Till now, I used to be solely acquainted with Satechi’s chargers and different cellular equipment. After I bought to check out the corporate’s SM3 Mechanical Keyboard, I wasn’t certain if it’d dwell as much as the requirements of their different merchandise, however I’ve come away very stunned with this quiet and cozy accent.

Satechi SM3 Slim Mechanical Backlit Bluetooth Keyboard

Obtainable in Mild and Darkish coloration variants, the Satechi SM3 Mechanical Keyboard includes a 108-key structure with a numeric keypad, low-profile brown switches, four-device connectivity, 14 completely different backlight patterns, and devoted Home windows and macOS enter keys.

Execs & Cons

• Quiet switches which can be good for the workplace
• Wi-fi and wired modes each work nice
• Nice, understated look that slot in with any workplace setting

• Blinking Escape key for making Perform keys default is irritating
• Not hot-swappable

Worth and Availability

The Satechi SM3 Slim Mechanical Keyboard is obtainable on Amazon and Satechi for $119.99. It is out there in two types—a lightweight gray and a darkish gray—and solely comes with slim brown key switches.

Excellent for the Workplace

A whole lot of corporations will promote that their keyboards are “quiet.” The issue with that assertion is that they are usually quieter in comparison with different mechanical keyboards. For these not used to the clacking of mechanical keyboards (like, say, these working in an workplace), these keyboards are nonetheless loud and will be distracting.

So, when testing the Satechi SM3, I anticipated it to be quiet by way of mechanical keyboard requirements, however what I discovered was that it was quiet normally. The proprietary tactile brown switches produce slightly noise, but it surely’s akin to the sound of a membrane keyboard and, as such, will not be so distracting within the workplace. I discover it to be a nice sound, too—having owned and examined a bunch of keyboards, I’ve at all times most well-liked quieter brown switches. The tactile “bump” can also be good for touch-typing, so you may really feel when a key’s registered. Bluetooth 5.0 and a couple of.4GHz connectivity choices work effectively, as does wired (although you’d count on this for workplace duties).

The keyboard’s design is modest and appears slick. It blends into an workplace surroundings, but it surely nonetheless has an interesting design. The white backlights are tasteful and never distracting (except you decide one of many sooner gentle patterns), and the varied brightness ranges are nice if you happen to’re working in a vivid or dim space.

Nonetheless, there’s one challenge with the backlights.

Please Make the Escape Key Cease Blinking

The SM3 has a operate the place it will have keys blink depending on sure features. For instance, if you happen to maintain down the Bluetooth key for 5 seconds, it can blink to point the keyboard is switching to that mode and trying to find a sign. Most often, it’s totally useful.

Nonetheless, it is much less useful when the Escape key always blinked at me. The SM3 defaults to not Perform keys (F1-F12), however to shortcut buttons as a substitute. So at any time when I pressed F11 to make an app full-screen, it might flip my quantity down as a substitute. This positively messed with my muscle reminiscence, however fortunately, there was a solution to have the keyboard default to the Perform keys by holding the FN and Escape keys for 5 seconds.

Nonetheless, whenever you achieve this, the Escape key blinks to let you recognize that you simply’re nonetheless in that “Perform first” mode—and it by no means stops. It’s extremely distracting. Fortunately, it can save you your self from the blinking by turning the backlights off. However because the space I work in is comparatively dim, I’d have most well-liked to not have to do that.

The rationale why this occurs is comparatively easy—the Satechi SM3 is made for Apple customers initially. As an alternative of the Perform keys being the default, shortcuts equivalent to media and brightness controls are. So, in flip, the creators of the keyboard imagine utilizing the Perform keys is a comparatively uncommon prevalence and price alerting the consumer of if it is on.

For the reason that SM3 has completely different modes for Home windows and macOS which you can simply change between, it is odd that the Home windows mode would not swap to Perform keys being the default.

In This Case, Slim Means No Swapping

Lastly, and that is in no way a dealbreaker except you are somebody who actually enjoys customizing your keyboards, the SM3 will not be hot-swappable. This is sensible, as Satechi used slim, proprietary switches for the keyboard, so even if you happen to might change them out, it is unlikely you’d discover switches that may work with this keyboard. That does imply, nonetheless, if one thing occurs to interrupt you may’t simply repair it, even if you happen to occur to have appropriate switches available, which is unlucky.

You possibly can, nonetheless, swap the keycaps if you would like. The switches have the usual plus-shaped mounts most keycaps have, so you may customise the keyboard’s look. Simply notice that the SM3 makes use of low-profile keycaps, so if you wish to swap them out for a extra commonplace keycap sort, you will possible have to exchange all of the keys, or it will be uneven.

Ought to You Purchase the Satechi Slim SM3 Mechanical Keyboard?

The Satechi Slim SM3 Mechanical Keyboard is a unbelievable accent for workplace employees trying to improve their typing expertise. Not like many mechanical keyboards available on the market, the design forgoes eccentric keycaps and gamer aesthetics, and given how a lot much less noise it makes, it will mix in completely in almost any workplace surroundings.

Satechi SM3 Slim Mechanical Backlit Bluetooth Keyboard

Obtainable in Mild and Darkish coloration variants, the Satechi SM3 Mechanical Keyboard includes a 108-key structure with a numeric keypad, low-profile brown switches, four-device connectivity, 14 completely different backlight patterns, and devoted Home windows and macOS enter keys.