Leopold FC750R PD mechanical keyboard review

Our Verdict

The Leopold FC750R PD should appeal to mechanical keyboard enthusiasts who can alive without a number pad, and don't need the bells and whistles that gaming models offer.

For

Excellent build quality
Straightforward design
Useful menu key
Fantastic typing experience

Against

Only one mode to arrange height
Cheap plastic keycap puller

Tom'south Guide Verdict

The Leopold FC750R PD should appeal to mechanical keyboard enthusiasts who can alive without a number pad, and don't need the bells and whistles that gaming models offer.

Pros

+
Excellent build quality
+
Straightforward design
+
Useful menu key
+
Fantastic typing experience

Cons

-
Simply ane way to adjust height
-
Cheap plastic keycap puller

Leopold FC750R PD: Specs

Central Type: Mechanical
Switch Type: Cherry MX Blue, Brown or Blood-red
Illumination: None
Size: xiv.three 10 5.5 x 1.three inches

The Leopold FC750R PD demonstrates that every now and again, you notice a product that'southward exactly what you lot're looking for. It doesn't happen ofttimes. Nearly computer gear involves a Faustian option of form over role, or accepting deficits as features. (Yeah, I'm calling you out, Windows 10). While the 87-key Leopold FC750R PD mechanical keyboard may not be perfect for anybody, information technology has exactly what I demand. More chiefly, it has none of the needless excessive bells and whistles that I don't.

Let me explain: I'm a writer, not a gamer. Most mechanical keyboards are designed and reviewed with gamers in mind. Simply the same features that gamers geek out over, this writer freaks out over. I don't want my keyboard to sport a kaleidoscope of customizable flashing backlights. I shudder at media controls and passthrough ports, which take me away from the business of writing. Wireless connectivity, while dainty aesthetically, is a low priority. I never saw the signal of fifty-fifty a simple white backlight for writing in the night.

As someone who spends serious fourth dimension working on a keyboard and is leery of distractions, all I care near are design, keycap font and how the keys respond to my touch. Read on for the full Leopold FC750R PD review, which explains how this peripheral keeps things simple and straightforward, making it one of the best keyboards you can buy if those are your priorities.

Leopold FC750R PD review: Design

The Leopold FC750R PD comes with dual in-line packet (DIP) switches on the back that let y'all swap keys similar the Left Command and Caps Lock. I was happy with the default settings, though. I was also quite taken with a menu key. When I began the review, I didn't recollect much of information technology. But over time, I found information technology to be a handy feature, which I didn't know I wanted or needed.

Aside from the overall look of the Leopold – it'due south gorgeous – I was also looking for a keyboard with a smaller footprint. Full-size keyboards commonly measure out more than 17 inches across. Stick a mouse next to information technology, and that extends your attain to 20+ inches. During hard edits on large documents, that's hundreds, if not thousands of dorsum-and-forth shoulder extensions, which can evidence painful over time.

Leopold FC750R PD review — (Paradigm credit: Tom's Guide)

By eliminating the number pad, the tenkeyless Leopold measures a svelte 14.3 inches beyond. The solidly-built board sports an efficient, no-frills design with rounded corners and, when lying flat, tapers slightly from top to lesser.

The keyboard is wired with a simple, removable, unbraided 48-inch black mini-USB cable, and you tin can route it to the left, correct, or center. Information technology as well comes with a PS/2-to-USB-A converter. It takes longer to sneeze than to prepare. At that place is no learning curve, no DIY customization or other nonsense required. It's just plug and play.

The keyboard rests inside a thick plastic case, with a steel-mounted plate and extra padding to dampen audio on the spacebar. It's solid, and feels heavier than its two.two-pound fighting weight.

Leopold FC750R PD review:

If you've never typed on a mechanical keyboard, you owe it to yourself to try. Yes, they're more expensive. The Leopard reviewed hither retails for $119, which is well-nigh boilerplate. But once yous pull the trigger, a mechanical keyboard could exist the concluding keyboard you lot'll e'er need to purchase.

Short of spilling coffee and drowning the keyboard (which I've done sadly more than one time), they're near indestructible. Higher-end mechanical keyboards besides come up with hot-swappable switches, so you lot tin remove the keycap, bank check the colour of the switch or society replacements. Everything snaps into place.

The Leopold comes with a plastic keycap puller which honestly, I recommend junking in favor of a metallic puller so as non to scratch the gorgeous keycaps.

Why buy the Leopold and not some other TKL keyboard? Similar everything else, it comes downwards to personal preference regarding design decisions.

Again, the Leopold FC750R PD is drop-dead gorgeous. Look at the white-on-blackness keys, and the clean, crisp font caps. The keys are very thick, and employ industry-best polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) double shot keycaps. (That's fancy tech-talk, pregnant they're virtually indestructible.) The peripheral is an absolute joy to wait at, and to apply.

Gamers and mechanical keyboard enthusiasts accept strong feelings about key switches. These are the plastic mechanical switches underneath each keycap that allow for the click and ballyhoo sounds when you tap a key. Some switches, like the Ruby MX Blue, are loud. Others, like Cherry MX Silent Scarlet, are barely audible. The Scarlet MX Chocolate-brown switch on the Leopold I reviewed was just right. It has plenty of a tactile feel and sound to satisfy, but not plenty to wake the neighbors or a cubicle-mate.

Even if you're a ham-fisted typist, the Leopold FC750R PD won't jitterbug across your desk. It comes in six colors: black, grayness/blue, two-tone white, white/grey, navy/blue, and ash yellow. Yous can become a layout in either English or Korean (Leopold is a Korean company), with seven choices of Ruby-red MX switches: Brown, Blue, Red, Black, Silent Cherry, Clear and Silver.

Leopold FC750R PD review: Features

I connected the Leopold keyboard to my ThinkPad, and used information technology exclusively for a week while editing my second novel. Larry Gelbart, the creator and producer of the brilliant M*A*S*H television serial, once said, "Writing is all about overcoming procrastination." It's why my keyboard must be gratuitous of distracting media control buttons, LCD displays, flashing lights or anything else that can divert my attention from working.

The Leopold offers none of these, and I am so grateful. If you want to, though, you tin jump downwardly a rabbit hole and throw gobs of cash to swap out keycaps and create intricate multicolor keyboard designs – and there are a slew of addicting sites to aid you. Mechanical Keyboards (https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/) offers add-on keycap sets for this keyboard. Y'all can also check out Apiary Keyboards (https://apiarykeyboards.com) and Novel Keys (www.novelkeys.xyz).

Other behind-the-scenes features on the Leopold include four condom pads on the bottom corners, and two spring-loaded rubber-tipped kickstands (one on each side) for a unmarried height adjustment. To quibble, however, 2 elevation levels would have been better. There's also a plastic grit cover to keep dust and detritus out when the keyboard's non in use.

Leopold FC750R PD review: Verdict

At the end of the twenty-four hour period, it's the typing experience that makes the Leopold FC750R PD a standout keyboard. It's also a serious contender for anyone seeking a distraction-free TKL mechanical keyboard, whether y'all want to upgrade from a standard office model or dip your toe in the mechanical keyboard enthusiast waters. If yous don't need a number pad, the Leopold FC750R PD is just "write."