Cherry MX 6.0 Mechanical Keyboard – Review
In More Detail
With the packaging out-of-the-way, lets take a closer look.
The rubberised wrist rest that Cherry provide with the MX Board 6.0, attached by way of two rare earth magnets that connect to a steel plate in the center of the keyboard. It makes for a quick process to remove and attach if you need to clean either part for any reason. I have to say that the rest did mark very easily, but a quick wipe with a damp cloth got rid of any dirt/dust very quickly.
Underneath in each corner of the keyboard, are two legs which can be popped in place to raise the rear for a more ergonomic stance. Each leg has a tiny strip of rubber to help prevent it from slipping if you prefer it to be raised, which is a nice touch.
The cable on the keyboard is fixed at the keyboard end by way of design. It is locked into place by the shape of the connector and two plastic clips which would make it near impossible to remove without causing some kind of damage and thus voiding your warranty, but it does mean that the cable is unlikely to cause fatigue to the port itself by moving.
That said the cable has a very thick braiding which makes it hard for the cable to tangle, and the connector on the PC end (and I expect the keyboard end) is gold plated for that additional bling touch.
The cable also has a few routing options underneath. You can, using the channels, route it to exit the top right, top left, or central from the keyboard if you so please.
The keyboards design features an aluminium top panel which has a sanded finish and grease resistant coating.
The switches in use on the MX Board 6.0 are Cherry MX Red and if you have read any of my earlier mechanical keyboard reviews you will know they are not my ideal switch (I have reasons, one being that they are generally too light). The backlight matches the switch by also being red in colour.
The keycaps that come with the Cherry MX Board 6.0 are of a slightly different profile to what is commonly found on other brands, they are a slightly lower profile. You can see this in the image below, the red keycaps are replacement WASD caps from a Ducky keyboard. You can see their prominence above the other keys quite clearly.
The MX Board 6.0 has several keys with which to control the backlight intensity. In what might be a first (at least what I have seen) is the ability to control the backlight intensity in 1% steps as well as 10% steps.
You also have standard media keys, with volume controls being secondary functions to the F1-F3 keys and in the top right you have play/pause, forward and reverse.
The Cherry key you can see there allows you to disable the Windows key and certain key combos (when enabled the normally blue Windows key turns red or remains unlit). Key combo’s such as ALT+F4, ALT+TAB and CTRL+ALT+DELETE are disabled when the Windows key is locked.
