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Ah, it's that time of year. With Computex comes the announcement of a Chinese Zodiac-themed gaming keyboard, and this year, it's celebrating the Year of the Horse. It's probably what you're expecting based on the name, except with 30% more fire.
Our Jacob managed to get his eyes on it, on the Computex show floor, and it's a bit of an over-the-top beauty. It's not every day you get a black keyboard with a big red horse slapped in the middle, covered in gold, red, and orange.
That's all before mentioning that it doesn't appear to have any lettering on its 100 keycaps. But, not having to make it legible does give some creative room to make the keyboard pop, and pop it does.
We don't really have too much information on the keyboard yet, but last year's sold for around the $200 mark, and was limited to 2025 units. We know this year's version is limited to 999 units, but we don't have a price point. Speaking of last year's, the Year of the Snake model may be my favourite Ducky Zodiac release, as it is covered in reds and pinks. It has text on the keycaps, though it's not very legible to my eyes.
Ducky's Chinese Zodiac keyboards do seem intended to be more ornamental, hence the limited supply and loud looks, and on the Computex show floor, the keyboard does look pretty nice behind glass. It's got some light accenting up at the top corners that catches the light well.
We've had some fun Zodiac keyboards from Ducky over the years. In 2020, we got the Year of the Rat one, which looks a bit like a cartoon sewer, and the Year of the Pig one is mostly pink with a black base.
Though last year's was more my style than this year, I can say that I prefer the new Year of the Horse keyboard to Ducky's previous attempt back in 2014. The old version is a pretty simple white base, with black keys and a small horse on the space bar. Due to the shinethrough RGB, it does highlight the horse nicely, but I'd take the new one any day.
Ducky has become one of my favourite brands to keep an eye on at Computex purely to see its yearly keyboard offering, and here's hoping the Year of the Goat model is really out there.
1. Best overall:
Wooting 80HE
2. Best budget:
Gamakay x Naughshark NS68
3. Best 60%:
Wooting 60HE v2
4. Best 75%:
Keychron K2 HE
5. Best mechanical:
Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless
6. Best silent:
Be Quiet! Light Mount
7. Best ergonomic:
Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB
8. Best membrane:
Glorious GMBK 75%
