Rosewill Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with Cherry MX Brown Switches

Pros: This keyboard is everything that i was looking for at a price i couldn’t pass up. PS/2 connector, Tenkey, Cherry Blue’s, and a price of $79 thanks to a sale. Comes with separate USB and PS2 cables to suit your fancy, and they’re braided which gives a very high quality feel. Letters on the keyboard are large and easy to see if that’s something you’re looking for. Keys feel very nice to press and give convincing feedback to let you know your press has gone through. Even though it includes the number pad it retains a very small package. At under 18 inches it’s going to fit anywhere you need it to. So far, i can honestly say; if i liked this keyboard any more, it would be beer. Cons: Cables plug into the keyboard at an angle that points left. If your PC resides on the right side of your desk, this may become an issue. It was the perfect length for me so i won’t dock an egg for it, but some may have an issue. The blue LED’s are blindly bright and would certainly cause permanent blindness if looked at the wrong way. To be honest, this is almost worth docking an egg over, because i’ll probably end up having to put tape over the lights, its that bad. LED’s have a tendency to dull over time so maybe it won’t be an issue in a few months. We’ll see. Overall Review: Overall, i’m quite pleased on day 1. All it comes down to now is how long it lasts. I’m an avid gamer that plays RTS and FPS every day. Hopefully i get a few years out of it at the very least. Hoping for the best!

Pros: I’ve never really owned a Rosewill product before so I didn’t know what to expect in terms of quality, but wow am I surprised! It’s higher quality than my old Logitech G710+! The MX Brown switches feel great! It comes with two Mini-B removable USB cables which are both extremely high quality as well! One is USB-PS/2 and the other is USB/USB. Cons: The two USB cables that come with the keyboard are right angled, and for my specific setup the cables go the wrong way, which doesn’t look very good. (My computer is to the right of me, but the cables have a right angle connection going left.) I wish the LED’s weren’t blue, but that’s not a really a con, just an annoyance. Overall Review: Overall this is a super high quality keyboard that should make anyone happy! I do wish that since I bought the MX Brown version of the board it came with O-Rings pre-installed, but that’s really not the end of the world.

Pros: – Genuine Cherry MX switches – most other “bargain” brands have gone to knock-offs, including the folks at Das Keyboard and another popular brand for cheap mechanical keyboards with a “single price” – Great “minimalist” design with traditional-looking key caps. the new “single price brand” boards have this awful looking font as well as non-cherry switches – Braided cable – Beautify (and heavy) metal back plate – choice of all four major switches (the “single price brand” doesn’t offer a “brown” version) – N-key rollover and 6-key rollover over USB – my old Model Ms are limited to 2-key rollover Cons: – Detachable cable – would brefer a non-breakout cable with an adapter rather than separate cables. the connection looks sturdy but I’ve heard stories about broken connectors on the V1 version. I just don’t see the need for a detachable cable, especially with an obsolete (mini-usb) connector – for some reason, I cannot get into the BIOS on my computer when this keyboard is connected via PS/2. it works fine when connected via USB, and my Model Ms with native PS/2 connectors also work. If anyone knows anything about this issue, let me know. It’s a mystery, but I just leave the thing connected via USB. I don’t need NKRO, i got by with 2KRO for a long time, so 6 is more than enough. – No blank option (like das keyboard ultimate) – no tenkeyless options Overall Review: I collect mechanical keyboards. I like to snag old Model Ms off auction sites and from other folks who are “getting rid of old equipment”. That’s how I originally got bitten by the “mechanical” keyboard bug. These days I find I prefer keyboards with a Windows key, given that’s the environment I spend most of my time. Originally I bought a Unicomp Model M, so I could have the best of both worlds. While the Unicomp was okay, the keys were really stiff (even compared to old model Ms) and it eventually died on me – no idea how it happened. So I decided to try some Cherry MX-based boards. My first one was a MX Blue from that “single price” brand, still have it and really like it. The click sound is a bit much, though, and more shrill than on Model Ms. Decided I wanted to try an MX brown board for home use, where I type and also game. I now have two MX blue boards (one in regular use) and this MX brown board, along with all my Model Ms. The Rosewill is my favorite keyboard of the bunch right now. It is just a joy to type on, great combination of features, genuine Cherry MX switches, fantastic minimalist design, and that red metal backplate is just one of the most satisfying, subtle detains I’ve ever seen. I’m tempted to buy more of these boards and put them on every computer I use regularly.

Pros: – Close enough to the original RK-9000, easy enough to transition. Cons: – The polling rate appears to be significantly slower than the original RK-9000, difficult to adjust to. – Online reviews and even the Newegg specifications are misleading. The RK-9000V2 DOES NOT come with two cables, it instead comes with a single USB cable and a USB->PS2 Adapter. – The mini-usb end of the cable is extremely awkward and forces certain usage angles. Overall Review: There was an issue with the N-key rollover in the RK-9000 that prevented too many keys on either side of the keyboard from being used simultaneously – I’m assuming lowering the polling rate was a hack to fix this instead of actually solving the problem. The RK-9000 came with 2 cables, 1 USB and 1 PS2, the RK-9000V2 only comes with 1 USB cable and a USB->PS2 adapter. Fortunately, the old RK-9000 cables still work just fine with the RK-9000V2. I really dislike the addition of the obnoxious laptop-esque seek/play/volume keys. So I thought of replacing them with the keys from the RK-9000, and it turns out that the RK-9000V2 keys have a lower profile than the original RK-9000. I don’t really consider this a “con”, but I thought it should be noted for RK-9000 users. I owned the RK-9000 for 5 years and I really put it through hell, it only broke after I took it for a swim so I’m hoping the RK-9000V2 proves to be just as reliable.