The CES is one the largest and most important consumer electronics and IT hardware exhibitions. It takes place annually in Las Vegas and celebrates its 50th birthday this year. There were almost 4.000 exhibiting companies and more than 160.000 attendants. Many manufacturers introduced new products at the CES 2017, there were also several new presentations and announcements in the area of mechanical keyboards.
Corsair K95 RGB Platinium
Corsair introduced a new model of the K95 series – the Corsair K95 RGB Platinium. The keyboard clearly targets the high-end market, probably ready to fight for the title of the best mechanical keyboard. The keyboard brings innovations on the outside as well as in the inside. Its design got a rework, hardware playback and 8 MB on-board memory got added and some of the media keys found a new look and place. Furthermore, the K95 RGB Platinium features Cherry MX Brown or Cherry MX Speed. Its predecessor, the K95 RGB, was known for its high amount of macro keys (18 keys!). The K95 RGB Platinium has only six macro keys, which ist probably still enough for the majority of the user base. The official price on the website of the manufacturer is 209,99 USD.
Cherry MX Board Silent
The German switch manufacturer Cherry introduced a new keyboard for his own lineup. The Cherry MX Board Silent is a variation of the Cherry G80-3000. Its based on the classic, but features new Cherry MX Silent switches. You can choose between MX Silent Red and MX Silent Black, both are rather quiet linear switches. Typical gaming features are missing, the Cherry MX Board Silent is therefore rather a mechanical keyboard for work. Due to its silent switches, the keyboard might also be a good choice for an office, avoiding discussions with co-workers about mechanical keyboard’s noise level.
Tt eSports, Creative, Das Keyboard
The company Creative, primarily known for products like sound systems and accessories, presented a new gaming mouse and mechanical gaming keyboard. The new Sound BlasterX Vanguard K08 is the first mechanical keyboard from Creative and features RGB lighting, 26-Key rollover, dedicated media controls and tactile switches from Omron. It’s supposed to cost about 180 USD.
Another keyboard presentation comes from the manufacturer Tt eSports. Their new model MEKA Pro Cherry MX expands the variety of their products and adds a mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX switches. Usually the manufacturer features Kailh switches. The design and functional range is similar to other products from Tt eSports. It features n-key rollover, red backlight illumination and macro recording without the need of a proprietary software. The keyboard will cost about 100 USD and therefore is a rather cheap backlit mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX switches.
Last but not least, there are some news about the keyboard from the Kickstarter project from Metadot, Das Keyboard 5Q. It was available for tryouts at the CES 2017. The illumination of the keyboard informs the user about incoming notifications. The Kickstarter project is already over, but the keyboard can be pre-ordered on the manufacturers website.
