Like the other Tt eSPORTS items that I have reviewed in the past, the Meka G-Unit keyboard is designed for the hardcore gamers in mind. Just like the Razer Blackwidow ultimate Mass Effect edition and the MaxKeyboard Nighthawk X9 mechanical keyboard. From its stylish design to the row of easily accessible macro keys, the Meka G1 has a look that most gamers would be happy to have connected to their PCs – even if it has the unfortunate name of a rap group on it. After spending so much time with Tt ESPORTS’s Challenger though, it would take a heck of a lot to make me switch my default keyboard – so how close did the Meka G-Unit come? Am I now ready to put the Challenger in the closet until this one breaks – or will it be the Meka G-Unit that sits waiting on that rainy day where I actually pick it up again? If you are debating on the best keyboard, you better have something that outshines the Tt eSPORTS or else you will be using it for a long time.
In the mechanical line of the Tt eSPORTS branding, there is the standard Meka, the Meka G1, and the king of the hill – the Meka G-Unit. This beauty has a ton of features to set it apart from the crowd, like the sweet cherry black mechanical keys. While my experiences with mechanical keyboards are somewhat limited (I’ve only ever used two others), the buttons here have a much nicer feel to them. It’s a world of difference between using a standard keyboard and the “squishy” feel of the keys, and a mechanical keyboard with its “stiff” feel. However, when you’re playing certain games (FPS especially) that stiffness is extremely nice to have. Another thing about these cherry black switches is the life expectancy – Thermaltake claims they’ll work for 50 million keystrokes, and I’m inclined to believe them (sorry – I’m not testing that myself).
The Meka G-Unit also has a polling rate of a whopping 1000HZ – that’s pretty much eight times faster than most other gaming keyboards out there, including the Logitech K380. It also sports a really great anti-ghosting feature, if you know how a keyboard operates, that works for up to 46 keys on the keyboard at any one time. It’s extremely advanced, and if you’re playing something that uses a lot of keys (MMOs for one), you won’t have to worry about ghosting of any kind when you’re in “Game Mode”. The game mode is turned on and off easily, by one simple button push though – it kills your Windows key so you don’t inadvertently hit it, and turns on the advanced ghosting protection.
Related: Take some time to also check out our Verbatim mini wireless slim keyboard and mouse review.
While the entire Meka G-Unit isn’t backlit – something I noticed right away after coming from the full spectrum backlighting of the Challenger – it DOES light up in very distinct places. The W / A / S / D keys, the arrow keys, the number pad 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 keys, and the left Ctrl / Left Shift / Space Bar all have a bright white illumination feature. There’s no RGB on this keyboard. While it is nice to have full-on illumination of every key, the illumination here is designed specifically to pull your eyes to the gaming-related buttons, and when playing in the dark it’s actually more welcome than having everything lit up. Each of the “zones” of light can be independently set to one of three brightness levels as well, or you can enable a “pulse” like effect for the show.
Like the Challenger model, the Meka G-Unit has two USB ports, and audio jacks located in the rear section of the unit, making it easy to hook up your mouse and headset straight to it, and minimize cable clutter. Also, like the Challenger, the Meka G-Unit has a detachable USB cord for easy transport and storage. That USB cord – supplied by Thermaltake – has gold plated ends, for maximum signal transmission. While the Challenger has an attached ergonomic rest, however, the Meka G-Unit features a detachable one – and it’s one of the features I’ve grown to hate. It’s probably because of how my keyboard sits (my keyboard sits in a hidey-hole on my desk that looks like a drawer, but the front folds down and then the keyboard slides out), but the damn thing just would not stay attached. I seriously contemplated super glue, but then it would be too much of a pain to transport, so I just took it off and stuck a gel pad in front. A simple solution to an irritating problem.
Related: Feel free to also look at our Seal shield anti-germ waterproof keyboard review.
Just like all of the other Tt eSPORTS products I’ve worked on, the Meka G-Unit comes with a very robust UI program. Through it, you can set up the aforementioned brightness levels, you can set up your profiles and instantly switch, and you can set up macros. The Meka G-Unit has 64KB of onboard memory, so you can have your macros and profiles with you even when switching from one computer to the next. You have twelve fixed macro keys, and eight unfixed, and they can all be changed depending on the profile you have on, making a total of 60 available macros.
I have to say that using this keyboard was an experience. I never had any kind of keyboard lag, and even though I tried to make it ghost, it just would not do it. It had a level of responsiveness that I wasn’t used to at all, and I found myself playing a lot better in certain games because of it. This has definitely taken the place of my other gaming keyboards – the only thing I really wish is that it had a little fan-like the Challenger does, because I never noticed how much that helped before I used this without it.
Editor’s Rating:
[rating:4.5/5]
Excellent!
The Bottom Line: The Meka G-Unit is an amazing keyboard that will surely be a welcome addition to any gamers repertoire and when compared to some of the other high-end mechanical keyboards out there, it just blows them out of the water.
Pros:
- The advanced anti-ghosting features really do work as promised
- The keyboard has a very sleek and refined look
- The cherry black switches are simply a dream to work with
Cons:
- The detachable wrist rest could use some design improvement
- No hand cooling fan is noticeable if you’ve used one for a while
- Illumination is only white, and only in specific areas
The Tt eSPORTS Meka G-Unit has an MSRP of $129.99
