News Cherry unveils new MX RGB mechanical keyswitches

All they have done is make clear switch housing to accommodate and diffuse SMD LEDs - they haven't redesigned the casing at all to allow the use of for example 3 leg RGB LEDs.

but clear housing's will be awesome for diffusing the light - but I am not going to lie, I will be buying a corsair board just to take the switches off and put on something nicer, have just built a board with clear switch tops and it looked nice.

 

hmm not definitely true for some custom pcb's support smd LEDs - more to the point, I imagine that the position of the smd is going to be exatly where you would position a normal 3mm LED, and therefore you could definitely ghetto some SMD LEDs and get the benefit of the clear housing. The "lens" will likely sit in the area designated for the 2 LED legs on a standard mx switch - if you look at this area on a normal switch, that sits in a circular indentation anyway - I would imagine the "lens" is just a bulb of clear plastic here rather than a circular indentation with 3mm LED leg holes.

Challenge Accepted Gareth Halfacree - you will see my poker 2 (and spirit 60% if that has arrived by then) with cherry RGB switches and smd LEDs shortly after the keyboard is released

 

Ah - I misunderstood the picture - I thought it showed a regular LED inside the switch itself rather than a lens for reflecting another LED somewhere else...

 

You know it's going to be one of those days weeks...

 

So that should be the RGB LED side of things sorted, now all they need to do is include a standard range of media keys and possibly a few macro keys and I think we might be on to a winner. I'm sure it would be in the £150-£200 ball park though.

 

Can't think of anything worse. Give me a small keyboard please.

But that's the fun part of all the options on keyboards these days, all the customization.

 

Clakety,clakety,clakety,clakety....will they come with a free set of ear plugs.

 

why would you want media keys if you can have them on a function layer?! Small keyboards + programming ability + function layers is king maximum efficiency minimum space on your desk.

 

not all cherry switches are noisy (unless you hammer them down intentionally).


For the chap asking for media keys, this is cherry producing a different switch to allow lighting on keyboards made by corsair (and presumably other later on); The layout (whether you get media/macro keys) is determined by corsair. And I thought their boards already had some media buttons, there were definitely some on my old K60 (which i didn't use).

 

Yes I know that this article is about Cherry's switches but up until now there has been issues preventing full RGB LED mechanical keyboards. What can I say? I like to have dedicated media keys just as much as I like (and use) number pads at the end of the keyboard rather than the numbers across the top. So once again we have people preaching that what is good for them is the best and should suit everyone else.

 

Whichever way you look at it, keeping your hands on the home row for the maximum amount of time is the most efficient way to use a keyboard - personal taste aside.

 

I contacted Cherry about possibility of making these as custom order some months ago. They had claimed they couldn't make them, even though they had made them in 1987-1989 for Nixdorf on a few G80 models. It makes me wonder how long they had this in the works before my inquiry... or after.

 

There is more to life than mere efficiency. Hopefully it won't be long before they update the K95 with RGB LEDs but as the K95 already retails for £130, £150+ seems very realistic. My main issue now is actually buying one as there is nowhere that I know of to go to actually try one before I buy, at least not in London.

 

But.. Topre.

 

I believe they might have already been working on it at that time, just that the person you talked to either didn't know it, didn't care or wouldn't open up the possibility to produce a similar product when they had this new "gamer" switch in development.
I look forward to see if they just cheaped out and made a regular, all clear MX switch with space for an SMD LED underneath, or if they indeed have made some worthwhile changes to throw the light better.

 

Now make a kb with these AND a lcd screen like the G19, I'll never buy a KB without a screen.