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

Newegg

For those still interested (no freebies this time around) :look:

• Rosewill Mechanical Keyboard RK-9000RE with Cherry MX Red Switch [newegg.com]
  • Promo code EMCJJND95 = $63.99 + Free Shipping
• Rosewill Mechanical Keyboard RK-9000BL with Cherry MX Black Switch [newegg.com]
  • Promo code EMCJJND95 = $63.99 + Free Shipping
• Rosewill Mechanical Keyboard RK-9000I with Cherry MX Blue Switch [newegg.com]
  • Promo code EMCJJND95 = $67.99 + Free Shipping

This post can and should be edited by users like you :)
 

"The real star of the show though, has to be the Rosewill RK-9000." from a HotHardware [hothardware.com] keyboard round-up

Still one of my favorite KBs. Too bad I want a tenkeyless. In my experience Reds are the way to go (I don't game). Browns and Blues lack responsiveness and take higher pressure in order to register. Blacks are pretty nonexistent and also require a lot of pressure.

- sent by iPhone App Deals & Steals 3.5.8 -

The one I want (Brown) is left off of the sale again. Figures.

The same promo code works on the Brown one. I was looking at that one as well and with this code the total is $89.99 - $18.00 = $71.99.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6823201042

To buy now or wait for blackfriday... hmmmm

Silly to suggest blacks are nonexistent on a thread advertising a sale on a black. They do require extra pressure but it pretty much eliminates accidental key presses and if one tries to minimize key travel instead of bottoming out it takes less effort. I have yet to try out reds but blacks, browns, and blue are all acceptable in my book and blues are my preferred bettered with o-rings.

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.

Perhaps OP should change title and details to indicate that the code is in fact a 20% off all rosewill keyboards. As is, it implies only the keyboards listed are on sale.

I'm on a phone.. and am driving, so forgive my shortness

Blackwidow is iOne
IOne is the suck.
Many people have had qc issues with bw.

Rosewill is costar. Known for high quality.

Bought ivory browns btw

My personal experience with the blackwidow has been flawless. I haven't any problem with rosewill boards either, I just prefer the feel of the blackwidow. Good luck on your purchase.

Someone link to a detailed description of the differences between them all? I game heavily (BF3, BL2 and future games)

Here you go: http://www.overclock.net/t/491752...oard-guide

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

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?

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.

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.


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.

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.

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.

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.

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? :-\

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.

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

The G15 base is just another cheap bubble dome... I do enjoy the features on it though. I dropped using mine as soon I tried my first mechanical. And also the PS2 connector is unrelated. The guy you replied to was speaking of the mini-usb connector that plugs into the back of the keyboard. The PS/2 connector just gets you N* key rollover (infinite), usb is just 4 or 6 key rollover I believe.

My strategy for not bottoming out is to get a feel for the distance to bottom out (4mm) and to target half of that (2mm) which is the actuation point. Works for me.

Worth is subjective. If you are perfectly happy with a mushy inconsistent rubber dome and $60+ seems too much on principle then don't go for the mechanical.

Guide on mechanical switches link [geekhack.org]

In 4 one thanks

Damn. Got all the way to order it and got the following:

"This product cannot be shipped to IL. Please remove from cart or change destination."

yea i bought the g15 before the whole mechanical line got huge. i played plenty of semi-pro CS 1.6 matches with the old bubble dome keyboard :-P . and yes the ps/2 is unrelated to his issue but it's something people should know about

Can anyone with this keyboard measure the length of the spacebar?

Got a MX Brown. $77 after tax and discounts. Still expensive.. but screw it.. YOLO right? Lol

Can anyone who owns this comment on the whole usb cable issue? Some of the reviews have me scared.

This issue has been fixed on the newest boards :)

EDIT: Read about it here:
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36106.0

My brown switch board arrived at the office today.

I only spent 5 minutes using it, but the tactile feedback is relatively subtle compared to what I as expecting. It's more of a change of resistance than a "click" feeling. My initial impression is that the blues provide a much more satisfying tactile click (ignoring the audible click). That being said, I think longer term I'm going to appreciate the lower resistance and my neighbors will appreciate the lower noise. If you don't bottom out the switches the browns really are quiet.

wish the backlit model was cheaper

Lol, I just tried buying one and Newegg says it can't ship it to ILLINOIS... WTH? It comes up with all the Rosewill Mechanical Keyboards!

Well, I guess that's a sign. Time to move out of this ridiculous state! :P

Got my ivory brown today.
Very nice looking. Happy with my purchase.