Cherry MX Ultra Low Profile

[sharktastica]

https://www.cherrymx.de/en/blog/cherry- ... ofile.html



Takeaways:
* 1.8mm total travel
* 45cn for actuation, 65cn for tactile
* (Unique) SMD mount
* Will make their debut on Alienware laptops

So, thoughts?

[Easy_Spinach]

Would love to make a ultra portable planck with that.

[zrrion]

SMD mount switches sounds really odd but if it works I guess. Not my cup of tea but I'd love to know more about them

[matt3o]

I'm still waiting for the clicky low profile they promised years ago

[Findecanor]

I'm still waiting for the clicky low profile they promised years ago

There is supposed to be a clicky clone switch in the TTC KS32 series though.
And Kailh's Choc V2 is close enough that new keyboards could use a combined footprint that would fit all three manufacturer's switches.
But yeah...

[Muirium]

Scissor switch. But discrete, and without relying on a dome underneath for the contacts. Sounds like an idea worth exploring.



There's only so much you can do about feel in the laptop form-factor, mind. But given just how deeply Apple screwed the pooch with butterfly keyboards some years back, since resolved (typing on an M1 Air just now…), there's clearly some scope here after all!

Putting these switches into customs? Well, they're going to need some caps…

[Findecanor]

The thickness of 3.5 mm does not include the thickness of the PCB ... because they are SMT.
It almost seems as if they had chosen SMT over through-hole and fixing pins only so that marketing could use this number.

I wonder about long-term durability with SMT. Conventional scissor/rubber dome switches do tend to use a common sheet-metal undercarriage for all switches in an entire keyboard.

[matt3o]

this is stuff for "gaming laptops" I don't think there's anything particularly interesting to see here

[Muirium]

Bet you're right. They're just making the best of their brand recognition. Any laptop that can claim "Cherry MX keyboard" has one up for gaming, 'nuff said. Reality be damned.

[RBithrey]

Well, it's a more affordable and lower profile option that Acer's behemoth: the ol' Predator 21x that came with a full MX Brown keyboard.

Nine grand, and only a two hour battery life. Worth the money...

https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/22/1567 ... 0-gtx-1080

[XMIT]

Well, at least they're trying. They meaning, both:

- Cherry, for at least making renderings worthy of press release; and

- Acer, for keeping the dream of the Macintosh Portable alive and well.

Party like it's 1989. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable

1920px-Macintosh_Portable-IMG_7541.jpg (130.3 KiB) Viewed 24701 times

Kidding aside, Cherry was originally known for micro switches, and this looks like a teeny tiny itty bitty micro switch.

Just, watch out what you post on April 1st!

[RBithrey]

The good old days of (im)mobile computing....

At least the Mac Portable had a trackball; they seem like a novelty nowadays.

I'd be interested to see if the ULP would ever make its way into a keyboard of some form. There's probably some bet that someone's had that they could put those switches into something that resembles an Apple Magic Keyboard or something similar, just with more RGB to be extra 'gamer'. The more lights, the more sales I guess.

[Reshala]

Still remember this?
wiki/Alps_ultra_low_profile

[Hak Foo]

What annoys me here is that they're diluting the MX name. As much as Cherry likely hates it, MX now signifies an ecosystem of keycap and board mounting as well as a specific product.

Someone will buy a laptop with these switches, and post an angry message that the bargain Aliexpress "Gamer keycaps for Cherry MX" don't work. If there's a price differential, some low-bid seller will flog a board full of these as "Genuine Cherry MX", even though it's what nobody envisions when they hear the words.

If they called it something else-- MZ or MU maybe-- this entirely predictable frustration could be avoided.

[micmil]

What annoys me here is that they're diluting the MX name. As much as Cherry likely hates it, MX now signifies an ecosystem of keycap and board mounting as well as a specific product.

Someone will buy a laptop with these switches, and post an angry message that the bargain Aliexpress "Gamer keycaps for Cherry MX" don't work. If there's a price differential, some low-bid seller will flog a board full of these as "Genuine Cherry MX", even though it's what nobody envisions when they hear the words.

If they called it something else-- MZ or MU maybe-- this entirely predictable frustration could be avoided.

None of those things are Cherry's problem. The name recognition of "MX" combined with the fact that literally everything that is Cherry made and not MX is considered absolutely unrelenting dogshit by everyone that's every keyed a board would lead one to automatically assume that "MZ" is also shit. I mean... MX good, MY bad, MZ has to be even badderer!!!!!!right?!??!

This is the reality of marketing.

[Findecanor]

I think however that there could also be a lot of people who have no idea that Cherry has made anything else than Cherry MX switches.

[davkol]

derp

[Menuhin]

Is there any info / photo about how (already available) keycaps for these new switches look like, or can look like?

I still kind of like the older "MX low profile" because of the compatibility of its key stem with the cherry mx keycaps - at least the SP DSA keycap sets can fit.