Review: Yunzii AL98 aluminium wireless mechanical keyboard

Review unit provided by Yunzii

The Yunzii AL98 is a 101-key wireless mechanical keyboard made with an aluminium body. Price is USD 109.

The keyboard is available in white, black or pink. My review unit is the white model with Yunzii Milk V2 linear switches.

Bottom line

This is a beautiful keyboard with excellent build quality. The creamy typing experience with the Yunzii Milk V2 linear switches is extremely satisfying. RGB lighting is beautiful at night. Price is definitely reasonable for a keyboard of this quality.

First downside is the 2.175kg weight, not unexpected. I'm someone who actually moves my keyboard around often so having a heavy keyboard is not suitable for me. Another downside is there's no Right-Cmd key for Mac users. The key by the right side of the keyboard is the Fn key.

Specifications

• Type: aluminium QMK/VIA Mechanical Keyboard
• Layout: 96% Layout, 101-Key
• RGB: South-facing RGB
• Color Choices: White, Black, Pink
• Switch Choices: YUNZII Milk V2 Linear Switch / YUNZII Cocoa Cream V2
• Linear Switch
• Structure: Gasket Mounted
• Battery: 8000mAh
• Connection: Bluetooth 5.0 & Wired Type-C & 2.4G
• Size of Product: 407.44 x 136.94 x 44.07 mm / 16.04 x 5.39 x 1.74 inch
• Weight of Product: 2175 g / 4.8 lb
• Keycaps: Double-shot PBT Cherry Profile Keycaps
• Hot Swappable: YES
• NKRO: YES

Things included

• Keyboard
• Quick start guide
• Keyboard shortcut card
• Mac key caps
• USB-A to USB-C charging cable
• Key cap and switch puller

Design

Design of this keyboard is clean and simple, beautiful. The double shot PBT keycaps feature fade-resistant legends.

The layout is 96% and comes with 101 keys so it's almost a full-sized keyboard.

My main keyboard is the Yunzii B75 Pro with 75% layout and switching back to a full-sized keyboard is a huge adjustment. If you don't use the numpad, I recommend you get the smaller Yunzii AL75 or Yunzii AL80 instead.

Just beside the Escape key is a little cloud symbol.

The back has this white and silver two-tone design which looks beautiful. I'm not sure where the screws are to open up the keyboard.

Hidden beneath a magnetic plate is the USB-A wireless receiver.

Back of the keyboard has the switch for Bluetooth, 2.4GHz and cable connection, and the USB-C charging port. This keyboard can be paired to three devices using Bluetooth and you can switch between devices using keyboard shortcuts.

Height of the keyboard is 1.74-inch (lowest), typical of most mechanical keyboard. From this photo you may see a little black dot by the side of the CapsLock key which is the CapsLock light.

This keyboard looks good from all angles. You get Cherry profile keys with this keyboard.

One downside of this keyboard is there's no Right-Cmd key when you switch to Mac keyboard layout. The key by the right side of spacebar is Fn and Right-Ctrl. It may be possible to use QMK/VIA to program the Right-Ctrl into a Right-Cmd but I did not try that.

The lack of the Right-Cmd key is actually a dealbreaker for me as I use many keyboard shortcuts that require that Right-Cmd, such as to open files, import, zoom in and out.

The RGB lighting is really beautiful. You can choose from different lighting patterns, animation speed, brightness using keyboard shortcuts.

Battery capacity of this keyboard is a huge 8,000 mAh. Battery life with RGB lights on is advertised to be 5 days, and without the lights you can get around 40 days of use. A full charge requires 13 hours. You can check the battery level using keyboard shortcuts Fn + Right-Ctrl.

I went for the Yunzii Milk V2 linear switches because I know these will get me the creamiest typing experience. The other switch option is the Yunzii Cocoa Cream V2 linear switch. I am not an expert with keyboard switches so I can't really say much.

Typing experience is wonderful. The thic-thoc sounds great, not too loud, sweet. I was able to type rather quickly. I just love typing on this keyboard.

Conclusion

If you're someone who types a lot, buying a high quality keyboard is certainly worth the money. This is a keyboard I can recommend quite easily, but...

As mentioned earlier, if you do not need the numpad, just get the Yunzii AL75 or AL80 instead which will take up less space on the table.

If you're a Mac user, I probably won't recommend this unless you know you won't be needing the Right-Cmd.

And if you're someone who moves your keyboard around on the table often, get a plastic body instead of a metal body because the Yunzii AL98 is very heavy.

Availability

The Yunzii Al98 wireless mechanical keyboard is available from Yunzii online store and AliExpress