Mechanical Cherry Keys
Mechanical Cherry Keys
Cherry is a company established in 1953 in the US, but its headquarters were moved to Germany in 1979. It has four divisions, and the one that is the most interesting concerning this review is responsible for making mechanical switches. Cherry MX switches were marketed around 1985. The colour of the key stem mainly references them.
|
Switch type |
Clicky |
Tactile |
Linear |
Actuation force |
|
Cherry MX Red |
No |
No |
Yes |
0.45 N |
|
Cherry MX Silent Red |
No |
No |
Yes |
0.45 N |
|
Cherry MX Speed Silver |
No |
No |
Yes |
0.45 N |
|
Cherry MX Nature White |
No |
No |
Yes |
0.55 N |
|
Cherry MX Black |
No |
No |
Yes |
0.60 N |
|
Cherry MX Silent Black |
No |
No |
Yes |
0.60 N |
|
Cherry MX Linear Grey |
No |
No |
Yes |
0.80 N |
|
Cherry MX Brown |
No |
Yes |
No |
0.45 N |
|
Cherry MX Clear |
No |
Yes |
No |
0.55 N |
|
Cherry MX Tactile Grey |
No |
Yes |
No |
0.80 N |
|
Cherry MX Blue |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
0.50 N |
|
Cherry MX White |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
0.50 N / 0.70 N |
|
Cherry MX Green |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
0.70 N |
|
Cherry MX Viola |
No |
No |
CrossLinear |
0.45 N/ 0.75 N |
Mechanical keyboards are rapidly gaining an increasing share of the gaming peripherals market. Cherry MX switches are the most popular ones on the market. Mechanical switches give you a more perceptible feel than the rubber membrane used in most cheaper keyboards. The performance is good, and the reliability is outstanding, so what more can you ask for? Aaah, yes – full key rollover (but can you push more than ten buttons at once?) and anti-ghosting. The Corsair K70 PRO RGB keyboard has Cherry MX Brown mechanical switches with a pressure force of 55 grams, while the actuation point is around 2 millimeters. The switches used here are an intermediate link between the linear Cherry MX Red and the jump MX Blue, but the activation point is perceptible.
Why’s that? The crucial features here are 55 g of actuation force and tactile characteristics.
Their MTBF is 100 million strokes; that’s a lot. The keycaps are made from PBT (so not the worse ABS, which are less reliable/resistant), and the per-key RGB backlighting makes it look good. Still, you’ve got the warranty if something breaks, right?
