Why is the numeric keypad on the right side of the gaming keyboard? The new Mountain Everest Max gaming keyboard allows you to put the numeric keypad on the left side instead, giving you all the benefits of the TKL keyboard design, but with the practicality of a full-size board. And this also means it's my new favorite slab. The hot pink trim is especially fresh. Gotta love these RGB LEDs.

In the cutthroat world of PC peripherals, you've probably never heard of the newcomer Mountain. After all, it may not be the most memorable name for a keyboard and mouse manufacturer, but it also lacks the offensive nuance of other PC game racing-related names.

This comparison is important because Mountain Everest is a gaming keyboard that takes on the big boys, especially the enthusiast-level gaming keyboard that Glorious has made its name on. The fully modular gaming keyboard can accommodate any hot-swappable mechanical switches, and Glorious has been bringing the fun of custom keyboards to the mainstream for years.

Mountain Everest, in particular this Everest Max Trim, provides everything you need to create a complete modular experience and customize your device the way you want to use it. And it's not just a keyboard with a logo embossed on it, taken out of the trash at a peripheral factory in China. Everest is loaded with new design elements and features not found on other boards.

It is also far more modular than simply a combination of mechanical switches. The base keyboard consists of two machined aluminum plates that form a surprisingly sturdy frame, between which the all-important all-round RGB LED strips are placed. This baseboard can be obtained as a pure small form factor TKL barebone unit without switches.

The whole package feels super high-end, but that's to be expected since the full Mountain Everest Max kit weighs in at $270 (230 lbs.) and the barebone base is $130 (130 lbs.) on its own. The Everest Max comes with all the trimmings, including a bunch of hot-swappable Cherry MX switches, so you can try out the difference. There are blue, brown, silent red, and silver Cherry MX versions, but my full board is fitted with linear red switches. I might put the clicky blue in the numeric keypad for kicks, though; Mountain also sells additional packs of Cherry MX and Kailh switches on their accessories page.

TKL's base unit is great, with a USB 3.2 Gen1 hub on the back, cable routing for Type-C connectivity on the bottom (and through the palm rest), and magnetic feet to adjust the angle at which you type. We did not expect to like this aspect.

One of my pet peeves with gaming keyboards is that when I shift the keyboard on the desktop, the feet bend downwards. Logitech's folding feet are convenient, but I thought the magnetic feet that build up in stages would definitely put it under scrutiny. (But these magnets are powerful.)

And with the Everest Max, you also get a squishy, magnetically attached palm rest, a media dock with customizable IPS display, and individual media keys. This feels like a direct homage to Logitech's mighty G15 keyboard, which was launched as an enthusiast's board way back in the day, and which was also the first keyboard to be released on the market. It was also one of the darlings of the modding crowd, creating a series of applications for use with its monotone pixel display.

While the Everest version comes with a shiny digital display and a number of built-in apps, including component performance, time and date, stopwatch, lighting, brightness, and volume listings, Mountain said that users can create their own apps for the module. Mountain states that there are no plans yet to release an SDK that will allow users to create their own apps for the module.

And if the tenkeyless design isn't enough for you, there is also a magnetically attachable numeric keypad; Mountain offers the option of plugging the numeric keypad and media dock into the base in several different configurations, which is how I discovered the joys of the left-hand numeric keypad I learned.

I don't need constant access to the numeric keypad, but it does come in handy when filling out benchmark spreadsheets and the like. The Southpaw numeric keypad is also ergonomically preferable because it allows me to keep my mouse hand closer to my WSAD hand when I am gaming, which puts less strain on my back and shoulders. This is why many professionals have a lifelong love affair with TKL's design.

Also, if the numeric keypad is not needed, simply remove it and move it out of the way, and you are completely back to the TKL setup, which takes up a little more space on the desktop. The modular connection is something Mountain has spent a lot of time working on, from the extra movement of the USB Type-C connection to the strength of the magnet.

And the attention to detail shows. It stays securely in place, powers up reliably, and is easy to remove. The entire keyboard can be moved around on the desk with little to no displacement. Like the switches, it is hot-swappable, so the numeric keypad can be inserted and removed as needed. The unit also comes with four customizable keys, each with a digital display under a flat, see-through keycap. These can be used for program launchers, macros, or whatever else Basecamp Software allows.

Ah, Basecamp; while we were immediately impressed with the actual hardware that Mountain offers, the software did not feel quite so robust. This is honestly not a surprise; no disrespect to Mountain's developers, but Mountain is a newcomer, and creating software from scratch for an entirely new keyboard is not easy. And it shows in the first iteration of software I used on Everest Max. It killed my board. Completely. It was no longer a gaming slab, it was a gaming brick.

So I was nervous to test the second review unit the company sent me, and before I could install the updated Base Camp app, I had to manually remove the original software from my system and remove the last traces of its existence was.

Which is much more robust. Since then, I have not had a single problem with Everest's software, and I have been tinkering around with it, adding new images, program launch buttons, and customizing the media dock with my own DOOM face. That said, the app and Everest firmware updates fill me with dread. The last base camp update failed for no reason, and the latest firmware update has stayed at 100 percent for the past two hours.

This is frustrating, but it is also something that can actually be fixed, given time and development resources. Hardware ergonomics and manufacturing quality issues cannot be fixed. And I have no concerns about that aspect of Mountain.

I've reviewed many keyboards as a technical reporter, and I can always tell when I've found a good keyboard.

And the Mountain Everest Max will be on my desktop for the foreseeable future. I'm probably going to play around with the keycaps (G. (Skill's recent Crystal Crown Pudding Cap has a strange charm.) And it might hook out the switches on the Logitech G Pro TKL keyboard that my 16-month-old son uses to imitate dear old Dad.

Indeed, modular keyboards are nothing new. Logitech recently introduced hot-swappable switches. In fact, the same is true of removable numeric keypads, but none of the high-end boards look or function solidly enough. But high price tag aside, the Everest Max beats them all for me and will likely be my keyboard of choice going forward.