Das Keyboard Prime 13 Mechanical Keyboard Review – For the Minimalist

It’s been a while since I last encountered a minimalist keyboard. These past few months were all about RBGs and we see mechanical gaming keyboards popping out everywhere with those fancy RGBs and non-Cherry MX switches. For those who are looking for a simple and clean looking mechanical keyboard built with the good old Cherry MX Brown switches, Metadot has something new for us, the Das Keyboard Prime 13. Das Keyboard is popularly known for their professional and clean looking mechanical keyboards that are functional and effective like the Das Keyboard 4 Professional. And let’s not forget the Das Keyboard 4 Ultimate with completely blank keys, designed for bad ass typists. The Das Keyboard Prime 13 is an all-black minimalist mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches designed with the essential features that every users need on a daily basis. If you are in the market looking for this kind of mechanical keyboard, please continue reading our Das Keyboard Prime 13 review below, you may find it to your liking.

Das Keyboard Prime 13 Mechanical Keyboard Review

About Das Keyboard
You may not be familiar with the company Metadot or their brand Das Keyboard. If you do know them and their products or at least you own one of their mechanical keyboards, then that’s good. You already have an idea about the company and their keyboards. However, if this is your first time to encounter Das Keyboard, well the company basically specializes in making high-performance mechanical keyboards. Most of their keyboards are geared towards the professionals. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is dedicated to delivering innovative technology products to increase productivity and user experience. Das Keyboard was launched in 2005 and was founded by Daniel Guermeur; Das Keyboard has been praised by major media outlets, techie magazines, geeks and tech enthusiasts who use and rely on keyboards to be productive throughout the workday.

Das Keyboard Prime 13 Features
Metadot’s latest creation, the Das Keyboard Prime 13 is somehow similar with their previous products and carries the same DNA. Das Keyboards are known for their build quality, simple, minimalist yet highly efficient and effective design and function. The new Prime 13 is no exception and the added LED backlighting is a very much welcomed feature. I like their Professional 4 keyboard, but the lack of backlighting was somewhat a turn off for me. Honestly, I’m no master typist who has mastered and memorized all the keys on the keyboard. I sometimes look at the keys and since I work at night, backlighting is a huge help for me when I type.

According to Das Keyboard founder Daniel Guermeur: “With the Das Keyboard Prime 13, we’ve added LED backlighting, which is a frequent request we get from our fan base, and we’ve also maintained a very minimalist design, which Das Keyboard users also strongly desire. We think these elements combined with the best typing experience around will help make the Prime 13 one of the market’s more highly sought after mechanical keyboards.”

The general design and shape of the Prime 13 is very much similar with the previous Das Keyboard models, including their X40 Division Zero gaming keyboard. The top panel is made of anodized aluminum that feels solid and doesn’t catch finger prints. The corners are round but the edges of the aluminum plate feels a bit sharp.

All keys have individual white LED backlights and each key has its own soft tactile Cherry MX brown mechanical switch. Each switch is rated to have a lifespan of around 50 million keystrokes. With that amount of keystrokes it would last for years, provided that there is no manufacturing defect. I have tried the most common Cherry MX switches namely the Red, Blue, Brown and Black. I can say that I prefer the Blue and Brown switches. The Brown switch is just like the Blue minus the clicky feedback. The Red switch feels too soft for me; meanwhile the Black is like the Brown switch only that it needs more force for it to actuate.

I’ll talk more of the Prime 13’s features after the specifications table below.

Das Keyboard Prime 13 Specifications