TEX Shinobi 75% mechanical keyboard with pointing stick

An ode to the Shinobi mechanical keyboard

Pointing stick

My keyboard has a quirky feature: the pointing stick. Sometimes it seems to have a life of its own, deciding to jump wildly around, just when I'm typing seriously. As if it wants to say: "Let me have a dance among those letters too!".

Why the Shinobi mechanical keyboard?

Pointing stick cursor

What makes the Shura keyboard unique is the pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard. This rubber button can be used as a mouse, allowing you to control the cursor on your screen. Using a pointing stick has several advantages.

Space-saving

Because a pointing stick is placed directly on the keyboard, it doesn't take up extra space on the desk. This can be useful for people who work in a small workspace or are often on the go. Additionally, with a pointing stick, you don't have to take your hands off the keyboard to move the cursor, as is the case with a mouse. This can increase productivity because you can keep your hands in the home position while you work. From an ergonomic perspective, this can also be an advantage.

In short, using a pointing stick can improve the efficiency and comfort of computer use, especially for people who do a lot of word processing or precise work and prefer not to constantly switch between keyboard and mouse.

Adjusting mouse sensitivity

Using the key combination M_Fn + 1 to M_Fn + 9, you can adjust the sensitivity of the pointing stick incrementally. Your cursor will move either slower (1) or faster (9).

We advise you to try out different sensitivities to find what works best for you. The keyboard comes with various rubber caps that you can attach to the pointing stick. The M_Fn key is the middle key below the spacebar.

Mouse click

It's handy, of course, that you can control the cursor with the pointing stick, but you can't actually click with this point. For that, the three keys below the spacebar are designed. The left key functions as the left mouse button and the right key as the right mouse button.

The middle key is the M_Fn key. With this, as described above, you can adjust the sensitivity of your pointing stick. Additionally, when you hold down the M_Fn key, you can use the scroll function.

This is what makes the Shinobi keyboard so good

N-key rollover

To prevent incorrect key registration, the Shinobi keyboard features N-key rollover (also known as NKRO). This refers to the ability to detect and correctly register multiple key presses simultaneously. With NKRO, the keyboard can accurately register every key pressed, even if multiple keys are pressed at the same time. This is especially useful for gamers and fast typists, as it prevents key presses from being missed or incorrectly registered.

Sturdily built

With dimensions of 31.3 x 13.5 x 3.3 cm and a corresponding weight of 1000 grams, it's fair to say it's a sturdy keyboard. The casing is made of ABS plastic (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene). This is a commonly used plastic for keyboards due to its strong and durable properties.

The keycaps are made of double shot PBT, which means that the symbols and characters are not printed on the keycap, but are moulded into the plastic. This ensures durable keys that retain clear symbols, even after prolonged use.

Get the most out of your Shinobi mechanical keyboard

Programmable

The Shinobi keyboard is programmable using the tool on the TEX supplier's website. Here you can set up macros to work faster. Macros are combinations of key presses configured to perform a series of actions when pressed.

Macro examples

Automate repetitive tasks: If you regularly need to perform the same sequence of key presses, you can create a macro to automate this process. For example, entering a long series of numbers or characters.

Productivity: For business use, macros can be used to create shortcuts for frequently used actions in software programs such as word processors, spreadsheets, or graphic design software.

Multimedia functions: Macros can be used to activate multimedia functions, such as playing music, adjusting the volume, or opening specific programs.

Gaming: In the gaming world, macros are often used to simplify complex key combinations for game commands. This allows you, for example, to quickly perform a series of actions in a strategy game or activate a special combo in a fighting game.

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Switch choice

The Shinobi keyboard is equipped with mechanical MX1A switches from the Cherry brand. Switches are the mechanisms under the keycaps. These ensure that key presses are registered by the keyboard. In the case of the Shinobi keyboard, you have a choice of 3 types of switches: silent red, black, and brown.

The silent red switch is a linear switch that you can press with equal pressure, without any resistance. Unique to this switch, as the name suggests, is that it is virtually silent. This makes the keyboard one of the quietest mechanical keyboards we have ever heard.

The brown switch is also silent, but provides a small amount of resistance while pressing the key. This is useful, for example, when you type a lot (touch typing). You can then clearly feel when a key has been pressed far enough to be registered.

The black switch has the same characteristics as the red switch, as they are both linear. The difference lies in the resistance of the switch. Where red gives a resistance of 45 grams, the black switch is slightly heavier at 60 grams. In theory, you can type/game faster with the black switch because the spring in the switch shoots back up with more force.

Pros and cons

•  With pointing stick
•  Prevents hand movements
•  No separate mouse needed
•  Programmable
•  No keycaps for macOS included
•  Concise manual compared to the keyboard's capabilities

Brief specifications

How happy will my body be with this?

Product features

•  QWERTY US layout
•  Cherry MX1A switches
•  Keycap material: ABS double shot
•  Keyboard material: ABS plastic
•  N-Key rollover
•  Features a pointing stick cursor
•  Connection: USB-C to USB-A cable
•  Suitable for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux
•  31.3 x 23.5 x 3.3 cm
•  Weight: 1.2 kg

What's in the box?

•  1 x Shinobi keyboard
•  1 x Brief manual (English)
•  1 x USB-A to USB-C cable
•  3 x Extra keycaps
•  1 x Keycap puller
•  3 x Rubber cap for pointing stick

Frequently asked questions