Alienware Gaming Laptops Now Available With Famed Cherry MX Mechanical Keyboards
Cherry developed with its calls the MX Ultra Low-Profile switch, which is only 3.5mm thick. That's compared to 18.5mm for the original MX switch and 11.9mm for the low-profile MX switch. The switch employee a design that resembles the gull-wing doors that were first popularized on the classic Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. There's a sturdy spring mechanism, a two-piece keycap, a "gold-based" cross-point contact system to ensure stable keystrokes in just about any situation. There's also a full N-key rollover with anti-ghosting, and the keys still have that signature sound that you're familiar with on mechanical keyboards.
After blazing through over 160 prototypes, the Cherry team settled on a design that provides 1.8mm of travel and is rated for 15 million keystrokes. In addition to the robust key design, these are gaming laptops, which means that Cherry and Alienware have per-key customizable AlienFX RGB backlighting.
The Cherry MX Ultra low-profile keyboard is available as a $150 option on the m15 ($180 on the m17), and they have no impact on the already [relatively] thin chassis of the gaming laptops. If you're already in the market for either of these machines, you likely are willing to lay down some extra cash in the first place -- especially when it comes to a superior gaming experience on the keyboard front.
Both laptops are available with 10th generation Intel Core processors (up to a Core i9-10980HK) and up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU. Interestingly, it's far easier to get NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs in a laptop or preconfigured desktop than it is to get a standalone card at the retail level these days.
The Cherry MX-infused Alienware m15 R4 and m17 R4 laptops are available to purchase today, priced from $1,799 and $1,899, respectively.
