Blog

May 29, 2023

Razer Goes Linear With Yellow Mechanical Keyboard Switch

Razer has been pushing its own Razer Green (clicky) switch, and to a lesser

Razer has been pushing its own Razer Green (clicky) switch, and to a lesser extent its silent Orange switch, but now it's produced the Yellow switch to appeal to gamers who demand linear action.

As implied by that introduction, the Yellow switch is linear, like Cherry MX Red or Speed switches. It's not even slightly surprising that Razer has its own linear switch--in fact you could argue that it's way overdue--but it's noteworthy that the Yellow switch appears to have more in common with the Speed switch than the Red, as you can see in the table below.

The Razer Yellow switch and Cherry MX Speed switch have nearly identical specs: The actuation points are the same and the full travel distances are 0.1mm apart, but they have the same actuation force. It is true that Razer's switches are rated for 80 million clicks over Cherry's 50 million, but frankly that's a mostly immaterial distinction for all practical purposes.

That brings Razer's desktop mechanical switch total to three.

Razer also has the almost-mechanical Mecha-Membrane switch and the Ultra Low Profile Switch, of course. However, the Mecha-Membrane switch is still fundamentally membrane, not truly mechanical. We expect to see the Ultra Low Profile Switch appear on desktop keyboards eventually, but for now it's limited to an iPad keyboard (of all things) and a Razer Blade Pro laptop.

At launch, you can find the Yellow switches only on Razer's new BlackWidow Chroma V2, but presumably they’ll become a standard option on subsequent Razer keyboards.

Join the experts who read Tom's Hardware for the inside track on enthusiast PC tech news — and have for over 25 years. We'll send breaking news and in-depth reviews of CPUs, GPUs, AI, maker hardware and more straight to your inbox.

Solidigm P44 Pro 1TB SSD Drops to $64 at Newegg

Cooler Master's New Dual-Tower Cooler has 135mm and 120mm Fans

Raspberry Pi Drives Sailboat by Automating Autopilot

By Avram PiltchJune 08, 2023

By Anton ShilovJune 08, 2023

By Ash HillJune 07, 2023

By Anton ShilovJune 07, 2023

By Mark TysonJune 07, 2023

By Zhiye LiuJune 07, 2023

By Ash HillJune 07, 2023

By Aaron KlotzJune 07, 2023

By Mark TysonJune 07, 2023

By Ash HillJune 07, 2023

By Les PounderJune 07, 2023