The Cherry MX Board 6.0 keyboard debuted at $199.99 in 2015 and has only had a 15% price cut in over two years. This makes it a product nearly stuck in time, watching other companies bring out high-end flagship keyboards multiple times in the $150-$200 price range. Competition is ever increasing to where some go with a software-based, feature-rich keyboard for gamers and others go with a high build quality hardware-based solution for professionals. Cherry is trying to appeal to both markets which are not necessarily mutually exclusive with this keyboard, but ends up having a hard time doing so today.

There remain a few things that are timeless, however. Take the massive aluminum frame/top piece, for example. It has to be a big part of the cost here and does stand out while still maintaining a very clean aesthetic. It oozes quality and will be a topic of conversation. The powder coat has been flawlessly applied on this sample, which is not easy to do given the angles and multiple edges here. The dedicated media control options are nice, and the option to have a locked, active function key to use secondary functions as dedicated buttons is very neat too. Add this, along with the RealKey technology, to the list of things I want to see in more keyboards now. Having 1% incremental steps in brightness control via on-board buttons is overkill, but I still love it. The low-profile key caps are nice as well and can be easily replaced - including the bottom row - with your choice of 3rd party replacement key cap sets if you so desire. The MX Red switches used are also among the best in terms of sample to sample variation in keyboards I have used so far.

The problem is that this is a keyboard targeting office professionals and gamers alike, but it does not execute either well enough given the competition today - there is no real feedback for typing due to the use of linear switches only, no software/hardware control on key assignments or macro settings, and single color backlighting on most keys, and their own customers have multiple products that offer more for the money while also having larger marketing budgets. The only real exclusive here is the RealKey technology which is very neat, but is handicapped by the other decisions made around it, and its benefits are hard to quantify.

The MX Board 6.0 really feels like a proof of concept instead of a reference device. It should have been much more than that given the solid foundation it has otherwise, but it fails to build upon it where it counts. Having the opportunity to publish this review of a product that has been out for a while gives me the advantage of seeing how end users have responded to it and if one thing is clear, it is that the MX 6.0 is not what the PC consumer market sees as a $170 keyboard in mid-2017. This keyboard desperately needs a price cut, but I am not sure whether the volume sales and cost of materials allows for that.