Speaking of CHERRY, I believe that many "keyboardman" will feel a sense of spontaneous emotion. Here is more about CHERRY's "original factory" concept. The brand new flagship MX BOARD 9.0 brought to us by CHERRY in October has brought us a new feeling, even subverting our understanding of CHERRY products.
Appearance design
comparison MX BOARD 8.0 The "luxury" packaging, MX BOARD 9.0 The packaging of the box looks much simpler (especially the box next to it is just for decoration), but because the box is large, it also looks very stylish. The black outer package is decorated with red, and the front is the rendered image of the product.
Open the red inner layer inside.
There are not many packaging accessories, only a simple manual, and even the key puller is not equipped.
The appearance of CHERRY MX BOARD 9.0 is one of its highlights. The simplicity and retro design of CHERRY's previous products have been changed. The style of this new flagship is very avant-garde and bold. The overall area of the keyboard is a Big Mac compared with the general game keyboard. The main reason is that there is a row of 14 macro keys and a giant shuttle knob on the top of the standard 108 key. In addition, three macro switch keys are added on the left side of the keyboard.
In addition to the knob, there are three multimedia keys and a "cherry key" on the top of the numeric keypad. When pressed, the key will switch to the "high-performance mode". At the same time, in some backlight modes, the key will light up. At this time, the Windows key, ALT+F4, ALT+TAB and other key combinations will not take effect, further avoiding misoperation in the game.
There are three macro function switch keys on the left. In order to fit the modern design of the keyboard, the shapes of these key caps are irregular. These three keys have a certain distance from the commonly used Ctrl key, which to some extent prevents misoperation. It can also be noticed that the three macro keys are obviously staggered from the keys in the main key area on the right, further avoiding the problem of accidental touch.
There is a white light bar like an Orio on the side of the keyboard. After the keyboard is powered on, you can obviously see the light beads inside. The color cannot be changed. The effect of the light beads is too obvious, but it is more comfortable when it is not lit.
There is a dark logo of "MX" above ESC, which looks low-key and gorgeous.
There is a brand logo on the palm rest, but the surface is made of plastic material, which is easy to grind.
There is also a coffee CHERRY fragile sticker at the bottom.
Although there is no expansion interface, it is officially recommended that two USB ports be needed to drive MX BOARD 9.0. In fact, if the power supply of the computer is sufficient, it is no problem to use one USB port directly.
There is no doubt that MX BOARD 9.0 is more "tasteful" in design than the previous MX BOARD series products and even CHERRY's entire line of products. If the design style of the previous CHERRY original products is stable, the style of MX BOARD 9.0 may be more appropriate to describe as strange. Although the appearance design cannot be said to be very cool or scientific, the MX BOARD 9.0 is absolutely unique. It boldly uses a variety of elements and lines to create a special style. The rich macro keys, together with an extremely exaggerated large knob, are impressive, Especially after power on, the cool light effect of MX RGB axis combined with the "Oreo" light bar on the side of the keyboard is enough to meet the needs of some users who pursue a grandiose style.
user's experience
First of all, from the feel of the shaft body and the key cap, MX BOARD 9.0 did not give us too many surprises. After all, this is a black shaft that everyone can no longer be familiar with. Although there is MX RGB halo, the performance characteristics of this shaft body are still the same, with a key path of 2mm, a pressure of 60g, and a single shaft life of 50 million times. The black axis feels straight up and down. It has no sense of paragraph and is not noisy. The short key path and no sense of paragraph make it very suitable for games. However, if it is used for daily typing, it is easy to make fingers feel tired.
More conscientiously, the macro keys on the top of the keyboard also use the MX RGB axis, but it is a pity that the macro keys on the body (including the left side) all use the red backlight, and cannot switch other colors.
In terms of key cap, MX BOARD 9.0 uses the most common ABS material with skin like coating, which can't avoid oiling after long use. However, after a period of use, the author found that its durability will be much better than that of pirate ships.
The key cap is slightly lower than the standard height (left), but higher than the key cap of MX BOARD 3.0 (G80-3850).
The RGB axis is a major selling point of MX BOARD 9.0, which brings it a uniform and cool light effect. Although it is not the first launch of the RGB axis, the original RGB axis halo is still very dazzling.
The large key position uses a satellite shaft, which makes it easy to replace. Besides, the handle performance is also good. The overall rebound speed is fast, and the press does not appear very fleshy.
There are three multimedia keys and a "cherry key" on the top of the numeric keypad. When pressed, it will switch to "high-performance mode". At the same time, this key will light up in some backlight modes. At this time, the combination keys of Windows key, ALT+F4, ALT+TAB will not take effect, further avoiding misoperation in the game. The keyboard itself does not have a status indicator light, so keys such as the numeric keyboard, case lock, and the "cherry key" can display their status correctly through the backlight in the pure white and red backlight modes. When other cool lights are used, we cannot judge the opening status of these keys, and we have to say that this is a small regret.
It is worth mentioning that the keyboard height adjustment is different from the general one section and two section supports. MX BOARD 9.0 can be said to be simple and crude with spiral support feet, which can meet the preferences of different users. From the perspective of the author's use, it is very comfortable to maintain the tilt in the default state.
The bottom of the keyboard uses a large area of room type anti slip sticker, which has high overall stability and excellent anti slip effect.
It is estimated that many players will be curious when they first see this large shuttle knob. According to the normal routine, it must be a volume knob, but CHERRY gives it more functions. There are three buttons on the right side of the knob to set the working mode of the knob, namely brightness, volume and light speed. For example, if we need to adjust the backlight brightness, we can press the first button and then adjust it through the knob; If you need to adjust the volume, press the second button and then adjust it with the knob; To adjust the light speed, press the third button, and then use the knob to adjust. In addition, the knob itself can also be pressed to achieve different functions. In the three modes, the backlight is turned off, the sound is muted, and the backlight effect is switched.
Due to the position, the three buttons on the right side of the knob use the CHERRY ML axis, which looks a little like the membrane keyboard of a notebook. The keys have an obvious sense of paragraph, similar to the tea axis in characteristics, and the key path (1.5mm) is significantly shorter than the traditional MX axis. Compared with general game keyboards, membrane keys may be used in these places, but CHERRY obviously does not allow this to happen.
Speaking of backlight, the RGB axis provides MX BOARD 9.0 with enough capital to show off, bringing several different light effects, such as Breath, WASD, Wave, Snake and Reactive. Although this scale is not enough to shake up pirate ships, Thundersnake and other "light factory" products, it is enough for most users (the picture shows Reactive mode).
In terms of the number of macro keys, this keyboard can be called "luxury". There are three easy to operate macro keys on the left side of the main key area, and there are a total of 12 macro keys on the top of the F area. All of them can be set as their favorite functions at will. For users of MOBA and MMO games, this function is really devastating. The method is simple. Press MR to record the macro, then type the key combination to be simulated, and press MR to complete the whole recording process. The ME on the right cancels the macro recording. The macro key functions are very rich, but the location of MR and M1 is not reasonable.
As a "keyboard man", the author spends a lot of time coding words everyday, so he directly sets MB as Ctrl+C and MC as Ctrl+V. The picture shows the effect of pressing MC, which will improve the use efficiency in daily use.
After testing, MX BOARD 9.0 supports full key non impact, which is a basic function for a game keyboard. In the actual game, the performance of MX BOARD 9.0 is very excellent. The slightly lower key cap and special slope design make its keys not like some black axis keyboards when pressed. It is much lighter to use. Of course, it is also closely related to CHERRY's comprehensive design level of mold, materials, circuit boards, etc. The large palm rest provides a good support for the palm, and with rich macro keys, it deserves the name of the original E-sports keyboard.
Light Demo
The above three light effects are Breath, Snake and Reactive.
summary
MX BOARD 9.0 looks like a keyboard that is not so "CHERRY" at first. RGB backlight, rich macro keys, large knobs, and side light strips all show that it is a keyboard that is biased towards electronic competition. In particular, the three macro keys on the left and a total of 12 macro keys on the top of the keyboard suggest that CHERRY wants to share a piece of cake in the E-sports market. At first glance, the appearance design of MX BOARD 9.0 may feel unconventional and pompous, but after getting the real thing, it will feel that the whole keyboard is stable and relatively endurable. This feeling is mainly due to CHERRY's continuing to make a big fuss over key area F. At the same time, the keyboard itself has an extra large palm rest, and there are two asymmetric extensions on the left and right sides of the keyboard. It may be difficult for CHERRY to accept this style if he is loyal to his previous products, but it is worth affirming CHERRY's determination to try new routes. The keyboard itself has a high degree of workmanship and detail completion, and there is not much to complain about. Even though there are many elements and complex lines on the appearance, it can still be seen that CHERRY has a high level of control in this regard. As far as the macro keys implemented in hardware are concerned, MX BOARD 9.0 also has not much to be picky about, but the placement of MR and ME keys seems to be optimized. From the perspective of daily use, its feel and stability are excellent, but there is still one thing to say: since you want to build a professional game keyboard, why not build a strong enough driver?
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