Rosewill Mechanical Keyboard RK-9000RE w/ Cherry MX Red Switch $64, Keyboard RK-9000BL w/ Cherry MX Black Switch $64 + Free Shipping

Quote from jasonhsieh : which one, the blackwidow or the Rosewill cherry MX red/blue, is better for a student looking for typing? thanks!

Short answer, I would say the blue switches and the blackwidow. For longer answer, read book below

If noise is going to be a problem you might not want the blue though it is generally regarded as best for typing. Using the o-ring [amazon.com] mod helps though. There are youtube videos you can view to get an idea of the relative sounds of the key types with and without o-rings. I personally have not used the reds but some say the keys are too easy to press leading to accidental key presses. Reds and blacks are linear so no tactile bump, the blacks have higher than normal pressure to actuate so not considered great for typing as they can cause fatigue. It almost seems you would lose some of the benefit of the mechanical switches on reds, though they would be consistent, again, I have not used them myself.

The rosewill board is a standard no frills board, no media or macro keys, plain looks. The blackwidow is a 'gamer' board, media and macro keys, kind of funky font for lettering. It has a glossy plastic casing which picks up fingerprints but has a bit of lip that I like as a wrist rest. If you want something more professional looking (you should have the board a long time) the rosewill might be better but you do lose the media keys of the blackwidow. Personally, I prefer the feel of the blackwidow to the rosewill boards and right now the blackwidow is cheaper which is usually a consideration for students. The rosewill does have a ps2 connector as well as usb which allow for n-key rollover which might or might not be a consideration and that can help for certain bios situations.

Quote from Cirrus : The blackwidow drove me crazy with the extra row of macro keys since I'd keep hitting the macro keys instead of what I wanted to hit, being used to the leftmost row being ctrl, shift, etc. meant that I kept dying in games because I hit one of the macros instead of the button I meant to hit. The weird key row spacing didn't help. I ended up doing worse than with my regular keyboard in games so I returned it since it was very counterproductive, lol.

I have literally never accidentally pressed a macro key and I have pretty big hands. I have not gamed on the blackwidow so maybe I haven't been in a panic type situation to mistype.

In for the cherry browns.

Quote from lobsang : My first PC keyboard was a model M, which I became a total fan of in no time. I still like those, but they're hard to find, and require adapters, etc. On top of that, they're very noisy... Is there a place where one can try the different models (of actuators) before buying?

When I bought my first mechanical not to long ago I went over to Microcenter and they were quite friendly about letting me open the box and get a full feel of each kb. I'd recommend going in with a list of kb's for each type of MX switch and get a feel for what you want. The main difference is going to be in the way the keys actuate, the force, and the noise. I have my wife in the room with me many times so using a loud kb was out of the question. I found that the linear actuation force of the Red's was perfect for my purposes of doing a mixture of gaming and typing up documents for my profession. I tend to type lightly so the mistyping is not very much an issue but I could see for those that type heavily or inaccurately this could be a real frustration.

tl;dr
Reds provide and nice linear stroke and arent loud
Blues provide a tactile click and are loud
Tested others but they seemed to be slight differences on either the reds or blues.

Quote from KITHPOM : No guarantees on sales for blackfriday but they have had this pricing on the rosewill boards several times already. The Razer blackwidow is on sale now for $53 which I think is the lowest price I've seen on a mechanical to date. I've only have good experience with the blackwidow and prefer it over the rosewill boards. Of course if you want something other than blue, you wouldn't go for the blackwidow.

I can second my experience with the Black Widow. I have the Ultimate version at home and got another standard version (the one on sale) for work. I got it when it was $63, the lowest price I had seen at that point. $53 is a steal if you're looking for MX Blues, which I have to say feel amazing to type on and game with. If you're looking for blues, the Black Widow will probably be a better bet. Razer support is also great in my experience, I had to RMA a mouse from them once, the process was really easy and I got a brand new one back within a week. No refurb crap from them.

What actually is Mechanical keyboard?
How is it different than Normal Logitech/Microsoft keyboards.
I have seen always these Mechanical keyboards priced like 60bucks and more in deal.. is this worth it?

I had the Black Widow and I currently own 3 mechy boards one of them being the Rosewill keyboard.

The Rosewill Keyboard is a Filco rebrand. If you want all the bells and whistles of macro keys, get the razer. But Rosewill will win in the quality department. It is no contest.

The Rosewill doesn't have some Synapse 2.0 DRM crap. Default win.

I own two red versions. No problems with either.

Quote from Cirrus : The blackwidow drove me crazy with the extra row of macro keys since I'd keep hitting the macro keys instead of what I wanted to hit, being used to the leftmost row being ctrl, shift, etc. meant that I kept dying in games because I hit one of the macros instead of the button I meant to hit. The weird key row spacing didn't help. I ended up doing worse than with my regular keyboard in games so I returned it since it was very counterproductive, lol.

I thought I was alone in this! I just bought a CM Trigger and that row of macro keys has been messing me up as well. I like the keyboard though, so I'm thinking about just pulling out the macro keys and putting some electrical tape over the opening or something.

I have both Rosewill brown and Blackwidow (blue). If I have to pick one, I'll go with Rosewill (even for red). It feels better and as someone said, the extra row on the left sometimes drive me crazy (I don't even play game). To use macro, you have to install Blackwidow software, which I also don't like.

Quote from daylapaul : I thought I was alone in this! I just bought a CM Trigger and that row of macro keys has been messing me up as well. I like the keyboard though, so I'm thinking about just pulling out the macro keys and putting some electrical tape over the opening or something.

Damn, I wish I have those macro keys with my CM rapid fire pro and you're about to take them off. how about we switching though. Just kidding.

FYI -- multiple reviews on newegg state that there are USB issues with this keyboard. Apparently the detachable usb ports fall off? :-\

Quote from PhilDub : FYI -- multiple reviews on newegg state that there are USB issues with this keyboard. Apparently the detachable usb ports fall off? :-\

Not sure if this is relevant...but...

I bought the Cherry MX Brown's just two days ago. I freaked out when I thought I received an item that was DOA, but then I read all the reviews. All the negative 1 star reviews come from people who did not learn to plug in the cable all the way into their keyboard. There are responses from CoolerMaster showing photos of how the inserted cable should look. After exerting some extra force to snap the cable in, the unit worked properly and exceeded my expectations for my first mechanical keyboard.

Highly suggest the red for a work setting. I picked up the speakers+keyboard deal for work and am loving it for the amount of typing I do. Otherwise I've had a filco tenkeyless brown for a bit over a year. Brown switches are awesome for my home usage. . I find blues much too noisy for any environment... I have a razor blackwidow with blues and the only time I ever use it is if I'm wearing my over-ear headset AND if my room mate isn't home. Blacks I have no experience with. As much as I've read about them they're supposed to be "tactical" with a higher resistance and lower fluctuation point. I've heard many say they never were able to get used to typing/gaming on blacks without always bottoming out.

Quote from dtr219 : Not sure if this is relevant...but... I bought the Cherry MX Brown's just two days ago. I freaked out when I thought I received an item that was DOA, but then I read all the reviews. All the negative 1 star reviews come from people who did not learn to plug in the cable all the way into their keyboard. There are responses from CoolerMaster showing photos of how the inserted cable should look. After exerting some extra force to snap the cable in, the unit worked properly and exceeded my expectations for my first mechanical keyboard.

i also read from the article someone linked earlier that it's better to use the PS/2 connector. perhaps that would solve everyone's problems? who knows. my 4 year old g15 keyboard is still working so i don't think i'm hopping on this anyway