Any gamer or computer geek will immediately recognize the brand Cherry. Cherry is to keyboards what Coke is to soda. The good news is, just like Coke, there’s more than one flavor to choose from. For the Cherry MX Board Silent, the board itself is available in black or red, with Cherry MX switches in either silent black or silent red respectively. I received all black, and I’m very pleased with the characteristics. The cord is all rubber, and there are elevators on the back to lift the keyboard up to a slight angle. There are no illuminated keys, but the num-caps-scroll lights on the top right emit a strong and bright blue hue on both color options.
From a technical standpoint, the MX Black has a force of 60 cN, with the MX Reds requiring only 45 cN. Both have a travel distance of 4mm and an actuation point of 2mm. Stronger spring results in quick actuation and rebound, which means fast typers and gamers will appreciate being able to quickly hit the same key over and over. I found that the MX Board Silent has been the quietest keyboard I’ve used thus far, and but a good amount. The base of the board has rubber feet which means there’s no hard plastic directly touching your desk. The premium build quality and 50 million keystroke rating means you should only have to replace this board when simply want a change. At $149.99, it likely has the highest cost-feature ratio, but it simply works. For an office environment, this is as good as it gets. It’s durable, has two color options, and uses the best key switches on the market. Add in the quiet nature and amazing tactile response when typing, and you have an office keyboard dream.
For a detailed writeup on the differences of Cherry MX switches, be sure to check out this site: keyboardco.com. They made the animations below, which do a great job explaining how they work.
Credit to keyboardco.com.
Specs (as received):
Color: Black
Key caps: Laser Etched
Cord: Rubber
Switches: Cherry MX Silent Black
Key force: 60 cN
Actuation Point: 2mm, Linear
Travel: 4mm
Backlit: No
Macro support: No
OS: Windows/OSX
Price: $149 USD
