PC Hardware and Peripherals Article 189: What are the thousand-yuan mechanical keyboards worth paying attention to during Double 11? (2022)

At present, the major e-commerce platforms have officially launched the Double Eleven event, and promotions for various digital products have also begun one after another. Many players who want to replace the mechanical keyboard have also begun to discuss and exchange the mechanical keyboard they want to buy in the group. I will also Simply put forward some personal opinions based on the reference of your existing keyboard. Regarding the question of "Which mechanical keyboards are worth buying on Double 11", I can only briefly talk about my views based on my existing experience in using mechanical keyboards and related switches. As a fan of Cherry switches, Cherry is naturally the first choice. axis mechanical keyboard.

When purchasing a mechanical keyboard, try to stay away from some Internet celebrity keyboards. The reason is that the current entry threshold for mechanical keyboards is already very low. Many mechanical keyboards are made of ready-made molds. Few can do key tuning, let alone have Special software to use with the keyboard. Internet celebrity keyboards often pay attention to promotion, and they will also make a fuss about their appearance. As for the actual key experience, you can only experience it after you actually get it. Therefore, I personally recommend buying traditional and well-known brand mechanical keyboards as much as possible.

In terms of keyboard purchase, we need to comprehensively consider the brand, keyboard specifications, switches, functions, and prices. We should not simply be bound by the price, because many high-end mechanical keyboards will also have price reduction promotions after one or half a year, such as this Cherry MX3.0s multi-mode wireless mechanical keyboard priced at 1299 yuan The keyboard has now dropped to an all-time low of 799 yuan.

The keyboard specifications here refer to the number of keys, color matching, keycaps and RGB lighting. The number of keys is the number of mechanical keyboards you want to choose. There are 108 keys, 104 keys, 87 keys, 67 keys and other specifications to choose from. You can combine your desktop, usage scenarios and portability for comprehensive consideration.

Color matching is your preference for the color of the keyboard. To be precise, it is the color matching of the keycaps. The monotonous black keyboard is becoming less and less flattering. There are various national trendy, retro, joint names, green orange yellow green blue keyboards on the market. Mechanical keyboards with patterns such as ingot purple provide users with more diverse choices.

If the keycaps are classified according to the material, there are two common types: ABS keycaps and PBT keycaps. Note that I want to emphasize three times here, PBT keycaps are not necessarily oily, ABS keycaps are not necessarily oily, PBT keycaps are not necessarily oily, ABS keycaps are not necessarily oily, PBT keycaps are not necessarily oily, ABS keycaps are not Must oil up. I have been emphasizing the selection of durable, non-oily, and good-feeling PBT keycaps before. The reason is that I mainly buy mid-to-high-end mechanical keyboards. The keycaps are often made of PBT two-color injection molding process, and the thickness is about 1.5mm, so The description at that time was not a problem, but at present, in order to save costs, some brands use low-priced and low-quality PBT keycaps for their keyboards. They will also use PBT keycaps for publicity, but the craftsmanship and thickness will not be important. Introduction, the feel and service life of the actual use will be greatly reduced, and this type of PBT keycaps will often be oiled.

At present, many major manufacturers including Cherry, Razer, and CORSAIR are using improved high-quality ABS keycaps, such as the use of two-color injection molding technology + optimized coating + thickened inner wall design to improve the use and feel of keycaps. , effectively solved the problem of ABS keycap oiling.

If the keycap height is classified, it can be divided into original factory height, OEM height, MDA height, XDA height, QX height, SA height, etc. If you want to replace the keycap by yourself, remember to confirm the keycap before purchasing. high.

Regarding the choice of lighting, unless you choose the non-illuminated version of the keyboard because of the beautiful keycaps, no matter whether you like lighting or not, I suggest you choose the RGB version instead of the monotonous monochromatic version. In addition to being ornamental and being used in dark environments, the RGB version of the light can also be manually turned off to be used as a non-light keyboard.

As for the shaft body, I don’t have much opinion. At present, domestic shafts have made great progress, and more and more manufacturers have launched self-developed shafts. There are already many options. You can choose your preferred switch body, and pay attention to the actual usage scenario rather than your own preference. You can’t use a crackling green switch mechanical keyboard in the office, can you? But for users who are new to mechanical keyboards, I still hope you consider switches such as cherry red switches or brown switches.

Another point is that some domestic mechanical keyboard brands on the market have adopted the GASKET structure design. This type of mechanical keyboard is characterized by wireless three-mode + hot-swappable shaft design, but because of the internal positioning board design, the overall weight is significantly increased.

Because of the addition of the silicone pad, the advantage of the mechanical keyboard designed with the GASKET structure can be said to be noise reduction or mute plus a soft and soft feel. If you are a sensitive player, the mechanical keyboard with GASKET structure design may not be suitable for you.

If you like to disassemble the keyboard more or want to experience different types of switches, then the hot-swappable switch keyboard will be more suitable for you.

In terms of functions, whether it is a wired mechanical keyboard or a multi-mode wireless mechanical keyboard, functions such as full-key no-click, support for macro recording, and key customization are already standard features of mainstream mechanical keyboards. The mechanical keyboard provides corresponding management software for user convenience.

For the choice of wired mechanical keyboard and wireless multi-mode mechanical keyboard, it would be more appropriate to choose a wireless multi-mode mechanical keyboard at a similar price. After all, there are more devices that can be connected and used, and the usage scenarios will be more abundant. At present, Cherry, Meishang Corsair and other brands of mechanical keyboards have their own unique technologies to better deal with the problem of wireless delays, such as Cherry’s CAWT and Thief’s SLIPSTREAM low-latency wireless technology, which can meet the needs of some players in competitive games.

Below I will share several mechanical keyboards in use for your reference. The prices are all within 1,000 yuan, and there have been price reduction promotions. The following keyboards are sorted according to personal preference.

Cherry MX3.0S series is divided into wired version and three-mode wireless version, you can choose according to your preference. The Cherry MX3.0S three-mode wireless version adopts a thin, narrow-frame body design. The body adopts an anodized aluminum bottom shell that is integrally formed. The aluminum bottom shell wraps the front, rear and bottom in the form of grooves. It is durable, wear-resistant and scratch-resistant, but also greatly improves the texture and touch.

The white Cherry MX3.0S three-mode wireless version adopts the improved ABS two-color injection keycap, which is not easy to oil, and the surface is treated with a matte process, which makes it feel comfortable. The keycap has uniform light transmission and adopts a slim closed character design.

As a multi-mode wireless mechanical keyboard, the Cherry MX3.0S three-mode wireless version has a built-in Bluetooth 5.2 module and a 2800mAh rechargeable lithium battery, which can be connected to different devices through wired, 2.4G and Bluetooth. The device is connected. In addition, in the 2.4GHz wireless mode, the Cherry MX3.0S three-mode wireless version adopts Cherry's unique new technology CAWT (Cherry Advanced Wireless Technology). , It can also achieve a fast response of less than 1ms, and with full-key no-click, it can meet the professional wireless competition needs of players.

The downside is that there is currently no silver shaft option.

As Cherry's entry-level full-key mechanical keyboard for office scenarios, Cherry KC200 MX series keyboards are relatively cheaper but still maintain consistent high-quality features. At the same time, there are official driver software that can be used together. The main selling point of the Cherry KC200 MX series is the Cherry MX shaft body + colorful color matching design + PBT spherical keycap. There are four colors for users to choose from: caramel cocoa, delicate red strawberry, rock gray sweet orange and white mint, among which caramel cocoa The black keycaps are ABS laser engraved keycaps.

The narrow frame design makes the keyboard look more simple, and the Cherry MX switches provide a guarantee for the key feel. One of the design features of the Cherry KC200 MX mechanical keyboard is that it does not use a built-in metal panel design, but uses an aluminum alloy metal cover design, which improves wear resistance and scratch resistance while also improving the appearance. The floating keycap design is also more convenient for users to clean and maintain and replace keycaps daily.

In terms of keycaps, the Cherry KC200 MX mechanical keyboard adopts a PBT spherical keycap design. The keycaps look more rounded, and with enlarged and bold fonts, the visual perception is very comfortable. Four additional media buttons are provided in the upper right corner to allow users to adjust the volume and call the calculator more conveniently and quickly. The keycap adopts the mainstream cross-shaped opening design, and players can replace the same type of keycap by themselves.

However, there is currently no silver shaft option, the wire is not detached, and there is no dust cover.

CORSAIR K70 RGB Pro uses AXON processor, onboard 8MB storage, can store 50 sets of configuration files, and can be used with iCUE software for more settings. Strictly speaking, the CORSAIR K70 RGB PRO is an upgraded version of the K70 RGB MK.2. The intuitive upgrade is that the cable has become a detachable design, the display area is larger/more display content, and the keycap has been upgraded from ABS to PBT, USB return rate increased from 1000Hz of K70 RGB MK.2 to 8000Hz.

The design of the K70 RGB PRO features an LCD screen, a volume scroll wheel, and dedicated media keys in addition to the brushed aluminum frame. The K70 RGB PRO uses PBT light-transmitting keycaps designed with closed characters and two-color injection molding process. The inner wall of the keycap is relatively thick, with a thickness of 1.5mm, and the overall workmanship is very solid. The interior of the keycap adopts the mainstream cross-shaped opening design, and players can replace the keycap by themselves.

One thing to note is that if you want to better experience the 8KHz rate of return, I personally recommend that your host be configured with Intel desktop version 9th generation i7 level and above and AMD desktop version 2nd generation Ryzen R7 level and above configuration.

The downside is that there is no dust cover provided with the package.

Thieves can be regarded as Cherry's close buddies, and they can often enjoy the treatment of the first launch, such as the MV axis body. This CORSAIR Blue Sea mechanical keyboard uses the Cherry MV switch. Compared with the MX switch body, the MV switch has undergone significant changes in appearance design. The switch body adopts a design similar to a crater. A dustproof and waterproof wall design is added, and the axis is surrounded by transparent plastic. Although the shaft body has been changed, the existing shell molds, positioning plates and keycaps can all be used on the MV shaft.

The Cherry MV switch with a new contact structure has the characteristics of fast response, straight up and down linear feel, high stability, waterproof and dustproof, and is easy to use. The two selling points of the CORSAIR Blue Sea mechanical keyboard are the PBT keycap and the switch body. The color matching of PBT keycaps makes people feel very comfortable, and the patterns are more exquisite.

The Cherry MV switch supports hot swapping, which allows players to freely replace the switch body. At the same time, with the iCUE driver software, it can provide players with more practical functions and a variety of RGB lighting effects.

The disadvantage is that there is no separate wire design and no dust cover.

In the end, this Razer keyboard naturally does not use cherry switches, but I personally like this uncle pink color, so I still count it in it. The current price has dropped a lot, and it is more suitable to give to friends.

The current price has dropped a lot compared to the beginning of the launch. The pink version is not only suitable for women, but also more suitable for men. It looks much better than the black version of the Black Widow V3. Razer’s 2021 BlackWidow V3 switches are available in green switches and yellow switches. The green switch feels similar to the cherry green switch, and the yellow switch feels similar to the cherry red switch. The selling point of Razer's 2021 Black Widow V3 pink crystal green switch is its own scroll wheel key, wrist rest and feature-rich Leiyun software.

The keycap adopts a two-color injection molded ABS keycap design, which solves the problem of keycap keycaps by optimizing the surface layer. At the same time, the wall thickness of the keycap is strengthened to improve the stability and service life.

The disadvantage is the integrated design of the wire, and the wrist rest does not use a magnetic design.

The above simple keyboard purchases and sharing comments on several keyboards are limited by the limited number of keyboards I own. The mechanical keyboards listed above are not too many, but I hope they can give some references to those in need.