Razer Unveils First Optical Keyboard Switches in a Laptop

Razer Unveils First Optical Keyboard Switches in a Laptop

Razer made its name creating flashy gaming peripherals like mice, headset, and of course, keyboards. It has since moved into the laptop space with the Blade series of gaming-oriented notebooks. Its previous innovation in laptop keyboards has been mostly limited to equipping them with RGB LEDs, but the new Razer Blade 15 Advanced is the first laptop with optical keyboard switches. Razer says these allow for improved responsiveness and typing feel, but you’ll pay handsomely to get them.

Razer has, thankfully, not followed Apple in making laptop keys even lower travel. The new optical switches have even more travel than the company’s traditional laptop keys, and there are fewer moving parts.

The optical switches rely on a beam of infrared light to actuate each press — it’s somewhat similar to gaming keyboards like the Wooting One. The switches fire at 1mm, but the total key travel is 1.7mm. That’s about 50 percent better than Razer’s other laptop keyboards. There’s also a parallel mechanism that produces a satisfying mechanical click, but that doesn’t seem to be at all related to the actual functionality of the switch. Still, this should count as a “mechanical” keyboard because the switches actuate before bottoming out. It also has per-key RGB support.

Razer Unveils First Optical Keyboard Switches in a Laptop

If you want the fancy new optical keyboard switches, you’ll need to get the “Advanced” version of the Blade 15, and they only come in specific SKUs of that device. Presumably, these new switches will come to other Razer laptop models in the future.

The base model has the standard scissor mechanism in its keyboard, and the LED lighting is limited to a single color. That laptop costs a mere $1,500, but the Advanced model with the optical keys is around $2,650. However, that does include virtually every feature you could want in a gaming laptop, including a Core i7 CPU, an Nvidia RTX 2070, 16GB of RAM, and a 240Hz display.

Continue reading

Scientists Confirm the Presence of Water on the Moon
Scientists Confirm the Presence of Water on the Moon

Scientists have confirmed the discovery of molecular water on the moon. Is there any of it in a form we can use? That's less clear.

Massive ‘Kilonova’ Explosion Shows First Observed Birth of a Magnetar
Massive ‘Kilonova’ Explosion Shows First Observed Birth of a Magnetar

We've never seen a magnetar come into being, but a new high-energy event several billion light years away might be the first — a kilonova that signals the merging of two neutron stars.

SpaceX, NASA Send 4 Astronauts to ISS in First Commercial Crew Mission
SpaceX, NASA Send 4 Astronauts to ISS in First Commercial Crew Mission

After years of development, the Commercial Crew Program has succeeded.

Microsoft: Bethesda Games ‘Either First or Better’ on Xbox, Not Exclusive
Microsoft: Bethesda Games ‘Either First or Better’ on Xbox, Not Exclusive

Microsoft's Tim Stuart doesn't think the company will try to cut PS5 gamers out of future Bethesda titles. The company wants Xbox to be the best destination for its games, but not the only one.