How many more Cherry-switch keyboards does the world need? At least one more, apparently, as Thermaltake announced the Meka Pro, a keyboard that comes with Cherry MX Red, Brown, or Blue switches. For Thermaltake, at least, this is a variation on a theme, and a slight departure. It has a pile of “Poseidon” Kailh-switch keyboards as well as many variants of its “Meka” line of Cherry keyboards, but all of its Cherry keyboards have come with Cherry MX Black switches.
This is not typical. Usually, keyboard makers who go the Cherry route will start with one type of switch (Red or Brown or Blue), add the remaining two colors, and maybe, just maybe, tack on a Cherry MX Black option, too. Not Thermaltake; it went hard at the Cherry MX Black fans with multiple “Meka” keyboards, leaving Blue and Brown switch options for the Kailh-equipped “Poseidon” family and avoiding Red switches altogether. (Blacks are linear like Reds, but heavier, so Thermaltake apparently felt like having several Black switch options would satisfy linear fans.)
The Meka Pro, then, is both the latest member of the Meka family and also the only one to offer Red switches of any kind, and the only one with Cherry MX Brown and Blue switches in Thermaltake’s lineup.
It also looks identical to the Poseidon Z series; it appears as though the Meka Pro is essentially the Cherry version of the Kailh-equipped Poseidon Z.
Instead of RGB lighting like the Poseidon Z, though, the Meka Pro has red-only LEDs. It does, however, offer several lighting effects, including static, pulse, reactive, ripple, wave, sparkle, and off. You can also control the brightness and the speed and direction of the effects, and there are four pre-configured “lighting zones” for FPS, MOBA, MMO, and RTS games. (Basically, only the keys that one would typically use for those games are backlit.)
You control all of the above without software. In fact, you can do quite a bit more, in the absence of configuration software, including creating macros (there’s a dedicated MK key in the top right corner of the keyboard). It appears you can store up to six macros on the device (it has 256KB on board). However, there are numerous other preprogrammed functions available when you press Fn plus another key. These include media controls, Windows shortcuts, the aforementioned lighting controls, and more. You can toggle between n-key and 6-key rollover, too.
The Meka Pro also comes with nine red replacement key caps and a key cap puller.
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Otherwise, it’s a fairly simple keyboard. There’s no USB passthrough, no fancy wrist rest, no extra keys, and as we mentioned, no software. That, plus the red-only LEDs, brings the price down to $100 for the Red and Blue switch versions, and $110 for Brown. The Meka Pro is listed on Thermaltake’s website, but it does not appear to be available for purchase at this time.
