Neo's Pragmatic Peripherals Guide Part 117: Quite a "brilliant" office mechanical keyboard - CHERRY KC200 MX

Hello everyone! I am Young Master Shen! As a peripheral enthusiast, every time I see a new product from a major brand, I want to give my friends a first-hand review as soon as possible. Therefore, when I found out that the old brand CHERRY launched its first office mechanical keyboard not long ago, I chatted with my friends that this wave of CHERRY seems to be in the right direction. This product is KC200 MX, which is not only equipped with the MX mechanical switch that CHEERY is famous for to ensure the feel, but also has a very beautiful color scheme and PBT spherical keycaps, which makes people's eyes shine.

Specifically, let’s watch and talk while unpacking. First of all, in terms of packaging design, this keyboard creatively combines three signature colors on one product rendering, which is beautiful and creative. On the left is the product model and the description of the MX shaft body.

The one I chose is the blue and white mint color scheme. I personally think the blue and white style is fresh and attractive. It can also bring a touch of bright color to the office environment, and it will not be as monotonous as the traditional black or white office keyboard.

In detail, this keyboard adopts a full keyboard layout. In addition to the standard 104 keys, 4 shortcut function keys are added to the upper left corner. They are volume -, mute, volume +, and calculator. In this way, it is very efficient to operate during daily office work. Not only can you avoid the embarrassment caused by the incorrect volume of the video when you click on it, but you can also quickly call out the calculator software to perform some calculations.

Because it comes with a numeric keypad area, you don't have to worry when you need to input a large number of numbers.

Compared with another simple keyboard of the same style that I used before, because there is no small keypad area, it is very troublesome to enter Excel forms with a large number of numbers. Therefore, if you choose an office keyboard, it is still necessary to choose a full-size product.

The keycap of my KC200 MX uses a PBT spherical keycap, which feels smoother, and the PBT process is also more oil-resistant and wear-resistant. If it is black, it is an ABS laser engraved keyboard. The printing quality of this large font is also very high, and it looks simple and elegant. Personally, I think it is a very high-quality set of keycaps that come with mass-produced keyboards. I also have to say that CHEERY is still quite powerful, and the first office keyboard has been released.

Looking at it from the side, it can also be clearly found that this keyboard is designed with a floating keycap, which looks lighter and has a more design sense. In this way, not only is the look and feel more comfortable, but in daily use, the dust removal of this keyboard will also be more convenient than the traditional closed keycap structure.

At the functional level, this keyboard also maintains the high standard of CHERRY. The 1000Hz return rate, coupled with the non-conflict design of the full keyboard, can give us a very fast feedback during daily typing, and we don't have to worry about the embarrassment that the keyboard cannot be recognized when multiple keys are operated at the same time.

At the same time, the keyboard also has uppercase and lowercase indicators, as well as digital status indicators, which are standard configurations for mid-to-high-end office keyboards. But in terms of design, CHEERY is very smart to put the light on the inside of the keycap, and uses an opaque keycap, so the indicator light will not look too eye-catching after turning it on. It belongs to the kind of "moisturizing and silent". It feels, too, just right.

If you have high-level requirements, or have custom requirements for the function keys of the keyboard, you can also download the CHERRY KEYS driver software to customize it on demand. For example, I often need to open the folder where the evaluation materials are stored. I only need to define F6 in the software to open this folder, and then choose to save it to the keyboard. In this way, you don't need to use the mouse to click to enter this folder every time, just press "F6" and you're done.

In addition to opening files/folders, there are many functions that can be customized according to your needs. This strong plasticity is also what distinguishes this keyboard from common entry-level office keyboards.

In terms of daily use, this time CHERRY's colorful design really makes people feel very fresh. It also made many friends discover a different side of CHERRY. But think about it carefully, who said that all desks have to be black, white and gray?

Next, let’s talk about the input experience in detail. Of course, this keyboard CHEERY is equipped with its own shaft. The specific model is CHEERY's signature MX series shaft body. I chose the MX tea shaft that I personally think is the most versatile.

The characteristic of this switch body is that it has a certain sense of paragraph, but it will not be as obvious as the MX blue switch. In this way, the trigger speed is faster, and the feedback knocking sound is not very loud, which is convenient for everyone to improve the relationship in the office. At the same time, it will not be too straight up and down without "mechanical texture" like the MX red switch. Of course, the choice of the shaft body is quite subjective, you can choose according to your favorite.

At the same time, the PBT ball cap of this keyboard is also very satisfactory in terms of workmanship details. It can be seen from the removed keycap that even the workmanship inside the keycap is very delicate, the spout is flat, and the entire keycap has no burrs. This is one of the reasons why I highly recommend that you consider the products of first-line manufacturers such as CHEERY when you buy a keyboard. With the same parameter configuration, the workmanship materials and quality control of big-name products will be relatively better.

In addition to comfortable feel and satisfactory workmanship, this keyboard also provides a retractable foot support in terms of ergonomics. Friends who like relatively flat input feel do not need to make any adjustments, and they can use it immediately.

If you want the keyboard to have a certain tilt angle like me, you can open the tutorial on the back of the keyboard to increase the tilt of the keyboard. It is worth mentioning that the bottom of the foot support is pre-installed with non-slip rubber pads, which are very detailed.

However, because it is an office keyboard, the KC200 MX does not have the option of adding a wireless connection, only the traditional wired connection.

However, there are good and bad, so the 1000Hz rate of return + the smooth use experience of the full keyboard without any impact, and you don’t have to worry about charging. There is absolutely no lag when entering text. At the same time, the keyboard cable has also been reinforced, which is very worry-free in daily use.

Finally, let’s talk about a small packaging detail, that is, the packaging of the entire keyboard is not made of plastic products. No plastic wrap, paper seals are used.

There is no plastic dustproof bag on the keyboard body, but black paper is used to prevent dust and fix the keyboard. This kind of consideration in terms of environmental protection is quite worthy of praise. Although the packaging of a keyboard can't save much packaging, as the saying goes, no step can go a thousand miles, and the packaging of a large number of keyboards and other peripheral products can indeed play a certain role in environmental protection.

In general, I think CHERRY's KC200 MX office keyboard is very sincere. The new color scheme and keycap fonts are impressive and really eye-catching. The floating keycap is matched with the original MX switch body, which is beautiful and easy to use. In addition, the function buttons can be customized by software, the aluminum alloy metal cover, the PBT spherical keycap, three low-key but useful status indicators, and four independent additional media control buttons in the upper right corner. These details not only enhance the keyboard. The overall texture also makes this keyboard very versatile.

If you are looking for a mid-range office keyboard with a refreshing appearance, comprehensive functions, and excellent workmanship. Then this CHERRY KC200 MX will be a very good choice at the moment.