You might remember my trip to The Gadget Show Live this April, where I wrote this article showing off the Cherry MX Board 6.0. Once I'd heard the announcement made at CES 2015 in January, I was almost instantly intrigued by what Cherry had to offer. Coming up to three months after my first encounter with the product at The Gadget Show Live, I now have the keyboard with which to write this very review with.
After waiting by the door anticipating delivery at the start of the week until now, the same excitement is still present when using this keyboard as it did when I first pressed the keys. When I first opened the shipping packaging, I was instantly hit with delight by the smooth, matte and minimalist design of the actual product’s packaging. Inside the outer packaging a matte red box with Cherry’s logo continues this trend of minimalism. After opening this box, I was finally in. Opening new hardware always gives me a feeling of euphoria- this was definitely not an exception.
What strikes me first about this keyboard is the sheer build quality. Of course, this being the 21st century, you’d expect that, but this is on a new (and much higher) level of finish. The dark silver coloured, fingerprint resistant aluminium housing gives a very strong and sturdy feel to the keyboard. It feels almost as if it could be dropped from a good couple of metres and get away with only one or two key caps falling off (though for obvious reasons, this will not be tested!). Not to mention that this keyboard comes with a fair amount of weight; just over 3lbs (1.4 kg or about the weight of an extremely overweight adult guinea pig). This weight should please most people as combined with the rubber grips on the underside, this keyboard is not sliding anywhere, which is an especially strong asset for gamers who don’t like having their keyboards irritating them by their hardware gliding about.
On the back of the keyboard, there are three ways you can route the cable, depending on where it will lead to.
Matching this high quality; even the cable is made to the highest standard. The USB connector is gold plated and the 200cm cable itself has a textile covering. The wrist rest which is included is also a joy. Made from real rubber, the rest is a comfortable surface which, ultimately, will encourage you to use it. The rest docks onto the keyboard via magnets for easy un/installation. Like the keyboard, it too feels strong and sturdy. The rubber is difficult and almost impossible to scratch with fingernails and marks will not show unless the rubber is cut with a knife (probably… I’m too scared to test this one too). The one and only downside I can see to the wrist rest is since it is mostly comprised of rubber, after continued usage it will start to feel rather warm underneath your hands- but that’s only a petty issue I have with it.
Currently, the MX Board 6.0 only comes with Cherry MX Red switches and it is yet unclear whether the board will eventually be available in others but personally, I would love to try this board in Cherry Brown switches. Despite this, Cherry MX Red switches are still an overwhelmingly joyful experience to use, both for gaming and typing. Without trailing off too far explaining what Cherry Switches actually are, these particular switches (Red) have a very low actuation force of 45cN allowing for rapid actuation and therefore, also rapid typing.
Since my previous and first mechanical keyboard was fitted with Cherry MX Black switches (that require a higher actuation force), I was instantly amazed by how easy it was to type on the Reds. In conjunction with these switches, the considerably low profiling of the key caps also helps to increase an individual’s typing speed. I know it’s minor and usually something consumers don’t usually care about, but the sound of the keys bottoming out on the MX Board 6.0 is truly something else. Since I cannot explain the sound, I have recorded a short demo of myself typing on this keyboard. You can listen to it here.
Cherry’s Real Key (RK) technology is something that Cherry want their potential cutomers to know about. It’s the newest technology in the keyboard market which could indeed change how other mechanical keyboards are made from now on. The analogue switches united with full N-Key rollover means that every single key on the keyboard can be pressed simultaneously and be read in real time without missing any presses.. This means that the keyboard is 100% anti-ghosting free and Cherry claim that there is a 00.00ms delay between input making it ‘the fastest keyboard in the world.’
Despite this, many users probably won’t be seeing much of a difference, unless you’re a mad typist who can reach speeds of up to 200 words per minute. If you’re one of those, you will probably get along very well with this keyboard.
Using various typing speed websites, I can confirm that my typing speed has increased. Despite having this keyboard for only a week, my speed has increased from about 60-64 words per minute to just under 70. I know there could be other reasons behind this small increase besides the keyboard but there has been a definite increase. Pretty useful for those who are looking to smash out essays just a little bit faster.
The wrist rest looks and feels awesome but it can be easy for dust particles to get stuck between the 'MX' lettering.
Finally, I come to talking about the layout and general format of the Cherry MX Board 6.0. Upon my first hour or so of using the keyboard, I wasn’t really impressed by the font used for the keys. However my opinion has now changed as I’ve come to quite like it. It suits the strong and menacing look of the aluminum housing and combined with the red LED lighting, it all fits together very nicely, forming this beautiful keyboard.
The board has all 109 keys backlit with red LEDs which also give the user the ability to adjust the brightness to complement room lighting conditions. Certain keys that have active roles (Num Lock, Caps Lock, etc) upon keystroke turn blue while they are active, which is generally an easy to way to see whether or not they are active. Because of this feature, it eliminates a dedicated area on the keyboard to show what’s active such as the typical three LEDs on the top right of most conventional keyboards. Sadly, the blue LEDs don’t change brightness with the rest of the keyboard which can be dazzling in low room lighting conditions.
The only issue I have with this is that although it looks very nice and it is mostly a flawless idea, it’s often difficult to see whether the Caps Lock button is active since the user will probably have a finger or two blocking the light. As opposed to this, a generic keyboard with a dedicated LED tray it much easier to tell what’s active from only a glance.
Above the numpad are three media keys which should control most desktop applications such as Windows Media Player and VLC Media Player. Though somewhat expected from most modern keyboards, it is still useful to have for some.
Last but most importantly, is the Windows deactivation key; a solid and practical key for all gamers. While active, the Windows key will function normally (and have the blue LED lighting) as you would expect but when the Cherry key is pressed, it turns red and enters gaming mode. It is then no longer active and all presses on it are ignored.
Despite all this, there are still one or two things about the keyboard that I think could be improved through updates to the product. I am disappointed that there is no way to change the LED colours as this would benefit those who are looking for their keyboard to match a particular colour scheme of their setup. Additionally, from a keyboard that costs $220 (~£140) I would expect some sort of software to come as part of the package. Perhaps macro profiling, and maybe even LED backlighting effects.
All-in-all, this keyboard is definitely a product the first of its kind and RK technology is, again, very new and as far as I know, this is the only keyboard in the world to be lucky enough to home it. Gaming wise, the Cherry MX Board 6.0 meets up to its competitors however I feel that the features are too modest for those who are looking to show off by means of bright flashing LED backlighting.
It’s no secret that this keyboard isn’t exactly wallet friendly though, at roughly £140 (or $220) it costs up to about £20 more than other high end mechanical keyboards available on the market but it’s not fair to compare this keyboard to others since others don’t utilise RK technology. To the average typist or anyone who types at less than 60 words per minute, RK technology will seem more like a gimmick as opposed to something that is vital to a keyboard as high-end equipment would be necessary to test the ‘00.00ms’ response time. For the average user, RK Technology will likely go unnoticed.
The keyboard comes with a microfibre bag which eliminates dust getting between the keys while not in use.