Cherry MX Board 1.0 Backlight Mechanical Keyboard Review

Peter Donnell / 5 years ago

Final Thoughts

How Much Does it Cost?

The Cherry MX Board 1.0 Backlight is pretty straight forward, and while it has the switches of a premium keyboard, it’s pretty affordable too. It’s priced at around £75-85 depending on which store you shop at. That’s hardly going to break the bank compared to some mechanical keyboards. Of course, keep in mind it comes from one of the oldest and most trusted brands in the mechanical keyboard and switch market!

Overview

Cherry’s MX Board 1.0 is hardly going to light the world on first with excitement, is it? But then again, it was never really designed to be the greatest keyboard in the world, and that’s just fine. The arms race to out-do each other in the peripheral market is only driving prices higher and higher. It can be easy to forget that some people, quite a lot of them actually, just want a “normal” keyboard. It’s in that regard that the MX Board 1.0 Backlight delivers.

Build Quality

It’s pretty solid overall, and while it does have a plastic chassis, it feels every bit as well constructed as you would expect from Cherry. They don’t half-arse the construction of their switches, and they keep the quality up elsewhere too. The addition of a detachable wrist rest, height adjustment system, white LED backlight, and (obviously) Cherry MX switches, makes it a solid all-rounder.

Work and Gaming

Mechanical keyboards are great at home, in the office, or in a competitive gaming environment. The consistency you get from the switches simply cannot be ignored. The MX Board 1.0 Backlight works great when it comes to smashing through dozens of emails, and even writing this very review! However, when the boss turns his back, or when you want to relax on an evening, it’s every bit as responsive as a gaming keyboard too, yet still about half the price of premium “gaming” models.