Zebronics Max Mechanical Keyboard Review

Recently Zebronics decided to foray into the mechanical keyboard market and thus the Max was born. Made to cater to the gaming community Zebronics Max looks sleek and comes with LED lighting under the keys with pre-programmed modes and removable keycaps.

Within the box you will not find anything apart from the keyboard with a plastic cover on top and foam padding on both sides. Once you lift the keyboard out of the box you will immediately feel the considerable weight of the keyboard. The net weight of Max comes to 1.15kgs. Even though the keyboard does not have a number pad (more on that later) it is just a little shorter in length than a regular keyboard. Thus this is not the most compact option when it comes to space. The all black keyboard comes with a nice finish on the top that is a mix of glossy and matte which makes the keyboard look like it has been built to last. The surface does not attract too many smudges and fingerprints as well. There are two retractable stands that you can flip open if you like to raise your keyboard slightly. You get a matching black 1.8m long braided cable with a gold plated USB connector at the other end. While the braided cable is there to provide extra durability to the wire and it certainly does, I personally found it slightly annoying as braided cables tend to get stuck in a shape if kept for too long. Overall if you have a black or dark grey coloured rig then this keyboard will fit right in with its sturdy and sleek looks. Also the two rubber grips underneath the keyboard combined with the keyboard's weight make sure that the keyboard stays planted in its place even when you have it placed on a slanted surface.

Before I give my thoughts on how the keyboard is in terms of typing, one must remember that this keyboard is not meant for hardcore typing tasks. With that said, my biggest gripe with the keyboard was the obvious absence of a dedicated keypad. This is an 84 keys keyboard. However if you are not into typing pages and pages of numbers everyday, you can overlook this drawback and eventually one gets around using the number keys above the alphabets. All the key are large enough for most people’s fingers but the height of the keys can take some time to get used to for people switching from a membrane keyboard. Now for the things that would be preferred by gamers. The keys require a decent amount of pressure to press which is good for gamers who do not want to accidently press keys and launch a grenade unintentionally. The 12 media keys are also a big boon as most gamers listen to music while playing games and switching back and forth between applications can be irritating. With the help of these media keys one can easily play/pause the current track, go back and forth in the playlist, control volume and much more. All you have to do is press the function (Fn) key and one of the media keys. They keycaps themselves are replaceable but you will have to buy a keycap remover separately. To press the keys is satisfying and they also make a sufficiently loud click. If pressed slowly enough you can feel the tactile feedback of the keys as well.

The multi-coloured LED backlighting  is really a boon for people who use their system at night with the lights of their room turned off. There are three brightness modes and you can select any one that you like. The keyboard also comes with a 'breathe' mode where the lights go on and off gradually, imitating the breathing action. However you do not get any customization options for the said lights. The colours produced by the LED are rich and vibrant and the font on the keys looks great as well. You specially get some nice looking icons on the shift, and caps lock keys. On the extreme left of the keyboard is a strip the has the Zebronics logo inscribed on it which is lit by two blue lights underneath it. Above the logo you find two dots which light up when you have the scroll lock and caps lock on respectively.

Altogether the Max from Zebronics is a great buy for Rs 2424 as it delivers the pleasures of a mechanical keyboard while leaning towards features that are more suited for people who are gamers. The LED lights are a great addition but we would have definitely liked more modes for them. This keyboard has some drawback but then we do not really see a any other competitor that boasts so many goodies at such low price either. The Zebronics Max is going to be a great pick for young gamers who want to have their hands on a mechanical keyboard that looks great but is cheap as well.