Cherry is well-known as a pioneer within the keyboard house for its extensively adopted mechanical switches. If you’ve got dabbled within the realm of high-performance keyboards, whether or not it’s for skilled use or aggressive gaming, you’ve got heard of (and doubtless used) Cherry MX switches. And you might be well-versed within the distinction between the clicky, tactical MX Blues and the sleek, linear MX Reds (and the a number of variations in between). While the corporate hasn’t traditionally dealt in keyboards itself as deeply as different peripheral producers comparable to Logitech, Razer, Corsair, and the like, it does have a choose few high-end keyboards.The newest Cherry put out is the low-profile KW X ULP , and I’ve been fascinated by the prospect of an ultra-slim, ultra-light mechanical keyboard that also makes use of the full-sized 104-key format, however is it fitted to gaming?The Cherry KW X ULP ultra-slim mechanical keyboard.The quick reply is: not solely. It comes right down to the general really feel of Cherry’s proprietary MX Ultra Low Profile mechanical switches. They’re way more responsive than a typical membrane design or a slim Apple keyboard since they provide a constant and responsive keystroke with strong tactility. But my major concern is with how these mechanical switches bounce back–they really feel considerably squishy after a keystroke, as if the keys sink into the board itself. It’s just like the keys follow the underside only a bit an excessive amount of earlier than coming again up, and within the context of each aggressive gaming and high-speed typing, it may possibly hinder your means to hit your talent ceiling.One of the opposite huge components is that there isn’t any sensible journey distance earlier than hitting the actuation level with MX Ultra Low Profile switches. It’s rated as having a 0.8mm journey distance, however its keys do not transfer downward till they obtain sufficient pressure (65 cN), which can even register a keystroke. This design is a needed compromise to keep up the super-slim construct (at simply 0.63 inches in peak). However, journey distance in different full-sized mechanical switches presents speedy suggestions on the actuation pressure, and due to this fact, a predictable really feel for reaching the actuation level in a keystroke. That precision is a serious cause why typists and PC players alike gravitate in direction of mechanical keyboards and are so specific about which change they like.As per ordinary on the subject of testing peripherals, I used the Cherry KW X ULP keyboard when enjoying Valorant to get a way of the way it performs in a good, aggressive shooter, and in Final Fantasy XIV the place I’m utilizing a wider vary of keys for partaking within the MMORPGs techniques. Fast and sudden actions in Valorant had been slightly more durable, notably with quick-strafing and jiggle-peeking round corners, which you are regularly doing every spherical. It’s that slight stickiness, when the important thing bounces again after letting it go, that makes it considerably robust to be fast on the draw and reliably place myself to line up pixel-perfect photographs.Compared to my Keychron K4, the KW X ULP is razor-thin at simply 0.63 inches.For an MMORPG like FFXIV, practically each motion within the sport is mapped to a key, particularly on the subject of exact assault rotations and clutch utility expertise for high-level raids. The stiffness within the keystrokes can put on down your fingers the deeper you get in lengthy boss fights. However, I have to say that the format of the KW X ULP (with every key socket separated by the board’s chassis), the tactility of those switches, and the mandatory actuation pressure meant that I made fewer errant inputs. Never did I unintentionally use the fallacious talent or mistakenly hit a fallacious key within the warmth of battle when utilizing the KW X ULP–which occurs extra usually than I wish to admit when utilizing keyboards with my most popular Cherry MX Red switches. If you might be error-prone, you’ll be able to a minimum of depend on the MX Ultra Low Profile to mitigate these potential errors.Don’t get me fallacious, the Cherry KW X ULP is a superbly constructed piece of tech with an excellent minimalist design. It’s a no-frills keyboard with a glossy brushed-aluminum prime chassis and a plastic backside to maintain it light-weight at 22 oz. The white backlighting is vibrant and clear, and the separation between every particular person key provides it a tidy look that is additionally sensible for the person expertise (as FFXIV demonstrated). Because of how these low-profile switches are constructed, they continue to be comparatively quiet–you will not get that satisfying “thock” sound that has grow to be synonymous with mechanical keyboards, however they will produce about the identical quantity of noise degree as my Keychron K4 with dampening rings.The KW X ULP can also be a wi-fi keyboard that comes with a responsive 2.4GHz dongle that retains up with my inputs whereas gaming and Bluetooth functionality for usability throughout numerous units. It will be wired in by way of a USB-C cable (which it additionally fees from). And on the subject of battery life, this keyboard will final a very long time after a full charge–I’ve been utilizing it for 2 weeks straight in workplace and gaming settings, totaling roughly 100+ hours of utilization with backlighting set to its most, and I nonetheless have not needed to plug it again in.This is not a keyboard for personalization, not that I used to be anticipating it to be. And a minimum of within the gaming keyboard house, personalization is likely one of the huge attracts for some. Things like aftermarket keycaps, noise dampening rings, customized backlighting aren’t choices right here. You do get options like quantity management keys and Windows key lock, however total, you get the necessities; nothing extra, nothing much less.I’ll say that it is a pretty keyboard to have within the workplace due to its small footprint, full format, wi-fi capabilities, and comparatively quiet keystrokes. Solely from a typing perspective, the squishiness of the switches barely undermines some great benefits of going with a mechanical keyboard. And whereas it is not precisely pitched as a gaming keyboard, when you discover a mechanical keyboard with an ultra-slim design to be a beautiful prospect and had been questioning if this might proficiently bridge the hole between gaming and low-profile, it comes up a bit quick in a number of key areas.This is much from the primary low-profile mechanical keyboard available on the market, however it’s the newest, and Cherry has been within the sport for a really very long time. However, this specific mannequin is hard to suggest given the worth and total really feel when both typing or gaming in comparison with keyboards with full-sized mechanical switches. Overall, the Cherry KW X ULP is nice, nevertheless it’s not “$250” good.Soon, we’ll be taking a look at Cherry’s MX-LP 2.1 low-profile mechanical keyboard , which is a mannequin tuned for gaming. It makes use of many alternative design rules and it will not be as skinny, nevertheless it has MX Silver Speed switches, comes with slim-fit keycaps, and makes use of the 65% compact format.
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