Ready for a new Cherry MX mechanical switch? With increasing demand for clear-bodied switches to allow better backlighting, prolific mechanical switch manufacturer Cherry is rolling out a new Nature White switch, with a quiet, non-tactile feel and a carefully selected trigger force.
The new switch falls right in between the very popular MX Black and MX Red switches in terms of actuation force. The 55 grams required places the Nature White a five gram lighter touch than Black, and 10 heavier than the Red, but with the same linear actuation, and no physical or audible feedback.
But it’s not about the feel with the MX Nature White, but rather the clear housing. Keyboard manufacturers have been packing higher-end LED backlighting systems into keyboards lately. While Cherry switches are the industry standard, brands like Logitech and SteelSeries have gone to custom switches in order to improve lighting performance, since the LEDs have to be mounted on the top of Cherry switches and don’t offer great light permeation. That leads to uneven backlight appearance, a problem can cause trouble in the insanely competitive market of high-end mechanical keyboards.
In order to prevent confusion with the new MX Nature White, Cherry is discontinuing the previous MX White switch. The old White switch has a tactile feel, but only a soft one, and has a heavy 80 gram actuation force. With its discontinuation, the only remaining 80 gram switches are the audibly clicky MX Green and the linear MX Grey.
Cherry has partnered with Ducky to equip the Shine 5 mechanical keyboard with the new switches at launch. The Shine 5 already boasts RGB lighting for individual keys and choice of Cherry MX RGB switches, so the manufacturer is an ideal partner for showing off the new MX Nature White’s capabilities.
