Cherry MX LP2.1 - It seems that it is not easy to make a good keyboard

Hello everyone, a few days ago Zha Zha wrote an article "It doesn't seem so difficult to make a good keyboard", and shared with you some product trends of domestic brand keyboards and the status quo of involution. And recently, I also received an MX LP2.0 low-axis mechanical keyboard from Cherry. Today we might as well change our perspective and talk about why manufacturers with stronger comprehensive strengths like Cherry, Logitech, and Corsair are so good at feeling. Always "almost mean".

Regarding the bad feel of the big manufacturers, there is still some paradox—these brands have strong R&D strength and funds, and it seems that it is not particularly difficult to adjust the keyboard. What's more, there is basically a standard answer for mass-produced brands to improve the feel. How can there be only a handful of mass-produced major brands that do this small thing well?

Regarding this problem, I slag made up some reasons why domestic manufacturers cannot do it in the previous article: for example, it is difficult to automate the process of moisturizing the satellite axis, and another example is the cycle sharing rate of the mold cost of the self-owned factory, etc. As for the first-tier brands that adopt the OEM processing model, it seems that these reasons for brain supplementation are not valid-at the price range of these brands, they have enough profits to support their products to achieve an excellent feel that is more recognized by the market, and they also have more The confidence to go to the PUA foundry, forcing the factory to improve product details.

For example, Cherry brand keyboards, compared to our hatred of Cherry switches, some of Cherry’s finished keyboards, especially the product level of the MX series, can be said without hesitation—the MX series has been developed since the earliest 8.0 and 9.0. Filled with a strong earthy Shamat style, this kind of product positioning with full IQ and taxes is also very inconsistent with Cherry's position in the industry. The following new MX series, especially the new wireless keyboards, have indeed made great progress in the overall style, but their outrageous market prices and extreme marketing terms are also difficult for consumers to accept. In this regard, my personal attitude has always been abhorrent.

From another perspective, we must at least admit that, as a leading manufacturer in the industry, Cherry's product and R&D teams should be able to keep abreast of the current mainstream keyboard development trends—so this time the MX-LP 2.1 low-axis keyboard looks It is still a continuation of the Cherry keyboard style in recent years, but on the other hand, it also expresses Cherry's exploration and compromise on the market more strongly-contrasting color keycaps, short switches, compact layout, etc. are all Cherry in everyone's previous impressions. missing elements.

The quality of the MX-LP2.1 keyboard itself is not too much to introduce. As a compact low-axis keyboard with a price of 700+, the overall feel of the MX-LP2.1 is complete, compared with the previous few short keyboards. There is still a certain gap between the shaft benchmarks - the steel wire sound of the large keys and the friction sound in the shaft stroke still exist, and there is still a relatively obvious cavity sound. The lack of these details still belongs to the category of the problem we raised at the beginning: Cherry They still haven't done these small details well, but it doesn't mean they are incapable of doing it well - the metal version MX-LP6.1 of the same series has an internal sandwich filling, and the overall feel and texture are much better.

The overall appearance design of MX-LP2.1 can be called excellent - the floating rounded rectangle looks elegant and simple, the keycaps are excellent in workmanship, the characters are clear and durable, although the color matching is a bit abrupt, but for Cherry, it is enough to be called That's huge progress.

In addition, MX-LP2.1 still has some flaws in the product details - as a compact keyboard with a short shaft and a large flat keycap, there is no kick design at the bottom, and the ease of use is not even as good as Dareu's EK868. It makes people feel a little unbelievable. The most likely reason is that MX-LP2.1 was developed as a low-profile derivative version of metal MX-LP6.1 at the beginning of research and development, and metal keyboards are naturally inconvenient to design feet, so there is no need to separately Designed with feet.

Next, close the topic and talk about the pricing of the MX-LP2.1 keyboard and some of it. First of all, it needs to be clear that the price of this low-axis keyboard priced at 1,099 yuan has stabilized in the 700 yuan range after one month on the market. Compared with Cherry’s previous products, this price is basically a normal price. If you consider the brand power Plus, it's not really that expensive. However, by horizontal comparison, we can find that the current compact layout low-axis keyboard market has been firmly occupied by Keychron and Nuphy, while the higher-end market includes Logitech’s G913, and the sinking market also includes Dareu EK868 and IKBC S200.

As far as the current product strength of MX-LP2.1 is concerned, it is not easy to get involved in the compact low-axis market and get a piece of the pie, but on the other hand, Cherry does not seem to worry about sales—in the recent promotional nodes, No matter how the domestic keyboard manufacturers compete inwardly, Cherry will always have a place at the top of the list. Only relying on the reputation of the brand and the original factory can easily gain faith and orders, which is better than those with excellent switches. The domestic brands should be simple and crude - I don't care what kind of gold powder, fast silver tiger you are, I'm the original factory, that's enough.

So back to the original question, why the keyboards of manufacturers like Cherry, Logitech, and Corsair are always "almost meaningless" in terms of feel. Rather than looking for reasons in R&D, foundries, and supply chains, it is better to admit frankly that most users, especially those who are not sensitive to prices only looking at top international brands, often do not perceive the so-called steel wire. Tone, Run axis, feel and other issues. As for these leading brands, their research and development capabilities are often concentrated on the technical side - better optical axis, more stable wireless connection, higher polling rate and more complete ecology are the priorities of these brands. , maybe in the eyes of the RDs of these brands, focusing on the structure and feel is only something that domestic brands that cannot survive will do.

The author declares that there is interest in this article, please respect the author and the content shared, communicate friendly, and make rational decisions~