X500 Plus Mechanical Keyboard

I'm typing this post on my new X500 Plus mechanical keyboard which I picked up from the Post Office this morning. It's so good I felt compelled to write a review and post a few photos!

As you may be aware Loriano Pagni has produced a set of replacement keys for Cherry MX keyboards which he has designed to be the closest match to the Amiga's original keys possible. Loriano wanted a keyboard to complement his excellent X500 Plus computer case and he has done a great job! You can find out more about his keyboard project in this forum thread.

As I don't own an X500 Plus case myself I opted for a standalone USB keyboard to complement my AmigaONE 500. I really liked the look of Loriano's white and beige key set, which looks really authentic, unfortunately he didn't have any white keyboard shells and the black version also matchs my AmigaONE 500's case.

I bought a full keyboard with the Amiga keys already fitted by Loriano. The last time I tried fitting keys to a keyboard was about 10 years ago on a laptop and after that experience I was happy to have someone else fit out this keyboard for me.

The keyboard is a Ducky Zero with Cherry MX brown switches. I didn't realise how many different types of key switches there are and spent some time watching YouTube reviews of various Cherry switches as Loriano had several different types. I settled for the brown as they seem to be a good all rounder whereas some of the others are for more specific needs, like the reds which are apparently a gamers delight but less popular with typists.

The keyboard came well packaged and Loriano included the original ducky keys in a separate bag. The first thing I noticed when unpacking the keyboard was its weight and also how thick it is compared to my old keyboard. It is much heavier than the Perixx keyboard I was using and has a very solid feel to it.

The key set has been professionally laser etched and is based on the classic Amiga keyboard, featuring the left and right Amiga keys and also the help key. The menu key has been replaced with a boing key, which I have assigned to SSDR for screen switching but would be well suited to a program launcher, like AmiDock. The boing ball looks smart and understated, blending in well with the rest of the keys.

The keyboard also features keys to control the volume and a calculator key above the numeric pad. The calculator key is something I've not come across before and seems a useful feature to have. These 'extra' keys can be assigned functions with the AllKeys commodity.

At £124.65 including delivery, the keyboard didn't come cheap and is by far the most expensive I have ever bought. However, standard Ducky Zero keyboards typically cost in the region of £80 and when you take into account the additional cost of the custom set of keys the price is understandable. Given the time Loriano must have invested in this project (and fitting the keys for lazy people like myself!) and the great feel of typing on this keyboard I am more than happy with my purchase.