Cherry KW 300 MX review: Mechanical yet quiet keyboard

Price When Reviewed

$149.99

Best Prices Today: Cherry KW 300 MX

Apple currently uses a very flat design for its own keyboards: both the desktop keyboards for Macs and notebook keyboards have elegant, flat keys and the key travel is very short—just like on a laptop. This guarantees the same typing feel on all devices.

However, fans of mechanical keyboards with real key travel and a precise pressure point will not be happy with these input devices. There are numerous alternatives for them on the Mac: check out our reviews of the best Mac keyboards. An interesting new wireless model is the KW 300 MX from Cherry, which costs $149.99.

Visually, the keyboard makes a sober but very high-quality impression with its grey keys and black housing. The retro-look design may even remind some people of old Mac keyboards such as the open-top Pro Keyboard.

Cherry has chosen a so-called 75% layout without a number pad for this compact keyboard, which is currently in vogue. It is about as wide as Apple’s Magic Keyboard without a number pad, but three times higher. This makes it ideal for small desks, and a mouse can also be positioned very close to the keyboard with this layout.

As a user of a conventional keyboard, however, I had to spend some time getting used to the unfamiliar position of some of the keys during testing. The arrow keys, Enter key and Page Up/Page Down keys are slightly offset compared to a standard keyboard. There is no palm rest, but at least you can adjust the angle of the keyboard with stands.

The Bluetooth keyboard can manage up to four devices, and even an iPad Pro can be used with it without any problems. However, the KW 300 MX is less suitable for mobile use, as it is simply too heavy and thick at just under 750 grams.

A special feature of the keyboard is a striking rotary wheel on the side, which also serves as a power button and is backed by a bronze metal surface. You can switch on the keyboard by pressing and holding the wheel, and later switch between two functions by simply pressing it.

It’s a nifty feature, but I’m a little disappointed with the range of functions. The rotary wheel can only be used to adjust the brightness of the keyboard lighting in stages or to change the volume of the Mac. Both are useful, but given the limited range of functions, the rotary wheel seems like a missed opportunity to me.

The backlight is quite bright and white, and red LEDs also indicate configuration options. For example, after switching on, you can select the four Bluetooth channels using the F1 to F4 keys.

The integrated battery is charged via USB-C, but you can also connect the keyboard directly to a computer via USB-C. The battery should last for a week of use with the backlighting active, and Cherry claims a runtime of six weeks with the backlighting turned off. That’s not exactly long, and most users will probably only use the backlighting sparingly in the long run.

Stephan Wiesend

Great typing feel

The biggest disadvantage of many mechanical keyboards is that they are very loud and disturb colleagues or flatmates with their loud keystrokes. However, there are also quiet mechanical switches such as the MX2A Silent Red, which can be installed in the KW 300 MX on request.

These switches, produced in Germany by Cherry, combine a first-class, precise typing experience with acceptable noise levels. The housing is even specially insulated to further reduce the volume. However, this does not make the keyboard silent by any means; a keyboard such as

These Cherry switches, manufactured in Germany, offer a first-class, precise typing experience at a moderate volume. The housing is also specially insulated to further reduce noise. However, the keyboard is not completely silent—models such as the Logitech Signature Slim Solar are significantly quieter.

The keyboard is also available in a version with different switches, the Cherry MX2A Brown. These are so-called tactile switches, which offer slightly stronger feedback than the linear MX2A Red. However, the MX2A Brown is also quite quiet and are primarily recommended by Cherry for office users or programmers, while the MX2A Red are more suitable for gamers.

Despite the insulation, the typing feel is excellent. Unlike an Apple keyboard, the total key travel is about four millimeters and you can feel a distinct pressure point. Due to the insulation, this is softer than on other mechanical keyboards, but in my opinion it is an excellent compromise. The durability is also said to be impressive, with Cherry promising a lifespan of up to 100 million keystrokes.

Mac compatibility

You can actually use almost any Windows keyboard on a Mac. However, the Alt and Windows keys are assigned differently on Windows keyboards, and you have to reconfigure this via System Preferences > Keyboard .

Even without this reconfiguration, the Cherry keyboard can offer Mac key assignments. All you have to do is press the Fn and M keys for three seconds after switching on, and the keyboard will switch to Mac mode. You can reactivate the default Windows mode using the Fn and W keys. You can also set this default individually for each of the four Bluetooth modes—for example, if you use the keyboard on both a Mac and a Windows computer.

The keyboard has another special feature to offer: it comes with three keyboard caps and a special loop-shaped tool that you can use to remove the three Windows keys (Alt, Windows and Alt Gr) and replace them with Mac keys. The keys are specially designed by the manufacturer to be easily replaced.

This is another advantage over Apple’s delicate keyboards when it comes to repairs. Unfortunately, the Keys software for configuring the function keys is only available for Windows computers; there is no Mac version.

Price

The Cherry KW 300 MX costs $149.99 or £125.

Should you buy the Cherry KW 300 MX?

The new Cherry KW 300 MX offers an interesting alternative to Apple’s flat keyboards. It is particularly aimed at users of compact mechanical keyboards who want to be considerate of their surroundings. The compromise between precise typing feel and moderate volume is well achieved, and Mac compatibility is a welcome bonus. However, it is not without its limitations: the compact layout and comparatively high design require some getting used to for many Mac users, and the limited functionality of the rotary control is somewhat disappointing.