is what are you doing there get out of the way that's where the ctrl Keys supposed to go the philosopher leaves control where it should be we also get a few extra keys you won't find on a Mac we have dedicated home page up page down and CD ejects if you still need that keys and the function keys are extended over to f15 which is nice as for the actual typing feel these keys feel good to type on they're advertised as brown key switches meaning they don't have an audible click upon actuation and they have a pretty average actuation force of 45 grams the key switches themselves are rather intriguing if you pop off the key caps you'll be greeted with what certainly appear to be Cherry MX brown key switches but when you look at philosophize marketing you'll see that they just say brown this is true I can verify that they are most certainly colored brown however they aren't Cherry MX brown key switches I reached out to vilasa fire and they said that for these less expensive keyboards they're using a cheaper Chinese brand that is sort of an imitation Cherry MX brown key switch whereas on they're more expensive models they do plan to implement genuine Cherry key switches now don't get me wrong it's not uncommon for less expensive mechanical keyboards to use imitation or less expensive key switches I'll forgive the ambiguous marketing though because this keyboard has about a billion patterns that you can activate on the individually backlit keys which by the way are all white LEDs not RGB if that matters to you this thing even makes a really fun little light show when you plug the keyboard in I'm pretty sure there's approximately 800 billion different combinations so it's definitely fun to go through and try them all out I'm gonna be honest here I'm not the biggest fan of using mechanical keyboards for typing I like them for gaming but I'm a little bit quicker on low travel keyboards in fact I think I'm one of maybe four or five people in the entire planet that actually likes the butterfly keyboards the typing feel not the reliability they're terrible for that but I like typing on a butterfly keyboard so I like really low-key travel and it lets me kind of go about really quickly that's the sound that that it makes when I type by the way if you like typing on a mechanical keyboard however and you own a Mac especially like an iMac where you need an external keyboard I think it's a great option and by the way this thing does work on PC as well it's you know it's a keyboard it works on everything you just plug it into your PC and I've been using it to test out its gaming credentials and I have to say especially thanks to the function key being where it's supposed to be Apple it works pretty well and you know at 60 bucks definitely worth checking out so that'll do it for today's video make sure to like comment and subscribe don't forget to follow me on Twitter at Luke me on E and I'll see you guys in the next videothis is a $60 mechanical gaming keyboard designed to work with your Mac yes you heard that right this is a mechanical keyboard designed for Mac users such as typists programmers and gamers it's called the philosopher m87 and it's actually pretty intriguing to start this keyboard has a pretty decent construction the backplate is metal so the keyboard is very sturdy with little flex to the chassis the rest of the construction is plastic which can feel somewhat unfinished around the edges but doesn't detract too much from the overall feel of the keyboard it doesn't skimp on luxuries such as a braided cable poured keycaps and rubberized feet at the back which elevate the keyboard for a better typing experience as for the keys themselves what exactly makes this a Mac keyboard and not just a normal mechanical keyboard well this one like the keyboards the Apple themselves cell has firmware to allow native function keys and controls it has essentially the same layout as the keyboard that ships with your iMac if you look up at the function keys we have the same functions that Apple maps to their keyboards so by default you can adjust the brightness the volume and media controls as well as launchpad and Mission Control right from the function row just like you could on a normal Apple keyboard additionally next to the spacebar you'll find the dual command keys that you'll find on pretty much every other Apple keyboard there are however a few aspects to this keyboard that don't mirror apple's layout and I think they're a welcome change the biggest one the one that allows this to be a viable keyboard for gaming is that philosopher has moved the FN key to the right side of the keyboard Apple places there's on the bottom left so if you use ctrl as a Crouch key or something when you're playing games playing games on a Mac keyboard sucks every time you go to Crouch you hit function you hit FM is what are you doing there get out of the way that's where the ctrl Keys supposed to go the philosopher leaves control where it should be we also get a few extra keys you won't find on a Mac we have dedicated home page up page down and CD ejects if you still need that keys and the function keys are extended over to f15 which is nice as for the actual typing feel these keys feel good to type on they're advertised as brown key switches meaning they don't have an audible click upon actuation and they have a pretty average actuation force of 45 grams the key switches themselves are rather intriguing if you pop off the key caps you'll be greeted with what certainly appear to be Cherry MX brown key switches but when you look at philosophize marketing you'll see that they just say brown this is true I can verify that they are most certainly colored brown however they aren't Cherry MX brown key switches I reached out to vilasa fire and they said that for these less expensive keyboards they're using a cheaper Chinese brand that is sort of an imitation Cherry MX brown key switch whereas on they're more expensive models they do plan to implement genuine Cherry key switches now don't get me wrong it's not uncommon for less expensive mechanical keyboards to use imitation or less expensive key switches I'll forgive the ambiguous marketing though because this keyboard has about a billion patterns that you can activate on the individually backlit keys which by the way are all white LEDs not RGB if that matters to you this thing even makes a really fun little light show when you plug the keyboard in I'm pretty sure there's approximately 800 billion different combinations so it's definitely fun to go through and try them all out I'm gonna be honest here I'm not the biggest fan of using mechanical keyboards for typing I like them for gaming but I'm a little bit quicker on low travel keyboards in fact I think I'm one of maybe four or five people in the entire planet that actually likes the butterfly keyboards the typing feel not the reliability they're terrible for that but I like typing on a butterfly keyboard so I like really low-key travel and it lets me kind of go about really quickly that's the sound that that it makes when I type by the way if you like typing on a mechanical keyboard however and you own a Mac especially like an iMac where you need an external keyboard I think it's a great option and by the way this thing does work on PC as well it's you know it's a keyboard it works on everything you just plug it into your PC and I've been using it to test out its gaming credentials and I have to say especially thanks to the function key being where it's supposed to be Apple it works pretty well and you know at 60 bucks definitely worth checking out so that'll do it for today's video make sure to like comment and subscribe don't forget to follow me on Twitter at Luke me on E and I'll see you guys in the next video\n"