Introduction

The keyboards from Cooler Master we have taken a look at here on TechPowerUp have been after their campaign to rename and remarket everything as a "Master" series, which had their keyboards adopt the MasterKeys moniker as well. Indeed, even before this change, my previous experience with their keyboards had been with the excellent Novatouch TKL that unfortunately was priced higher than what the mainstream market at the time deemed appropriate for the feature set it offered. Cooler Master has had some garish designs too, but in recent years, successful keyboard designs have been simple and clean, with an added emphasis on build quality. They remain the largest company to date to offer keyboards with PBT keycaps out of the box, for instance. In a market getting increasingly dominated by RGB backlighting and software control, Cooler Master decided to join the party again by releasing their new flagship keyboard - the MasterKeys MK750 - that is the subject of this review.


At first glance, it appears Cooler Master has tried to throw in all but the kitchen sink. We see RGB backlighting, dedicated media keys, a removable wrist rest with what appears to be a soft material on top, a clean case, and side plates for additional lighting. Leveraging their size and global market share, Cooler Master also offers genuine Cherry MX switches here, and more language and layout support than nearly everyone else. Thanks again to Cooler Master for providing us with a review sample, and we begin the process with a look at the specifications below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

Cooler Master uses a black and purple color scheme on the product packaging here, with a large illustration of the keyboard on the front to go with the company and product name and its salient marketing features. The particular switch used is also marked on front, which helps for quick identification in brick-and-mortar stores where they have a large presence still. The packaging design continues on the back and sides with more colored illustrations, specs, and marketing features. There are two seals on the sides that keep what is essentially an outer wrap over the actual product box inside shut, which is in turn out of plain black cardboard with two double flaps on the side to keep the contents inside in place.


Open the box and we see the keyboard itself in a textile wrap, with the keyboard cable in the cardboard cutout compartment above, which is also where the wrist rest is located. The keyboard is housed in a shaped cardboard piece such that it has the packaging cardboard all around it for protection - not the best I have seen, this setup will suffice provided the shipping packaging is done well. The provided accessories include the aforementioned wrist rest and cable, which is removable as seen above, a multi-language manual, and another pouch that was next to the cable.


This vacuum-sealed plastic pouch contains a nice wire-style keycap puller - preferred over the cheaper, scratching plastic-ring ones - and nice replacement keycaps to add some flair to the keyboard if you so prefer. Indeed, these keycaps are purple in color and consist of the WASD cluster, arrow keys, and an ESC key; all are slanted to match their standard position in an OEM profile. This, along with the purple used in the packaging, matches Cooler Master's black background with purple accents color scheme used recently in other product categories as well. These nice keycaps are thick PBT with an average wall thickness of 1.26 mm, and the legends are doubleshot injected as well, which will have these outlast the keyboard, and this is promising for the rest of the keyboard as well. The legends are translucent as seen above and, thus, do not take away from the backlighting available on the MasterKeys MK750 either.


The detachable wrist rest comes in a plastic wrap to keep it clean, and the first thing you'll notice is the soft finish on top since Cooler Master has gone with PU leather here to impart the look and feel of genuine leather, though it isn't as durable. An interesting choice, time will tell how well it lasts. There is a subtle Cooler Master logo in the middle, and multiple rubber pads on the back provide friction against a desk's surface. The casing has beveled edges, similar to the design on the keyboard's case, and the absence of any interlocking tabs or even screw holes indicates either a magnetic hold or none at all.