Secret Chinese peripherals meta

[Shens]

Living close enough to China has its strengths, mostly in the access to their tech market. And given the consistently absurd pricing for western technologies (looking at YOU, Wooting), especially ones that are on the simpler side of things, such as desktop peripherals, there are definitely some more enticing solutions under the red sun.

In fact, almost my entire setup by this point is Chinese. Currently I’m using a VXE R1 SE+ mouse, which has been an absolute steal at ~$40 given its 50g weight and long battery life. My monitor and keyboard are not as great picks: some random 75hz 27" 1080p display (that has awful color correction) and a TKL mechanical keyboard imported under some sevenletter brand name. Both did serve me well though, but I’m looking to upgrade. Headphones are probably the only part that remains western, a pair of Marshall Major IVs, manufactured in and imported from the EU.

I’ve looked at some Wooting clones on Aliexpress and there’s a lot of positive comments about the Madlion manufacturer, as well as many YouTube reviews. But I am wary of the config utilities of some sellers being a bit sketchy. Heard it’s better in the monitor space, with some brands like Xiaomi, but I did not research that enough, so I’m down to get some recommendations for budget displays (looking to grab a 24" 1080p 144hz one).

How has your experience with Chinese desktop accessories been in the past and currently?

 

[hawaw_dacar2]

Honestly chinese tech has grown so fast and became a true competitor on the market. This fact goes from phone to even pc componements that are starting to appear

 

[CompMeistR]

So far when it comes to keyboards, the fact that you can get new, cherry compatible, full size, detachable USB-C, hotswap keyboards for ~$20-30 off of Amazon is insane (though that was prior to 2025). No issues with the KBs I've gotten of the cheap and cheerful variety (as long as you aim for slightly more premium features, and make sure to avoid the configuration utilites). The security implications on the hardware keylogger side do slightly sketch me out, but again, nothing to report at the moment.

However, in general, when it comes to QC, that's where a purely Chinese product can sometimes be iffy. For instance, between a friend and I, we've bought ~10 of the 99Wh Anker 250W Prime USB-C battery that launched a few years ago. 2 of the 10 just failed out of the blue, with the BMS being completely, irreversibly borked and thinking that the batteries were at 0C. The stupid thing is they were some of the batteries of the fleet that we abused the least (one was barely a couple of months old, and the other just sat on a shelf). If you get a good unit though, you'll likely have smooth sailing.

 

[hawaw_dacar2]

So far when it comes to keyboards, the fact that you can get new, cherry compatible, full size, detachable USB-C, hotswap keyboards for ~$20-30 off of Amazon is insane (though that was prior to 2025). No issues with the KBs I've gotten of the cheap and cheerful variety (as long as you aim for slightly more premium features, and make sure to avoid the configuration utilites). The security implications on the hardware keylogger side do slightly sketch me out, but again, nothing to report at the moment.

However, in general, when it comes to QC, that's where a purely Chinese product can sometimes be iffy. For instance, between a friend and I, we've bought ~10 of the 99Wh Anker 250W Prime USB-C battery that launched a few years ago. 2 of the 10 just failed out of the blue, with the BMS being completely, irreversibly borked and thinking that the batteries were at 0C. The stupid thing is they were some of the batteries of the fleet that we abused the least (one was barely a couple of months old, and the other just sat on a shelf). If you get a good unit though, you'll likely have smooth sailing.

When it comes to batteries i infact still have doubts about that quality of chinese brands. For keyboards tho its probably one of the most impressive leap, we have come from cheap knockoff with only north facing MX and cheap controllers to probably one of the best basis to build a custom keyboard.

Its something logical in the end, the whole world decided to send their industry over there so in the end they learned very fast, but its not only copying stuff, nowadays they even create and engineer their own solution wich might sign the end of western industry like we know it...

 

[Shens]

the fact that you can get new, cherry compatible, full size, detachable USB-C, hotswap keyboards for ~$20-30 off of Amazon is insane (though that was prior to 2025)

I've gotten into mechanical keyboards quite late (can't recall when I bought mine, most likely 2024?) and I remember seeing a lot about how you need to get a board with hotswappable switches and all that... but that was the default option that I saw everywhere. So to assume that earlier switches were changed mostly with soldering is absurd to me.

When it comes to batteries i infact still have doubts about that quality of chinese brands.

Really depends on the correlation of capacity and physical size in my experience. Battery advertises huge mAh/Wh that isn't quite to scale -> will not last long. Even worse when it's something constantly recharged like a powerbank, my pocket-size one advertised 10,000 mAh (and acted as such at first), but half a year later only has enough to charge my iPhone 11 once aaand it's dead. Larger powerbank of same capacity lasted way longer before giving up like that (but became a bit of a fire hazard).
And now I need to replace a swollen battery inside of my ThinkPad... ough. The 72Wh external one from AliExpress is still holding strong though!

 

[hawaw_dacar2]

I've gotten into mechanical keyboards quite late (can't recall when I bought mine, most likely 2024?) and I remember seeing a lot about how you need to get a board with hotswappable switches and all that... but that was the default option that I saw everywhere. So to assume that earlier switches were changed mostly with soldering is absurd to me.

Really depends on the correlation of capacity and physical size in my experience. Battery advertises huge mAh/Wh that isn't quite to scale -> will not last long. Even worse when it's something constantly recharged like a powerbank, my pocket-size one advertised 10,000 mAh (and acted as such at first), but half a year later only has enough to charge my iPhone 11 once aaand it's dead. Larger powerbank of same capacity lasted way longer before giving up like that (but became a bit of a fire hazard).
And now I need to replace a swollen battery inside of my ThinkPad... ough. The 72Wh external one from AliExpress is still holding strong though!

The correlation part is true but there is a catch with chineese batteries. They use a cheaper and different Lithium alloy compared to our western battery design. This alloy type is way more sensible to charge/decharge rate, there is also a story about coefficient but tbh i kinda forgot that one part (this got explain to me via my vocational school)