Mechanical keyboard articles

Corsair is building upon its previous collaboration with Cherry to bring another exclusive line of switches to the mechanical keyboard market. Aimed squarely at gamers, the new MX Speed switches are not only quiet but also reduce travel distance to 1.2mm for a lighting fast 4ms actuation speed on the K65 RGB Rapidfire, K70 Rapidfire and K70 RGB Rapidfire being tested today.

Metadot, maker of the well-known Das Keyboard today is launching Division Zero, a new brand and product line developed specifically for the pro gaming and eSports community. Its debut offerings include the X40 Pro Gaming Mechanical Keyboard and the M50 Pro Gaming Mouse, both of which we'll be looking at today.

Not that long ago gamers had a rather limited choice of keyboards, particularly gaming mechanical keyboards, and most were too expensive for the masses. However, over the last few years there's been an explosion of mechanical keyboards, many of which could be considered affordable, and we've gathered nearly a dozen of them for testing.

The KM780 RGB mechanical keyboard and MX780 RGB gaming mouse mark G.Skill's debut in the gaming peripherals world. The former includes features such as three mode hotkeys, six dedicated macro keys, on-board memory to save your settings and lighting patterns. The MX780 RGB features a height adjustable palm rest, interchangeable side grips and gaming grade PTFE glide pads on the underside.

The G310 Atlas Dawn is a slimmed down version of the G910, Logitech's previous Romer-G mechanical keyboard. Gone are the macro keys and media control functions along the side and top of the board. The number pad has also been given the boot in order to create a lightweight and compact keyboard that's better suited for travel to LAN events or to fit into smaller gaming spaces.

Since launching its first mechanical gaming keyboard, Cougar has continued releasing PC gaming devices ranging from the ultra affordable to the relatively expensive. On the upper end of things, Cougar's flagship 700K fetches $150, but for folks who can't quite justify the price Cougar has developed the 600K we have in house for review. Along for the ride is Cougar's 600M gaming mouse, which is surprisingly well-equipped for $60.

Metadot is arguably responsible for pioneering the commercial mechanical keyboard market, much like OCZ did with solid state drives. We've seen a number of revisions and competitors hit the scene since the original Das Keyboard launched in 2005, but their latest offering promises to be an order of magnitude better than previous generations, bringing in new features while staying true to its roots in terms of aesthetics and its 104-key layout.