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You may not think much about the switches that sit underneath the keycaps of your keyboard, but there's a large contingent of enthusiasts who really, really care. And for those users, Cherry's various MX-branded switches are somewhat of a standard. Because they include a number of mechanical parts, though, you won't see a lot of laptop-like thin mechanical keyboards or mechanical keyboards on more than a handful of laptops.
The trend, however, is clearly going toward slim keyboards — and that's not lost on Cherry. So at CES this week, the company is introducing a completely new line of keyboard switches that may just be small enough to bring mechanical keyboards to more laptops (or at least more niche gaming laptops) and thinner keyboards. These new switches are low-profile versions of the Cherry MX RGB switch, a switch that features colored LEDs and which is especially popular with gamers. The company tells me that, if successful, it'll launch thinner versions of its other MX switches, too.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday January 18 2018, @05:08PM
I don't think bob_super was blaming Apple there, he was just citing them as the initial cause. Truthfully, those stupid island keyboards were first invented and commercially used by Sony years before, but it wasn't until Apple decided to ape them that they really took off. I think it's fairly obvious that the Apple-copiers are really the ones to blame; you can't blame Apple for a bunch of other idiots copying them. But Apple and their design choices are the root cause; if Apple hadn't adopted this design, most likely we wouldn't see island keyboards at all today, or maybe only on Sonys.
Honestly, I really am sick of other companies copying Apple and their crappy designs and conventions. If I liked Apple that much, I would just buy an Apple product. No one in their right mind buys a Thinkpad wishing it were more like a MacBook; that's like shopping for a full-size Ford truck and wishing it were more like a Nissan Cube.