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  • - Hey guys, this is Austin

  • and these are the cheapest keyboards on Amazon.

  • But the question is,

  • are they actually any good?

  • So we take a look at a lot of expensive things

  • on the channel, but what I was really curious about

  • is whether it actually makes sense

  • to go extremely cheap.

  • What better way to start

  • than with well, a bunch of keyboards

  • of varying degrees of quality

  • but all of which are actually really affordable.

  • To start out with,

  • we have the Verbatim Slimline Corded keyboard.

  • When we purchased this,

  • it was only $5.21

  • on Amazon but now it's available

  • with a mouse for $10.21.

  • So you know, quality.

  • Not only do we have adjustable tilt legs,

  • a stylish and slim design

  • as well as advanced tactile keys.

  • Something I look for in all of my five dollar keyboards

  • but importantly,

  • it supports Windows XP, 2000, Vista, 7 and 8.

  • So if you need a sweet Windows XP keyboard,

  • they've got you covered.

  • There are tons of dedicated gaming keyboards,

  • things like mechanical stuff,

  • but I think really the question

  • I want to answer with this video is,

  • do you really need to spend 30, 40, 50, 60,

  • or even a hundred dollars plus on a keyboard?

  • Of course you don't have to

  • but what's the real difference

  • you're getting really something like this,

  • which is only going to cost you about five dollars.

  • Well, you get better packaging on the other ones.

  • That's for sure.

  • I'll give them this.

  • This is about as slim as a keyboard gets.

  • It's definitely one of the most lightweight keyboards

  • I've ever used.

  • (laughs)

  • Shout out to the not a Windows key

  • that's on the bottom here.

  • It's not Windows, it's the square key.

  • You know, the square key.

  • At first glance, the layout seems to be fine.

  • We have basically all the keys we would expect,

  • including a slightly weird looking Enter key

  • and a smaller Backspace.

  • We also interestingly have power, sleep and wake.

  • Does that actually work?

  • Oh, it works.

  • Wait, can I wake up?

  • Wake up.

  • I don't think anyone's going to think

  • that this is a gaming keyboard,

  • but it doesn't feel too bad,

  • so one of the things I really noticed

  • is that it is a little bit on the springer side

  • and that's definitely because this is very much a rubber

  • dome style keyboard,

  • but I don't know, I can live with it.

  • Is it going to last a long time?

  • Probably not.

  • Can you use it for a little while

  • and actually be completely competent at gaming

  • and a little bit of typing and basic use?

  • Absolutely.

  • Next up we have the Amazon Basics wired keyboard

  • at a whopping $13.22.

  • Now with something like 3600 reviews.

  • It seems to be one of the more popular keyboards

  • on Amazon full stop.

  • What they've done here is it's a little bit

  • more of a slimmer design,

  • so it does have a sort of built in rest

  • as opposed to the other one which did have the feet.

  • It's also got a lot of glossy black plastic.

  • Oh boy, all right.

  • So yeah, that glossy black plastic,

  • as you can probably see with three seconds of usage,

  • it's going to get a little fingerprinty,

  • a little dirty, but I guess you can look past that

  • when you're spending 13 bucks on a keyboard.

  • The layout thankfully is a lot nicer.

  • We have a full size Backspace key.

  • The Enter key, it's all as you would expect.

  • We have a few things like Media keys,

  • which is a nice little addition on such a cheap keyboard.

  • Oh, we can get a little shortcut to the calculator.

  • I guess that's useful and most importantly of all,

  • we have an actual Windows key,

  • not a weird square.

  • I'm sure the licensing cost was tremendous

  • on such a cheap keyboard.

  • I can tell this immediately has a better feel.

  • Now it is definitely still a membrane keyboard

  • it's not going to be anywhere near as nice

  • as something like a mechanical keyboard to type on,

  • but it's a lot less mushy than the Verbatim

  • and I really do appreciate

  • that it does have a standard layout.

  • We even have the media control keys.

  • I will say almost immediately

  • that while I do prefer this for typing,

  • I actually don't quite like the feel for gaming.

  • It just feels like there's maybe a little bit more latency

  • or a little bit of input lag.

  • It just feels a little different.

  • And a big part of that actually could be the fact

  • that the key switches aren't quite as responsive.

  • That's a little weird.

  • Next up we have a Bluetooth keyboard,

  • or more specifically the cheapest Bluetooth keyboard

  • with Amazon Prime that we could find.

  • So at $15 this...

  • Well, it's a lot smaller,

  • I'll say that, it's a whole lot smaller.

  • Wait is this actually a full size keyboard?

  • Okay well that looks exactly like an Apple keyboard.

  • It's really weird at how light it is though.

  • We don't have a battery in, do we?

  • No, we need a ...

  • Is that AA you think?

  • Oh wait, they're AAAs, I lied.

  • Yeah, those are...be right back.

  • One of the advantages of going with the Bluetooth keyboard

  • is it does support multiple devices

  • including Macs as well as iOS devices,

  • which is especially evident when you look

  • at the keyboard layout,

  • which I just realized is the Mac layout

  • with the Command and the Option and the Control.

  • So, we do have a Windows key and a Windows mode

  • if we switch over to it.

  • If I can figure out how to do that.

  • Due to a slight oversight

  • in that the PC we're testing with doesn't have Bluetooth,

  • we're going to use my phone.

  • Oh boy I love being prepared for videos like this.

  • (clears throat)

  • Anyway, let's give this a try.

  • So thankfully it is full size.

  • One thing I do immediately notice though,

  • is that it's kind of flimsy.

  • If you look, I can barely bend it

  • and there's a lot of flexing.

  • It shouldn't be a big deal

  • unless you're very aggressive typer.

  • Are there aggressive typers?

  • Oh yeah, dude look at that.

  • If you really press down the whole thing flexes.

  • It should be okay though but...

  • No, I disconnected it.

  • Why does...

  • Okay, so maybe super cheap Bluetooth keyboards: not the move.

  • I actually will say the keyboard doesn't feel too bad.

  • Actually know what it feels like?

  • It kind of feels like the original version

  • of this Apple keyboard,

  • which is like what, 80 bucks or something?

  • It's not quite as nice to be fair.

  • It's all made of plastic, but it doesn't feel bad at all.

  • Look at that, I can change the brightness.

  • What?

  • That's actually kind of cool.

  • For 15 bucks this isn't too bad.

  • Yes, you should plan ahead

  • and make sure your computer supports Bluetooth,

  • but even if you are syncing it to something like your iPad

  • or iPhone or something,

  • this really is surprisingly decent for $15.

  • I'm kind of impressed.

  • Last but not least,

  • we have the Rii RK100+.

  • The cheapest RGB keyboard on Amazon,

  • which we picked up for about $15.

  • However right now it's actually available for $10

  • and seventy three cents.

  • So yeah, this is actually the cheapest keyboard here

  • technically as of this very second.

  • This is another one of the options that we chose

  • not only just because it was the cheapest,

  • but also it has a fairly decent amount of reviews.

  • It's got 492 on Amazon right now

  • and that looks like a much more beefy keyboard

  • even though it's still incredibly lightweight.

  • Plug this guy in and holy RGB Batman.

  • That is actually kind of a cool look.

  • Now, unlike most RGB keyboards

  • that do have a much more comprehensive set of software

  • that kind of allow you to customize the zones

  • with this guy, we can either turn on or turn it off,

  • which conveniently replaces our right Windows key,

  • but regardless we have RGB.

  • So let's give this guy a try.

  • All right yeah.

  • This is actually a lot better than that Amazon keyboard.

  • One of the things that I immediately noticed

  • is that where that one felt a little bit sticky.

  • The keys actually pop up a lot quicker here.

  • Now I'm sure if you open it up

  • it's still going to be a membrane keyboard,

  • but between that and the RGB,

  • I've got to say this is actually totally a decent

  • looking keyboard.

  • Now no, the key caps themselves aren't RGB

  • and it is of course all made of plastic,

  • but I kind of like the look of sort of illuminating

  • the backside with the RGB

  • as opposed to doing the individual keys.

  • It's not customizable but it looks legitimately different

  • than pretty much any other gaming keyboard out there.

  • Something I immediately noticed

  • is that there's a nice little bit of texture

  • on the keys themselves.

  • It doesn't make a big difference,

  • but it does give you a little bit more grip

  • with your fingers.

  • It's not something huge or anything

  • that sort of blows me away,

  • but it is a nice little bit of an addition.

  • Importantly, it feels good for gaming.

  • It is not as good as a mechanical keyboard for example,

  • but realistically, unless you're actually really skilled

  • unlike me,

  • it's probably not going to notice a huge difference.

  • I know I'm not any better with this

  • than a Mechanical keyboard or vice versa.

  • Here we go.

  • Yeah, there we go.

  • Well that was worth it.

  • (laughs)

  • So should you buy the cheapest keyboard on Amazon?

  • It's actually not a totally crazy idea.

  • Now the Rii is definitely my favorite.

  • I like the RGB for gaming,

  • it has a good feel and it's got a decent layout

  • and realistically if you're spending less

  • than say $30, $40,

  • this really should be the keyboard you pick up.

  • I'm very, very impressed.

- Hey guys, this is Austin

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