Mistel MD650L Barocco (Cherry ML) Low-Profile keyboard

Is this keyboard right for me?

Width	325 mm
Depth	106 mm
Height	16 mm front / 20 mm rear
Weight	920 g
Compatibility	Windows
Key layout	QWERTY (ANSI US int.)
Switch type	Mechanical (Cherry ML)
Connection	Wired (USB)

An ode to the MD650L

Flat and mechanical in the same sentence

And we don't mean: this keyboard is mechanical and therefore not flat. On the contrary, this board is mechanical and genuinely flat. Once you have climbed back onto your chair, you can read more about it below.

Why the MD650L?

The split Mistel MD650L keyboard is a flat mechanical keyboard that lends itself to serious typing work. The mechanical keys actuate lightly, partly because they register a keystroke before the key is pressed all the way down. So you don't have to hammer your hands on it.

2 separate parts

This Mistel keyboard consists of two separate parts connected by a cable. The big advantage of this is that you can position these separate parts in whatever way works best for you. For example, you can angle them slightly outwards so that your wrists are better aligned with your arms. You can also do it less drastically by simply pulling them a little apart. That alone gives you a better posture and takes the familiar 'kink' out of your wrist.

If you would rather attach the separate parts to each other, you can do so with the included connector piece. It lets you screw the left and right parts together.

ML switches

The board is fitted with Cherry ML switches (tactile, silent). These are considerably lower than the MX switches that many people know. Where standard mechanical keyboards are relatively tall, boards with ML switches are not. This makes it much more compact, more portable and friendlier to the wrists. Not only does the key have shorter travel (4 mm MX switch versus 3 mm ML switch), the specially designed low keycaps also contribute to this.

Kind to the body

The MD650L is all-round good for the body. Your shoulders are happy with it because it is compact, allowing the mouse to be used close to the body. The wrists stay neatly in line with the arms and hands, and the fingers don't have to search for the bottom of the key, because the board registers a keystroke earlier. The ML switches are known as silent, which makes it suitable for office environments.

For gamers too

Mistel has taken an enormous amount into account. For example, the left part of the keyboard can work actively without using the right part. You only need to plug the mini USB connector into the left side and remove the orange micro USB connectors. By removing the right part of the keyboard, your mouse sits closer to your body and you can play your favourite games with more precision. With the programmable FN key you can even call up a full keyboard in just the right part, but you can read more about that below.

Compact and portable

The Mistel keyboard is only 1.6 cm at the front, and slightly taller at 2 cm at the rear. Thanks to its dimensions, its split parts and its special keycaps and switches, it is very easy to take with you, making it ideal for the mobile workplace. You don't see that often: a mechanical keyboard that is also portable. When you go somewhere, you can either fold it double in your bag, or place the 2 separate parts wherever you have space.

Versatile thanks to the FN key

The 650L may look like a standard mechanical board, but it can do far more than you expect. For example, it incorporates all sorts of multimedia keys that you can activate with the 'FN' key. You can find these in the complete manual supplied with the board. Because the functions are not printed on the board, you will need to keep the manual close at hand in the beginning.

And the multimedia keys are far from the whole story. You can even switch keyboard layout to Colemak and the increasingly popular Dvorak. The keyboard is also programmable with up to 3 layers.

What makes a mechanical keyboard so good?

A mechanical keyboard registers a keystroke before the key is fully pressed. This makes it ideal for intensive typing. A mechanical keyboard also tends to be more durable. The keys and switches are easy to clean and last longer.

Get the most out of the MD650L

Programmable keys (macros!)

This is where the magic happens. The Mistel keyboard has its own memory in which all sorts of layers and macros can be stored. The keyboard has no fewer than 3 custom layers that you can fully customise. Adjusting the layers is so well thought out that you can hardly do anything wrong. There is always the 'default' layer, which is not programmable. You can also give the keyboard a full reset, returning it to its factory settings.

The macros can be practically anything. You can build in a shortcut (CTRL+C = copy), but it is also possible to store an entire sentence. The keyboard remembers your sequence of keys and saves it.

How to create a macro

The simplest example of a macro is adjusting the space bar. Because the keyboard has 2 separate space bars, you can customise 1 of them. We gave the right space bar the 'Enter' function. We faced 1 challenge there; the keyboard requires at least 2 or more keystrokes when creating a macro. We got around this with the following key combination --> A + Backspace + Enter. The first two don't appear in the final result, because Backspace cancels out 'A'. But this way the macro does meet the minimum of 2 keystrokes.

Creating macros is explained clearly and step by step in the manual that Mistel supplies with its keyboards. If you still can't figure it out, we are of course here to help. We have already done our share of tinkering to test all the possibilities.

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Dip (toggle) switches

On the underside of the right part of the keyboard are 4 switches, so-called Dip Switches. With these switches you can swap the functions of important keys. These are the changes:

• Dip switch 1: 'Caps Lock' and 'FN' swap functions
• Dip switch 2: 'Caps Lock' and 'right CTRL' swap functions
• Dip switch 3: 'left Windows'and 'left ALT' swap functions (for MAC users)
• Dip switch 4: 'left space bar' becomes a second 'FN' key