Rosewill RK-9000 v2 Price and Conclusion
Rosewill’s refresh of the RK-9000 comes at a time where it is cool to be mechanical. The lineup is currently listed on Newegg for different price points depending on which type of switch is being used. Current listed prices (Feb 13th, 2012) at Newegg are:
Current Price at Newegg, Canada and USA
| Newegg Canada | Newegg USA | |
| RK-9000 (Blue) | ||
| RK-9000BR (Brown) | $109.99 + $7.74 ship | $109.99 + $7.87 ship |
| RK-9000BL (Black) | $99.99 + $0 ship | |
| RK-9000RE (Red) | $129.99 + $7.74 ship |
As always the purchase of a keyboard is a very personal experience and no review should determine your choice. What we can assist you with is ensuring that you know as much as possible before you make your decision.
The Rosewill RK-9000 and all of its variants are designed to be great keyboards without any bells or whistles. You are paying for solidly built full keyboards with mechanical switches under every key. You will not get backlighting. You will not get media keys. You will not get macro functions. That is not the point of these keyboards.
When compared with the original RK-9000, it is clear that Rosewill has attempted to fix whatever customers have complained about in very loud ways. Missing a PS/2 adaptor? Toss in a whole cable. Want more than one switch to choose from? Here are four! Their design is clearly based predominantly on customer feedback, which is great.
In terms of performance, the new generation appears to perform really well but not quite to the caliber of the original. It is possible that they are just in need of getting broken in, but it is also possible that the original is just plain more accurate and more precise. Unfortunately to know for sure I would need to have a new and unused original RK-9000 mechanical keyboard to test against. Either way, it seems good enough to be considered ideal for any reasonable purpose if not just as good.
The only other comment I have to make about the new generation compared to the old is with the riser feet. The second generation lost the little rubber tips on the ergonomic riser flaps that the original had. When the keyboard is elevated using the flaps it tends to slide more than the original. It is a minor gripe, but one none-the-less. I have a very smooth desk.
The only real deal-breaker that I have encountered is the squeaky backspace and spacebar keys. Rosewill has already fixed the issue in the batch following the batch of my review units, but I obviously still need to report on it as is. Also, of my review units, the Cherry MX Blue is the only one which has squeaked recently.
I tend to believe that my needs are best suited by the Cherry MX Blue or the Cherry MX Brown switches. The Cherry MX Blue keys do tend to feel slightly better when I type, however the Cherry MX Brown keys feel slightly less laggy when playing games like Unreal Tournament 3 which require double-tapping a key to perform a dodge maneuver. That said, when ultimately tested, the Cherry MX Blue keys seem better suited than the MX Brown for single-key double tap.
Regardless of your typing style, if you want a good and simple keyboard: whichever second generation RK-9000 suits for your usage best is a great choice.
No input lag test? With high
No input lag test? With high speed cameras as cheap as they are today? For shame.
Great review Scott, thanks &
Great review Scott, thanks & keep up the good work!
$99.99…really? I bought
$99.99…really? I bought the Corsair K90 for $99 at Fry’s and it is far superior to the cheap Rosewill in every way! The Corsair is like an Audi, while the Rosewill is like driving a Hyundai. I thought the Rosewill would be $50, considering it offers nothing other than mechanical keys! The Corsair K90 is the best looking, aluminum chassis, MMo buttons, blue backlit keys, USB port, wrist support, etc. it just looks awesome! Not sure if the Rosewill is even worth more than $40, IMO…when compared to Razer, Corsair, etc. Rosewill doesn’t look like it offers any features or creative design value for the money. Sorry for the harsh opinions, Rosewill, but you have to a LOT better and think outside the box!
Unfortunately the corsair IS
Unfortunately the corsair IS NOT fully mechanical.
Don’t listen to this guy
Don’t listen to this guy people. For one thing, are you a gamer? If you are, then by all means… Razer and Corsair will offer you more features because they are geared towards you! However, if you are not a gamer, but a serious workaholic, like me, who has a bit of money to splurge on a superior, serious looking keyboard than the Rosewill fits your niche. The Rosewill is an excellent keyboard in every way and on top of not making you look like a 16 year old, it comes with Newegg’s excellent warranty as well as superior internals, in my opinion, and better construction. The Rosewill has a very excellent red back plate that makes that occasional deep cleaning much easier. To each his own, but I say that keyboards like Rosewill RK 9000 are what seperate the keyboard enthusiast men from boys. The men can truly see and appreciate the engineering and aesthetic behind Rosewill’s design instead of just looking at how many backlit LEDs and Macro keys your keyboard has. To each his own.
great animated GIFS! Great
great animated GIFS! Great breakdown of what eash swtich is and how they work
Great review
Great review
Would love to Win
Would love to Win one
How?
“Join us as we rattle away on the lovely mechanical keyswitches of Corsair’s aluminum-clad Vengeance K60 and K90 keyboards.”
… what?
… what?
I would have loved to see a
I would have loved to see a new IBM type M keyboard (they are still made by Unicomp) as a compairison in this test as well. Those are the keyboards that all other “clicky” keyboards are measured by.
I grew up with the IBM
I grew up with the IBM keyboards. They weren’t that fantastic. I did use a sponge pad keyboard for a while until it burned out and found it to be the fastest and most accurate keyboard I’d ever used. They had to be cleaned periodically so that made them unpopular. They were also huge, heavy, ugly but they worked like a charm. They are no longer available and not compatible with any of the PC/Mac/Unix worlds of today.
I’m having a huge problem and would welcome comments by anyone:
I’m looking for a production level dual-detent keyboard. It used to be available with hall effect switches but I cannot find that configuration any more either. The problem with the cherry switches is that the detent happens before the character is registered. I used to use the detent to register the character and then began to withdraw my finger. I can’t do that with the cherry switches. The only thing I can do with them is use an “o”ring. The action would then be depress, detent would pull the key away but that would not signal my finger to withdraw so I’d have to use the o-ring for resistance but that’s too strong so it becomes an effective bottoming out.
I’m also thinking that I add a foam pad under the keycap to replace the O-ring and that would serve as the soft bottom but if I’m thinking about it, surely someone has already done it so I’m wondering how that’s working out?
Any other suggestions/comments?
If you want a full mechanical
If you want a full mechanical keyboard you should check out http://www.dsi-keyboards.com/mechanical-switch-keyboards.aspx they have a few one them on their site.