Cooler Master is a relatively new player in the PC peripherals market and to date has designed and released some very nice stuff. The latest addition to the company’s line is the Quickfire XT, an update to the Quickfire Pro but without the frills of the larger and more expensive CM Storm Trigger.
The Quickfire brand is Cooler Master’s budget lineup aimed at gamers looking for their first mechanical keyboard. The baby Quickfire has just the basics and is quite small; the Quickfire Pro has partial back-lighting and a full 104-key layout; the Quickfire TK is an updated Quickfire with full back-lighting; and the Trigger is in a different family entirely, with full back-lighting and a detachable wrist rest.
The Quickfire XT has no back-lighting and no obvious labels and signs, and comes with a choice of five different switches – there’s the usual Cherry MX Red and Black for gamers, Blue for typists, Brown for all-rounders and the super, ultra-rare Cherry MX Green switch. Green switches sometimes are used on keyboards with the Blue switches to make the spacebar key feel stiffer and offer more resistance against accidental hits.
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- CM Storm Quickfire XT front and side shots
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- CM Storm Quickfire XT side shot
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- CM Storm Quickfire XT
It looks like Cooler Master is using the same OEM that built the Quickfire Pro for them and the design is nicely understated, just like the Das Keyboard lineup which is also very popular with gamers and office workers. Cooler Master may also offer blank key caps in the future for touch typists or serial pranksters who really want to confuse the hell out of people.
The company has announced worldwide availability for countries that already receive the existing Quickfire products, but hasn’t commented on pricing or exact dates. Its very likely going to be competing directly with the Razer BlackWidow, although the Razer has the benefit of back-lighting for late-night gaming sessions. Some people may be prepared to go to another brand to avoid using the Synapse 2.0 cloud.
Source: TechpowerUp
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Omg! It’s… a keyboard. I’ve never understood the fascination with mechanical keyboards. Give me a nice low-profile keyboard with low-resistance keys and I’m as pleased as punch.