Cherry’s entering the laptop keyboard market with their new MX Ultra Low Profile key switches
Cherry’s entering the laptop keyboard market with their new MX Ultra Low Profile key switches
While Cherry already has a low-profile MX key switch design, it as not thin enough to be suitable for the laptop market. This presented Cherry with an engineering challenge, as they needed to create an MX-style key switch that was thin enough for laptops while providing the same mechanical feel as the switch’s larger desktop counterparts. Enter Cherry’s MX Ultra Low Profile Key Switch design.Â
With an overall height of 3.5mm, Cherry’s new MX ultra Low Profile Key Switches are now thin enough for mainstream laptops, arriving first with Alienware’s m15 R4 and m17 R4 series gaming laptops. Alienware is Cherry’s first hardware partner fir their MX Ultra Low Profile switches, though more partners are due to be announced at a later date.Â
Like their larger counterparts, CHerry’s MX Ultra Low Profile key switches support RGB lighting with 16.8 million colour options. These switches are also designed with an actuation force of 45 centinewtons in mind and a total travel distance of 1.8mm.Â
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  CHERRY MX, the market leader and expert for mechanical switches in keyboards, presents the Ultra Low Profile. With this model, the German-based company once again achieves a milestone in the development of switches: CHERRY MX manages to create the ultra-low profile mechanical switch into its own portfolio, which brings new technical possibilities to the design of ultra-low profile notebook and desktop keyboards in the high-end segment. In addition, the ultra-thin solution combines the feature set of the MX switches that have been proven for decades with new attributes, making the CHERRY MX Ultra Low Profile a game-changer for the industry.
CHERRY MX has not only presented a completely new development with the Low Profile switch introduced in 2018 but also significantly reduced the overall height of mechanical switches in this new design. This step is radically continued with the brand-new Ultra Low Profile. CHERRY MX is moving toward the current limit of technical feasibility with this model: the overall height is now reduced to only 3.5 millimeters. Accordingly, the development team realized a mechanical switch that is around 70 percent smaller than the Low Profile.
Design-wise, Cherry’s MX Ultra Low Profile key switches are reminiscent of Apple’s Butterfly key switches, using a two-sided keycap mount and a sturdy metallic construction. Unlike Apple’s problematic key switch design, Cherry appears to have designed their key switches with reliability and longevity in mind, using steel components where possible and a spring to reset the switch after it is pressed.Â
With their MX Ultra Low Profile switch design, Cherry promises their fans an ultra-slim design that maintains the same MX feel as their other mechanical key switches. This will come as good news to those who dislike the feel of most laptop keyboards.Â
Cherry has patented its new ultra-slim key switch design, and the company hopes that these switches will influence the designs of future notebooks. Mechanical key switches of this size were not previously possible, making these key switches a game-changer for the notebook market.Â
You can join the discussion on Cherry’s new MX Ultra Low Profile key switches on the OC3D Forums.Â