Mchose has put the Ace75, a 75% Hall effect keyboard, on Kickstarter this week at $109, with a $149 MSRP planned once the campaign ends.
Quick specs:
- 75% layout with a dedicated arrow cluster and F row
- Berserker Magnetic switches on Moon Rock Grey, TTC Royal Steed on the Mecha Green, Navy Blue and Midnight Purple colourways
- Moon Rock Grey is the only option with opaque PBT keycaps, the other three get translucent polycarbonate
- Edge-mounted rotary knob, remappable in the Mchose Hub web driver
- South-facing per-key RGB, plus a light strip between the function row and the rest of the board
- 8 kHz polling, claimed latency as low as 0.08 ms
- Kickstarter from $109, with the MSRP set at $149 after the campaign
Where it differs from the usual Hall effect launch
Hall effect boards all ship the same checklist now: DKS, Rapid Trigger, adjustable actuation, MT and SOCD, and the Ace75 carries all five. The addition that stands out is a push button on the left edge that cycles through up to three profiles, so the gaming features that interfere with ordinary typing can be switched off from the keyboard rather than from the driver.
What Mchose has not told us
The case material is unconfirmed. Mchose has not specified it, and the Kickstarter photography only suggests anodised aluminium colour matched to the keycaps, so read that as a photograph rather than a specification. The 0.08 ms figure is a vendor claim, and Hall effect latency numbers are normally measured at the switch rather than end to end. The $149 MSRP is a promise about a later retail listing, and one commenter notes a $50 super early backer discount on the Mchose site, which would drop the entry price below $109.
How it stacks up
Iqunix launched the EC75 HE at $179.99 in August, Keychron took the V6 Ultra Hybrid TMR to Kickstarter the same month, and Wooting sits above both. At $109, the Ace75 undercuts most of the current Hall effect field.
Would a profile button that switches off Rapid Trigger for typing be enough to make a Hall effect board your only keyboard, or would it still end up as the second board on your desk?