8BitDo’s $100 wireless mechanical keyboard is a tribute to Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 launched a technology of future pc geeks to private computing. The 8-bit system first launched in 1982 and was discontinued in 1994. During that point, it made its mark as one of many first and most influential private computer systems, and plenty of nonetheless bear in mind the pc fondly.

Gaming peripherals maker 8BitDo desires to carry that nostalgia to folks’s fingertips and this week introduced the Retro Mechanical Keyboard – C64 Edition. 8BitDo is cautious not to use the title “Commodore” outright. But with advertising and marketing photos that includes retro Commodore gear within the background, press supplies saying that the keyboard was “impressed by the classics,” and sure design cues, the keyboard is clearly a tribute to the ’80s keyboard-computer.

8BitDo begins with the type of beige that you just solely see on new peripherals nowadays if the devices try to seem previous. A rainbow stripe runs horizontally and north of the perform row, like on Commodore’s pc. There’s a energy button with a bulb coming out of the keyboard case, prepared to illuminate when it receives the sign.

Like the Commodore 64, the C64 keyboard has restricted keys, foregoing a quantity pad. The column of F-keys on the suitable facet of the retro pc is deserted in favor of as we speak’s customary navigation keys. Naturally, the ports have additionally been up to date. 8BitDo’s wireless mechanical keyboard can join with a removable USB-C to USB-An influence cable by way of a 2.4 GHz wireless USB-A dongle or Bluetooth 5.0. 8BitDo claims that the keyboard’s 2000 mAh battery can endure 200 hours of use earlier than needing a cost.

The new keyboard additionally reduces the bulkiness of a true classic keyboard. It’s 6.7 inches tall and weighs 2.31 kilos. Commodore 64s had been about 8 inches tall and weighed over 4 kilos.

A trimmer keyboard ought to assist 8BitDo higher enchantment to its core viewers of avid gamers. The keyboard even comes with a separate pair of huge buttons and a joystick for gaming with an arcade really feel. The joystick and Super Buttons, as 8BitDo calls them, are programmable, together with with macros, with out downloading 8BitDo’s software program.

The C64 does not help Apple gadgets; it solely helps Windows 10 and Android 9.0 and better. The software program for reprogramming the keyboard and organising totally different profiles (which you’ll be able to toggle with the guts button close to the keyboard’s prime edge) does not formally help Apple OSes.

SA keycaps

If you actually need to really feel such as you’re typing on an ’80s system, it is not nearly muted shades of beige; it is about what your fingers really feel. While there are some design adjustments which may have made the keyboard really feel extra genuine, some thought was clearly given to making this 2024 keyboard really feel prefer it got here out greater than 30 years in the past.

To begin, the C64’s keycaps are fabricated from ABS plastic with doubleshot legends. (*64*) premium mechanical keyboards nowadays go for PBT, as such keycaps usually supply higher grip and resist fingerprint smudges higher. But if we’re making an attempt to be as correct to the unique C64 as potential, doubleshot ABS is the best way to go.

The keycaps on the Commodore 64 had been additionally notably spherical and contoured. 8BitDo’s design makes use of SA-profile keycaps, that are among the tallest keycaps which are extensively accessible. (*64*) hardcore lovers can inform the distinction between SA keycaps and the Commodore 64’s unique keycaps, however this is nonetheless a robust alternative from 8BitDo, (plus the unique Commodore 64 keycaps would not match on fashionable mechanical switches with out some modding).