Razer is a company known for their gaming peripherals, such as keyboard, mice, headphones, and so on. In the past we have seen Razer turn to Germany’s ZF Electronics to supply them with their Cherry MX switches for their mechanical keyboards in their BlackWidow series of gaming keyboards.
However it seems that Razer might have a change of heart and strategy and has decided to create and launch their own brand of mechanical keyboard switches instead in the form of the Razer Green and the Razer Orange, with the latter being a softer and more subtle version of the Razer Green.
Razer’s new switches are expected to make their way into their newer BlackWidow keyboards although we’re not sure if Razer plans on supplying other manufacturers with their mechanical switches. For the most part most mechanical keyboards tend to rely on the Cherry MX switches.
According to Razer, “After extensive research, Razer’s multi-award winning engineers identified the optimal actuation distance for a gaming switch to a fraction of a millimeter and reduced the distance between the actuation and reset point by almost half to allow for faster, more precise gaming commands when compared to standard mechanical switches. Furthermore, the all-new Razer Mechanical Switches are made using an ultra-precise manufacturing technique that, along with gold plated contact points, result in a lifespan of up to 60 million key strokes.”
Mechanical keyboards are a type of keyboard that uses mechanical switches under the keys as opposed to rubber domes or scissor-type switches. They’re based on an older keyboard design but have recently enjoyed a revival. Some might not prefer them due to the clacking noises they make when typing, but others prefer it due to the more audible feedback they are getting.
Mechanical keyboards have also been used in gaming, partly due to the N-key rollover which basically allows multiple keys to be pressed at once and having all of them registered, which is great when playing games like MMOs where you might have a bunch of macros setup that you need to string together in rapid succession.
We’re not really sure how well Razer’s new switches will handle, but given the company’s experience in gaming peripherals so far, we’ll be looking forward to checking it out.
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