Alienware and Cherry MX create a true mechanical keyboard on a gaming laptop | Hacker News Reader

Alienware and Cherry MX create a true mechanical keyboard on a gaming laptop

venturebeat.com

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The real innovation with these switches isn't the butterfly mechanism or the itty-bitty steel spring. It's the fact that the switch can be placed on a PCB just like any SMD component by a pick and place machine.

It doesn't mention anything about it but I believe the plastic bits get added later--after soldering.

Based on my understanding of the mechanism it will likely suffer the same fate as Apple's butterfly switches in that dust and hair will completely wreck it and there's no good way to clean that stuff out.

The world needs to move to contactless switches so they can be easily cleaned like this: https://gfycat.com/unconsciousvigilantkinglet

(That's one half of the top plate from my analog keyboard with 3D printed magnetic separation switches)

The design is very similar to Apple's Butterfly [1], but the genius part is the stainless steel spring in between that push actuation force to 52 cN and the tactile force to 65 cN.

I am wondering if this spring design is completely new?

The total height of 3.5 mm is still way beyond normal Laptop Keys though. But I am wondering if that spring design would make butterfly much better.

[1] https://i.insider.com/54fddab46bb3f715267376de?width=1300&fo...

I wonder, too, if it's susceptible to literally _any_ dust rendering the key mostly useless. This, coupled with the failed promise of innovation via the touch bar, were huge factors in deciding to ditch macbooks and bite the bullet of development on WSL.

Wow ! I wonder if cherry would sell these switches for standalone keyboards

What's the need? Normally a bit of thickness in a keyboard doesn't matter. I'm sure there are compromises in the design, I strongly suspect a standard switch is better.

Now, what I want is for someone to build the old Northgate OmniKey Ultra keyboards. Function keys on the left are so useful for many purposes and I especially like them because I can reliably touch-type the ones on the left but I can't reliably touch-type the ones on top--they're just a little bit too far away, I sometimes miss.

Low travel distance can give a low effort typing experience. I'd like to try these out, they might make a good desktop keyboard.

I'm typing this on an OmniKey Ultra that's older tham some of the people on here. I'm on this keyboard most of the time (I'm 100% WFH since long before the pandemic.) I don't feel the keyboard is any effort to use--I've got some arthritis that makes me avoid doing anything that takes effort with my index fingers, the keyboard is not an issue.

I've seen a few modern keyboard designs with a couple of columns on the left. The problem is that most of them are enthusiast projects that cost several hundred dollars and are sold as a group-buy for 15 minutes and then you wait two years for delivery to solder it yourself.

I used an Omnikey for a while recently-- nice solid board, and agreed that the layout is nifty, but I've had nothing but trouble with the reliability of modern Alps-like switches. Right now, there's a GH-122 on my desk (one of those enthusiast projects from like 2016)

A few gaming-design boards, have extra columns for macro keys which could be remapped to function key layout.

>What's the need?

low-travel key switches used to be popular on CNC machines to reduce chances of machining-chips/debris getting into the keyboard. The key caps also used extended skirts to bring the cap as close to the PCB as possible. (example : http://www.calmotion.com/images/keyboard-1784-P_0h93fj2n.jpg )

Membrane keyboards and touch-screens have basically replaced any real switch in machining environments, but maybe a DIYer somewhere would find some use in those kind of environments.

Those new cherry switches would be useful for this project: https://github.com/saoto28/pineapple60

On an ANSI keyboard, a single function key could toggle the numpad's 1-9 keys into F1-F9 keys, and have the additional 3 on top be F10-F12. That might give you an experience similar to the Omnikey's side F keys, as long as you're OK with having them on the right side. Might work better if the arrow keys and nav keys above it were removed so that the Numpad would be quicker to reach, since the Num Lock key makes them redundant anyway.

Kailh and Cherry both make low profile switches that might interest you. I have a Planck light with Kailh low profile browns that I adore

Isn’t this just a new take on the Butterfly switch that ruined Apple laptops in the past 6 years? Will be interesting to see how this fares in the market.

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