Alright, so you’re asking about those Cherry MX Low Profile Speed switches, huh? Man, I went down a rabbit hole with those a while back. I was on this crazy quest, trying to find the absolute quickest, most responsive keyboard for gaming, you know? Every millisecond counts, or so they say.
So, I started digging around. Heard all the buzz about “speed” switches. And then this “low profile” trend started hitting hard. Keyboards getting thinner than a pancake. Naturally, my brain went: low profile + speed = an unbeatable combo, right? Seemed logical. So, I decided I had to get my hands on something with these Cherry MX Low Profile Speed switches. I think the ones I ended up with were the Silvers, or something claiming to be the speed variant in that low-profile format.
My Tryst with the Low-Down and Speedy
Getting the keyboard was one thing, actually using it was another. First impression? Woah, these are LOW. Seriously, the whole keyboard felt incredibly flat. Took a bit for my fingers to even get used to the new landscape. My desk suddenly felt enormous.
And the “speed” part? Yeah, they were definitely quick to actuate. Super light, linear feel – you just had to think about pressing a key, and it would register. No bump, no click, just a straight shot down. This is what they always say about the regular Speed Silvers too, right? Linear, low spring resistance, triggers super fast. And these low-profile ones were supposed to be the same, just shorter. Cherry even says their Low Profile Reds are like 35 percent shorter, making for slim designs and all that ergonomic talk.
But here’s where things got a bit… weird for me. It wasn’t a bad weird, just not what I fully expected. I’d used regular Cherry Speeds before, the full-height ones. These low-profile speed demons felt different. It wasn’t just like they took the regular Speed Silver and squished it. The whole experience was just… shallower. Which, duh, that’s the point of low profile, but it changed the feel more than I thought.
I found myself bottoming out. All. The. Time. And hard. Because there’s so little travel, and they’re so light, my fingers just slammed down. After a few long sessions, it wasn’t exactly the most comfortable thing. My typing got a bit sloppier too, because even grazing a key could set it off. Precision was key, almost too much so for me.
And you know how people always compare switches? Like, I’d heard folks saying Gateron switches are generally smoother than Cherrys. For a long time, I kinda shrugged it off. But after using these ultra-low, ultra-fast Cherrys, I started to wonder. There was a certain… I don’t know… scratchiness or just a raw feeling to them that became more noticeable because everything else was so minimal. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the buttery smooth experience I think I was subconsciously hoping for when “speed” was the main selling point.
Ultimately, I didn’t stick with that keyboard for too long. The whole “low profile speed” thing, for me, was an interesting experiment. They absolutely deliver on being low and fast. No question. If that’s purely what you’re after, then yeah, they do the job. But for actual long-term use, especially for someone like me who maybe isn’t the most delicate typist, it just didn’t quite gel.
I ended up realizing that there’s more to a good switch feel than just raw actuation speed and a short travel distance. It’s a whole package deal. It was a bit of a journey, and honestly, I learned more about what I didn’t want in a switch than what I did. Funny how that works out sometimes, eh? So yeah, that was my little adventure with the Cherry MX Low Profile Speed. Definitely an experience.