The mechanical keyboard world has exploded in popularity and we’ve seen a rise in creative, extravagant designs. Heavy metal cases, blingy RGB, fancy switches… but what about if you want something simple, elegant, and, most importantly, that fits your budget? That’s where the MONOKEI Standard comes in.
The MONOKEI Standard embraces minimalism and quality. With a simple, elegant design, it fits right at home on any desk, whether that’s in your gaming den or office at work. And since the team at MONOKEI is steeped in custom keyboards, making some of the most coveted boards ever produced, they know a thing or two about what it takes to craft a great typing experience. If you’re tired of the RGB craze and outlandish gaming keyboards, this is definitely a keyboard worth a closer look.
Specifications
Current Price: $143(MONOKEI)
MONOKEI Standard - What Is It?
The MONOKEI Standard is a new tenkeyless mechanical keyboard that arrives at the intersection of minimalism and quality. It’s designed to have the kind of appearance you would fit right in at an in-store display, stylish yet understated. MONOKEI is known for the quality of its products, designing boutique custom keyboards for the most dedicated enthusiasts. The Standard is the distillation of those efforts, bringing an enhanced typing experience built upon well-considered parts to a sub-$150 price point.
The Standard creates a kind of baseline for what you should expect from a good mechanical keyboard in 2023. It uses a gasket-mount design for softer typing and quieter, smoother-sounding keystrokes. There are two layers of sound-dampening foam. It supports screw-in stabilizers, which is wholly uncommon at this price point (most pre-built keyboards use plate-mounted stabs that are often less stable and don’t sound as good). It also uses a flexible polycarbonate plate to mount the switches. All of these considerations are in place to ensure the typing experience is cushioned but not overly flexible.
It strikes a middle ground. A keyboard that’s soft but not too soft. One that has satisfying acoustics but isn’t loud enough to bother coworkers in an office setting. You can use it wirelessly over Bluetooth 5.1 with up to four devices, but there’s no dongle for 2.4GHz wireless to make it a gaming keyboard.
Right off the bat, the defining quality is how refined it looks. I was sent the Suave Blue version (it’s also available in Classic White, Bluish Pink, and Dream Lilac). Its deep navy top contrasts perfectly with its white keycaps and two case-matching optional accent keys (they’re all white out of the box). Flip it over and the bottom of its case is also white, tying the whole look together. There’s a sense of colorful unity here that’s uncommon in its simple yet appealing aesthetic taste.
There’s also no backlighting, so the keycaps can all have standard, crisp legends, and there’s no RGB to cheapen its very grown-up appearance. Another plus is that the lack of RGB backlighting dramatically increases potential battery life. A single charge returns approximately a full month in battery life, so recharges won’t be a big concern with this keyboard.
This uniqueness is also visible in other small touches across the keyboard. There are no visible screws, for example. The fasteners are hidden along the inner edge of the frame beneath the keycaps. There are two indicator lights, stacked vertically between the function row and the Print Screen, Scroll Lock, and Pause cluster. The power switch is a small, unlabeled toggle on the back. The Space Bar is longer for more aesthetic symmetry in its layout. The Fn button, then, is positioned to the right of Right Shift, similar to an HHKB layout. MONOKEI has also adopted icons for its different modifiers, navigation, and editing buttons instead of words.
There’s no programmability to this keyboard. It’s very traditional in that way, so it takes no liberties with the position of keys. It’s a standard TKL, but that doesn’t mean it lacks additional functions. Upon first use, you’ll find that the Function Row is set to MacOS keys, but Fn+W swaps to Windows Mode. Media keys are tied to F7-F12. There’s a combination to put the keyboard into pairing mode. Once it’s there, you can swap between three additional Bluetooth devices with another key combination.
MONOKEI also embraces customization with this keyboard, supporting different keycap sets (that include a 7u Spacebar) and hot-swappable switches. It comes with excellent doubleshot PBT ‘caps, so there’s no reason to change them other than pure aesthetic exploration. The included keycaps are MONOKEI's own Series 1 set, and they’re thick-walled and textured. They look, feel, and sound very good.
The switch selection leaves a lot to be desired, however. It comes with Cherry MX Brown, Red, and Silent Red. My unit came with browns and they’re just as scratchy and lightweight as ever. I understand why MONOKEI would use Cherries, they have the best name recognition after all, but they really do a disservice to the design of the board. With so many excellent options, bog standard Cherry switches are underwhelming. For mass appeal, however, they’re hard to beat and I get that for a brand tapping into the mainstream like MONOKEI is attempting. Still, if you’re planning on upgrading, this would be the first thing I would swap out (and did — even budget Gateron Yellow Pro switches are much better).
MONOKEI Standard - Performance and Overall Impressions
The MONOKEI Standard offers a nice typing experience, especially if you swap out the Cherry switches. The layers of foam and gasket mounting structure lend it a soft sound and feel that’s comfortable to type and game on for hours. There’s no visible or tactile flex when typing but it doesn’t feel harsh, so the mounting system is doing its job.
At under $150, the Standard is definitely on the budget end for MONOKEI but isn’t what I would consider a budget keyboard overall. I’m pleased to have found the typing experience lives up to the price with a good set of switches installed (or if you just like Cherry switches, which is perfectly fine). It doesn’t break the mold in any way. It’s a no-frills typing experience that embraces comfort and a rounded sound that fits into any environment. Very traditional, fitting right alongside the Filcos, Varmilos, Leopolds, and other solid pre-built keyboards of the world.
At the same time, that affordable price does have some drawbacks. The case, while perfectly functional and nice looking, is somewhat lightweight (approx. 2lbs) since it’s not being paired with an aluminum or steel plate. The stabilizers were also very rattly out of the box and needed some lube to quiet them down. Since they’re screw-in, you’ll either need to inject grease into them with a syringe or disassemble the keyboard.
That’s when I found it: a “warranty void” sticker covering some of the screws. While clearly based on wanting to avoid RMA claims from novices opening and potentially damaging the keyboard, it’s disappointing to see MONOKEI covering themselves in this way. The exact type of consumer looking to purchase a MONOKEI Standard is also likely to want to open the keyboard and apply their own mods. These stickers are also illegal in the United States, so don’t matter much anyway. The text on the company’s website is a bit looser, saying opening the keyboard “may” void your warranty.
Either way, you can safely open this keyboard to access, lube, and even change the stabilizers if you so desire. After removing the keycaps, the surrounding screws are easy to identify. There are two JST cables tethered to the USB, so take care removing them so these aren’t pulled or damaged.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the MONOKEI Standard is a very good keyboard if you’re looking for something simple yet elegant. Its typing experience is very good and can be enhanced further with your own switches. It’s a shame that the stabilizers aren’t better lubed and that there aren’t more switches to choose from, but the former is an easy fix, especially if you have a syringe to inject a touch more grease.
MONOKEI focused on the fundamentals with this keyboard and the result is a very nice, no-frills typing experience. It’s a refreshing alternative to the RGB-ified masses of other keyboards flooding the market today while still including enthusiast-favorite features like gasket mounting and hot-swappable switches. It’s a worthy consideration at $143 and an easy upgrade over even more expensive options like the Das Keyboard 6.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes.
