As PC gamers, we all love our mechanical keyboards (although our teammates and coworkers might not, hearing all the clickety-clack over Discord). Now, Alienware is partnering up with Cherry MX on two laptops, the Alienware m15 R4 and the Alienware m17 R4, to bring the pairing of the Cherry MX mechanical keyboard with the Alienware gaming laptop. The partnership has been brewing for over three years, as the teams sought to shrink down the mechanical keyboard’s standard profile to a low profile experience that would work in the context of a laptop. You can hear the keyboards in action in this tweet here!
Super 🍒 sweet 🍒 news is dropping tomorrow. Until then 🤫@cherrymx pic.twitter.com/YKkdMhpG7a
— ALIENWARE (@Alienware) March 17, 2021
Over 160 prototypes were tested to reach the end result, a 3.5 mm ultra-low-profile keyboard designed to give the immediate feedback and feel of a mechanical keyboard combined with the convenience of a laptop experience. In my experience, once you try out mechanical keyboards it’s incredibly difficult to go back to the standard version, but do make sure that you have the correct ergonomic support regardless so you can avoid numerous nerve issues.
While I generally stay away from gaming laptops in general due to price/performance ratios compared to desktop fare, I’d absolutely be interested in mechanical keyboard functionality if I was attempting to game on the go. Oh, the keyboards also feature programmable keys for macroing and of course, per-key RGB for when your really want to impress your friends with a random light show or knock the socks off that guy sitting next to you on the bus or at a conference table. Nothing says “awesome” like purple backlit keys, trust me on this.
The M15 and M17 are built with power in mind, with Nvidia RTX 3080 laptop GPUs, up to 4 TB storage, and more. The Cherry MX keyboard configuration adds a 150 USD price addition to the base cost of these laptops.
You can check out the Alienware M15 here and the M17 here.
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