Capsule Review: Rosewill's Illuminated Gaming Keyboard and RK-9000I Keyboard
by Dustin Sklavos on November 25, 2012 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Keyboard
- Rosewill
- Cherry MX
- mechanical
Conclusion: Matters of Priority and Price
Now that we have a pretty full gamut of the four most common Cherry MX switches in hand and can rule out Logitech's otherwise solid G710+ keyboard as a representative of the Browns, we can get a better handle on the differences between the switches and what that means to you. The essential problem is going to continue to be that you're not going to know what sounds and feels best until you can actually put it under your fingertips, but hopefully we can at least point you in the right direction.
In regards to the switches themselves, they can essentially be broken down by the way they actuate: the Blues and Browns are tactile, with the Blues requiring more pressure than the Browns do (and producing a delightful audible click). Meanwhile, the Blacks and Reds are linear, with the Blacks requiring more pressure than the Reds. And amusingly, the linear switches lend themselves better to gaming while the tactile switches feel better for typing due to their distinct feedback.
It's hard to really recommend which switches for which users because of the way things break down, but I can try. If you're prioritizing typing and productivity, you'll want the Blues or Browns, with the lower actuation force of the Browns making them a better compromise for gaming. Meanwhile, if you're prioritizing gaming, you'll want the Reds or Blacks, and if you're the kind of person to beat on your keyboard, the Blacks may actually be the best choice, while twitchier players will feel at home with the Reds. I will say that you'll notice my day job is as a writer, and I'm still using Reds because I prefer the keyboard they're housed in.
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As for the Rosewill keyboards, the non-illuminated models continue to be terrific values for the money and a great way for users to get a feel for mechanical switches. These are smart, practical, functional keyboards that feature both PS/2 and USB 2.0 connectivity depending on which you need/prefer, and while the durability of the key printing is questionable, the price is right. You can get one with Blue switches and a black finish for just $59 right now, which is basically a steal for a mechanical board. The boards with the white finish are a harder sell since Rosewill charges a slight premium for something that's basically irrelevant in any practical way.
Meanwhile, the only thing really wrong with the illuminated models is the price. At $119 for the Blue version and $129 for the Brown, Rosewill's prices are unrealistic and batting out of their league. Brown switches seem to pull a bit of a premium on their own and I can understand why, but other vendors are charging the same or less for potentially more feature rich keyboards. Rosewill needs to drop the prices by about $20-$30 apiece to hit that sweet spot; at that point they're an easy recommendation.
Where things get foggy is the "Gaming" branding, which I feel is inappropriate for the types of switches they're using. There are no Black or Red representatives in their lineups, and I'm personally of the opinion that the Reds are the ones you want as a gamer. This is more of an observation and even a request to Rosewill to expand their lines to include these switches as options than anything damning.
Ultimately these are both fine keyboards, and the illuminated one is pretty attractive in its own right, but ironically Rosewill's worst competition is themselves. Bring the prices down and you'll have a knockout lineup.
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Beenthere - Monday, November 26, 2012 - link
I went to Newegg to take a look at these mechanical mobos and no matter what Rosewill model I looked at, the reviews all said that the mini USB port on the keybord where the cable plugs in, fails after about 6 months. There is one review after another with the identical defect/failure on multiple models.I'm wondering if the RK-9000I and RK-9100BR have this same mini USB port issue?
Impulses - Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - link
I haven't had an issue with mine but it never moves so there's no way the port could fail... I've heard it's actually fairly easy to fix if it's out of warranty tho, at least if you're handy with a soldering iron.Beenthere - Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - link
Actually several reviews by people who never move their mobo have reported the Rosewill mini USB port on the mechanical keyboards failing, which is why I asked because this is a serious design flaw.Purpose - Monday, November 26, 2012 - link
Cherry MX Blue switches require less force to depress than browns because there is no resistance from the leaf spring encountered until the actuation point, unlike browns, which have a near linear resistance.That's the primary difference between browns and blues. Blues are easier to depress until the actuation point, then you get noticeable resistance, and once the switch is activated, the resistance of blue switches decreases dramatically.
Browns on the other hand are slightly harder to depress due to the near linear nature, but require less force at the actual activation point.
Shame, shame for the obviously horrible research done prior to writing this article.
http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX_Brown
http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX_Blue
Pheesh - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - link
I'm not sure why the reviewer thinks brown's are not ideal for gaming. In the large fps gaming community that I follow gamers prefer either brown's or red's. (seems to be mostly browns, actually). Black switches are somewhat despised.LintMan - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
I have a Steelseries keyboard with MX Black keys and found that while it was fine for FPS-type games where you're holding down the keys for movement, it was not so great for games where you are quickly just tapping keys, and it was especially bad for "double-tapping"; I had a very hard time reliably getting a double-tap response because it's not very clear where the actuation/release points are without the tactile feedback of the click point.Similarly, I had problems with typing - the number of typos I was producing shot up compared to how I do on typical non-mechanical keyboards or on the RK-9000 MX Brown I replaced my Steelseries with. It was such a relief going from the MX Blacks to the MX Browns.
McFoozle - Sunday, December 2, 2012 - link
IBM Selectric was genius in that the keyboard was concave which reduced the amount of distance your fingers had to reach to get from Home Row to the other rows. Why can't anybody make a proper keyboard even after I explain it to them? I want a concave design split into two halves which are angled outward kind of like the GoldTouchApple but with palm rests.Every single damn tech thing I buy or look at isn't the way I want it. I totally understand why Steve Jobs used the "F" word so much.
Beenthere - Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - link
While the Rosewill mechanical keyboards seem to be a decent product they are way over priced, IMO. I don't see how they can justify a ~$100 price tag for any of the mechanical keyboard models.batguiide - Sunday, December 9, 2012 - link
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