Two or three things about mechanical keyboards, from CHERRY's dominance to a hundred schools of thought

I believe that friends who have a little understanding of mechanical keyboards have heard of the name "Cherry Cherry". As a leader in the field of mechanical keyboard switches, Cherry has a long history, and its founding date can be traced back to the 1950s. , It has been nearly 70 years since 1953, and it has been nearly 40 years since the well-known "MX" series key switch was born in 1983. Everything starts with this small switch.

As the component with the highest cost in mechanical keyboards and the most affecting the actual user experience, the importance of the switch body is self-evident, and the original cherry switches are available in black, green, tea, red, and silver. The most widely known.

They respectively represent different key strengths and feel. Taking the green switch as an example, as the switch body with the most mechanical button texture, it is famous all over the world for its clicking sound and crisp and rhythmic paragraph feeling. It is the pit that entered from it!

The author's own entry product is a Razer Black Widow 2013 Ultimate Edition with a green shaft. It has been 10 years since now, and it is still as strong as ever! I think the author used it to masturbate and masturbate in the dormitory, often all day long, which made the roommate miserable, so the green axis is also nicknamed the "dormitory harmony axis". Long-term use will damage the friendship of classmates. Here It is recommended that you use it in a private room.

In addition, there is also a tea switch with lower key pressure. Unlike the green switch, it does not have the crisp sense of paragraphs like the green switch. The trigger pressure is around 45cN (the green switch is 50cN), although it will Accompanied by a slight sense of passage, but not as loud as a click, the trigger key travel is relatively short (about 2.0mm), the overall use noise is much lower, suitable for multi-scenario use, which is what most novice players would prefer The "one-size-fits-all shaft".

On the other hand, the feel performance of the red switch is more linear, straight up and down, without any sense of paragraph, and the trigger pressure is small. Compared with the tea switch, although the trigger pressure is 45cN, the key travel is also similar, but because there is no sense of paragraph, the finger feel It is lighter and lighter when tapping. Even girls with weaker hands can use it. It will not be so tiring to work and play games for a long time. This is the switch I am currently using.

In terms of silver switches, you can understand it as a red switch with a shorter key travel. The trigger pressure is still 45cN, but the trigger key travel is shortened to 1.2mm (red switch is 2mm), and the total key travel is shortened to 3.4mm (red switch is 4mm). ), no sense of paragraph, straight up and down, lighter finger feel, and faster response speed. It is one of the most suitable switches for e-sports at present by CHERYY. Of course, it is also suitable for friends who are superficially typing and many girls with small hands.

There is also the black switch with the highest trigger pressure. The trigger pressure has reached 60cN, which is the highest among the four switches. It is also nicknamed the special switch by players as the "Digital King Kong Finger", which is suitable for players who prefer a heavier feel. Moreover, similar to the red switch, the black switch is also a straight up and down switch body, but unlike the lightness of the red switch, the black switch is full of elasticity, rebounds quickly, and responds very sensitively, so it is also very suitable for FPS gamers.

In addition, there are white switches with a pressure of up to 100g that have been discontinued many years ago, green switches with a larger acrylic weight than the green switches, etc., but I have never played it myself, so I will not list it here.

In 2018, Cherry followed the market trend and launched the Cherry MX Low Profile RGB switch. We commonly call it a "short switch". Its height is only 11.9mm, which is between the traditional standard MX switch (18.5mm) and 2021. Between the launched Cherry MX Ultra Low Profile mechanical shafts (3.5mm). While reducing the height of the short axis, it retains the feel of the mechanical axis to the greatest extent; and, thanks to the improvement and optimization of the golden cross contact technology, Cherry also increased its service life from the original 50 million times to more than 100 million times. The traditional MX black tea black silver switch has also undergone a lifetime upgrade. While retaining the linear feel of the red switch and the trigger pressure parameter of 45cN, the short switch has shortened the trigger key travel to 1.2mm, and the total key travel has been shortened to 3.2mm (red switch is 4mm), and supports RGB lighting effects at the same time, but there is a small difference that its axis cross column adopts a new circular cross shape design, and a circular dustproof wall is added to the axis, which not only allows the axis It is more stable and can prevent dust from entering. In addition, there are Viola switches that have only been launched in recent years. The cost is lower, and it is positioned as a replacement for membranes. The slogan is to eliminate membrane keyboards.

Let’s talk about the traditional shaft manufacturers here first, and then let’s take a quick look at the three giants of domestic shafts (in no particular order);

The first is Kailh. Kailh has an exclusive BOX shaft. The BOX shaft structure is different from the conventional MX shaft. It has the characteristics of dustproof and waterproof. It is also the brand that makes the most POM shafts. BOX switches are currently one of the best switches in the industry, represented by BOX white switches and BOX Cream full POM switches.

The second is GATERON. GATERON has customized many excellent customized switches, such as Tiffany switches and Z purple switches. The G pro series of switches that they regularly sell are of high quality, low price and high cost performance. A higher level than the G pro series is the exclusive CAP series. The CAP series is slightly different from the conventional MX shaft. The shaft center is hollowed out, and the bottom shell shaft column is holed to make the shaft body smoother. I happen to have one of Jiadalong's pivot keyboards. It's the K330w from Durga. It's compact and portable, and I personally like it quite a bit.

There is also TTC, as a shaft manufacturer with a very rapid momentum in the past two years, it has launched gold powder shafts with extended springs, and the fast silver shafts that are triggered in advance are very good shafts. TTC is currently on the market. A large part of the shaft body has a dust-proof wall. The effect brought by the dust-proof wall reduces the shaking of the shaft center, and the bottoming is more stable when triggered at various angles. Of course, there are many shaft manufacturers in the market, such as JWK, Huannuo, Leichuang, Goto, etc., and I will not list them here.

Although many keyboard manufacturers in recent years have begun to develop their own switches or use domestic switches to reduce costs and occupy the market, there is no doubt that most of the high-end product lines are still firmly controlled by cherry switches. I think there are only two things. The first is the quality. The durability of the Cherry shaft is famous. Take my own Black Widow 2013 as an example. It has been in service for nearly 10 years and it is still firm. There are not a few people who have used a keyboard for more than five years. Thanks to Cherry’s unique gold contact technology, the trigger point of each axis is made of 99.99% pure gold. Due to the corrosion resistance of gold and precious metals , so that each axis can be durable. But it's worth it if you think about it for ten years.

The second is the good reputation born of high quality. Good quality and durability will naturally spread word of mouth among consumers. At first, it was enthusiasts, and then it gradually spread to ordinary consumers. After cherries and major brands Thanks to the hard work of the manufacturer over the years, now you can buy a good cherry switch 87 keyboard for only 300 yuan. Thanks to years of quality and word-of-mouth blessings, Cherry Switch keyboard products have already been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is not surprising that they occupy a large share of the high-end market.

In the end, I would like to recommend some easy-to-use cherry-axis keyboards to everyone!

The first is Cherry’s MX1.0. As Cherry’s entry-level product, it adopts a compact 87-key design, and has four-color switches of black, red, tea and green, Nordica chip, and two-color keycaps. It is an entry-level product for beginners. It is quite good, and the price/performance ratio is extremely high, allowing you to get a good experience of Cherry MX switches at a relatively low price. Friends with a little more budget can also directly buy the matte version of Cherry MX2.0S. The main thing is to draw a 109-key full-size keyboard. I am afraid that some friends will not be used to it without a small keyboard.

The second is Cherry’s MX3.0S. As a popular mechanical keyboard product that dominates the list all the year round, its popularity is not without reason. The overall shiny aluminum alloy CNC body has a delicate surface and is durable, and the whole body is fixedly connected by buckles , Screwless design, tight fit, built-in top-level Nordica processing chip, low latency and fast feedback, and built-in sound-absorbing cotton and steel-free structure design, it is quieter to use and lighter to carry. The price of the non-light model is about 500 yuan, which is very cost-effective. If you have friends who need lighting effects, you can also add some budget RGB models, which are suitable for the budget.

In addition, there are MX8.0 series, Cherry flagship, high-end explosive models, 87-key white backlight, full-key no punch macro programming, all-aluminum alloy body design, with a custom-made alloy keyboard case, it is simply high-end and classy, ​​as if buying It's not the keyboard, it's the artwork. One-piece free-rotating bracket design, multi-level height adjustable, suspension design, built-in noise-cancelling cotton, top-level Nordica processing chip brings low latency and fast feedback user experience, RGB version with 16.8 million color backlight design, abs coating Layered technology has greatly improved the situation of keycaps getting oily and stained with fingerprints.

all right! The content of this issue about mechanical keyboards will be discussed here first. I hope that it can help you in your daily purchases. I wish you all can choose a good keyboard that you like. See you in the next issue.