Cherry ML, does it deserve the hate?

[The Laptop Lagger]

Dear reader!

So recently I came to you all with a new acquisition, that being a G81 Cherry MY keyboard. Which I then went on to thrash, coming to the conclusion that MY is indeed horrendous.

But now here I am once again with another late night Ebay victim.
I saw another little Cherry board!
ML4100 was the name, G84-4100 the designation.
Cherry ML the switch.
So obviously I picked it up.



Now, having given it a minor clean and some use I've come to the conclusion that I don't actually mind it? Now don't get me wrong, compared to any (MY excepted) full size switch I've used it feels significantly scratchier and lowkey unpleasant. But it doesn't feel offensive! It's entirely livable and frankly, in my opinion, nicer than most membranes I've used.
The board is also adorably tiny! Next to my AEKII it looks like a toy.



So what is your opinion on Cherry ML?
Can you appreciate the impressive travel given how tiny the overall switch is? Or does the scratchiness hold it back too much for your tastes?
Let me know!

Cheers and thanks for reading


P.S. I'd like to add the anecdote that I now own Cherry MY and ML but not a single Cherry MX board!

Spoiler:

[Muirium]

Your headline is a lot more provacative than your post—The Hate!—modern journalism is rubbing off on you!

ML is what it is. It's fine. It's okay. It's adequate for something so small. But we're keyboard people, who care about the details and the feels. Yet to normal people, even a G84 is egregiously fat and heavy. There's way lighter keyboards than that, cheaper and more modern looking too. Who wants a nerdy board like that? (Not us nerds, because it feels lame.)

ML is a good example of the Inverse Goldilocks Effect.

[The Laptop Lagger]

Your headline is a lot more provacative than your post—The Hate!—modern journalism is rubbing off on you!

Well I started off with "The Backlash" but then realised it's not really well known enough for any true backlash so I decided to spice the title up a bit!

For me personally I am honestly enjoying my time with the G84, is intensely small and lightweight but despite of its tiny size maintains a nice "thock" sound which I quite enjoy.

The fact that the G84 is so relatively unloved is honestly what drew me to buy it, that and the ridiculously cheap price of €14 shipped! What a steal for such a neat little collectible.
It's in fact small enough that after usage it might end up on a display shelf simply because it is so quirky.

Anyways, thanks for reading and have a nice day!

[Muirium]

You got it for the right price, I'll give you that, and being small it is indeed easily stored!

Actually, I'm a compact keyboard nut as well. My HHKB is the one I use the most, and the only one for travel. The brief while I tried a G84 just like yours, I liked the size—small boards always catch my attention—but the layout wasn't right for me and the feel was… nnnurgh. It got to continue in the Surprise Box tour.

[The Laptop Lagger]

Actually, I'm a compact keyboard nut as well.

The Irony of this is, I prefer huge boards! xD
Back before I switched to mechanical boards I daily drove Logitech G15 gen 1 which in sheer width puts all but the widest Model F to shame!

And for my current collection I've continually kept an eye on the status of Unicomp's 122 key boards.
Truthfully speaking I like boards in all shapes and sizes (other than 60%, I'm a 75%er all the way) and can usually adjust to any peculiar layout. But I would really like to own a big fuck off battleship esque board one day. Model F 107 key being the holy grail I'll never attain.

[Muirium]

I daily drove Logitech G15 gen 1 which in sheer width puts all but the widest Model F to shame!

Booyeah! Confirmed.



Honestly, I prefer them putting things to the left of the 60% alpha block. That board's almost symmetrical. All fullsize really needs to end that ancient war on right-hand mousers is to shift the numpad over to the left. But no, it's always right, right, right…

[Lanrefni]

I daily drove Logitech G15 gen 1 which in sheer width puts all but the widest Model F to shame!

Booyeah! Confirmed.



Honestly, I prefer them putting things to the left of the 60% alpha block. That board's almost symmetrical. All fullsize really needs to end that ancient war on right-hand mousers is to shift the numpad over to the left. But no, it's always right, right, right…

Left is good,though I prefer to split the alphas and have the numpad in the middle.

[Bjerrk]

[Muirium]

^ Truly the ultimate keyboard!

[hellothere]

^ Truly the ultimate keyboard boat anchor!

FTFY.

[kbdfr]

Ahem…
.

my keyboard 15-06-04.jpg (162.8 KiB) Viewed 5309 times

[The Laptop Lagger]

Code: Select all

Left is good,though I prefer to split the alphas and have the numpad in the middle.

I personally like 75% layouts which remove the nav cluster and instead have a numpad. Perfect best of both words since the numpad has almost the whole ass nav cluster redundant

(pic from the web)

[Bjerrk]

I personally like 75% layouts which remove the nav cluster and instead have a numpad. Perfect best of both words since the numpad has almost the whole ass nav cluster redundant

Agreed, very nice layout. Which is also why the XT layout isn't half bad, actually.

[The Laptop Lagger]

Agreed, very nice layout. Which is also why the XT layout isn't half bad, actually.

This is why I'm still trying to get my Toshiba T1500 converted to USB or PS/2 one day!

[Lanrefni]

Code: Select all

Left is good,though I prefer to split the alphas and have the numpad in the middle.

I personally like 75% layouts which remove the nav cluster and instead have a numpad. Perfect best of both words since the numpad has almost the whole ass nav cluster redundant

(pic from the web)

My current layout-


And I know most would find it unuseable,but it works for me.

[The Laptop Lagger]

My current layout-


And I know most would find it unuseable,but it works for me.

"I fear no man, but that... thing... it scares me."

[mmm]

Ahem…
.
my keyboard 15-06-04.jpg

Every time I see this keyboard I'm in awe. How many of the keys outside of the main cluster are you effectively using?

[kbdfr]

Ahem…
.

Every time I see this keyboard I'm in awe. How many of the keys outside of the main cluster are you effectively using?

• In the middle unit, I effectively use all of them except for 3 of the color caps (which is why I intend to some time relocate all color keys to one of the side units).
• In the left cluster: all of them except for 5 (not needed any more and not reassigned yet). Plus except of course the ScrollLock key, which I wouldn’t use either on a classic keyboard, but it simply belongs here at the side of the Pause key, which I have of course reassigned to a meaningful "Pause" function.
• In the right cluster: there’s about a dozen I do not use regularly, but rather now and then reprogram according to my needs of the moment.

So all in all that amounts to about 20-25 keys which I do not really use. On the other hand, I have multiple Escape, Enter, Delete and cursor keys (for right hand and left hand use) and dedicated keys for some functions which otherwise would require multiple mouse moves and clicks. And I almost never have to switch to another function layer.

The perfect keyboard for me because of the way, the stuff and the amount I have to type

Thanks for asking, by the way, allowing me to once again praise my fantastic Tipro keyboard with its excellent MX black switches

[timw4mail]

Is there a full size keyboard with ML switches? The closest I've seen is the G84-5200, which might have all the keys, but the layout is a bit compressed.

[photekq]

Is there a full size keyboard with ML switches? The closest I've seen is the G84-5200, which might have all the keys, but the layout is a bit compressed.

viewtopic.php?t=165



I have this keyboard, new in box, if anybody wants to buy it off me

[Findecanor]

That's the higher-profile variant of Cherry ML though.

[timw4mail]

Is there a full size keyboard with ML switches? The closest I've seen is the G84-5200, which might have all the keys, but the layout is a bit compressed.

viewtopic.php?t=165



I have this keyboard, new in box, if anybody wants to buy it off me

Is there an ANSI version?

[photekq]

Is there an ANSI version?

If there is, I've never seen it.

[Muirium]

So why the white caps? That one in the DT header carousel for the last 60 years has cool, intensely coloured caps. What gives? Different entirely?

[mmm]

• In the middle unit, I effectively use all of them except for 3 of the color caps (which is why I intend to some time relocate all color keys to one of the side units).
• In the left cluster: all of them except for 5 (not needed any more and not reassigned yet). Plus except of course the ScrollLock key, which I wouldn’t use either on a classic keyboard, but it simply belongs here at the side of the Pause key, which I have of course reassigned to a meaningful "Pause" function.
• In the right cluster: there’s about a dozen I do not use regularly, but rather now and then reprogram according to my needs of the moment.

So all in all that amounts to about 20-25 keys which I do not really use. On the other hand, I have multiple Escape, Enter, Delete and cursor keys (for right hand and left hand use) and dedicated keys for some functions which otherwise would require multiple mouse moves and clicks. And I almost never have to switch to another function layer.

The perfect keyboard for me because of the way, the stuff and the amount I have to type

Thanks for asking, by the way, allowing me to once again praise my fantastic Tipro keyboard with its excellent MX black switches

And I'm not even sure what to reassign the extra buttons on a battleship to But I am quite the layer person, so that may be why.

No problem, thanks for answering What are some of the more useful of your keybindings?

[Muirium]

I’d use them to trigger text manipulation macros in Karabiner, which I’m very fond of, or run scripts and launch apps and all the rest of it, using similar software on the host side. In that case, I’d just map the keys themselves to F13-24 and the like and set the host to trigger on those.

I used to run all my macros from my keyboards: via Soarer’s macro system and Xwhatsit’s. Trouble is, that falls apart when you swap between different keyboards, especially a laptop’s own. So I migrated to Karabiner a year ago and have standardised the lot of them. Even more powerful! And always appealing to keep on adding more!

[SK-8K]

I had the chance to try loose, brand-new Kailh Choc Brown and Cherry ML switches side-by-side.
The Cherry ML is significantly more tactile than the Choc.

[Findecanor]

So why the white caps? That one in the DT header carousel for the last 60 years has cool, intensely coloured caps. What gives? Different entirely?

Could be one of the Tandberg keyboards with STB switches.

[kbdfr]

[…] What are some of the more useful of your keybindings?

Quoting myself as an answer:

[…] a work instrument mostly used for highly complex text processing and editing in ~85% French (hence AZERTY), 10% German (hence the extra Ä, Ö, Ü and ß) and 5% English (no extra characters needed, see here).

As such, it does a perfect job. It puts repetitive tasks at your fingertips (e.g. invoking style sheets or opening dedicated queries in databases with just one keypress, but also simpler things like browser functions). With its help I was able to process in record time several thousand pages of a German text with each page containing tons of Arabic words and names in Latin transcription (such as Futūḥ or ʿAgǎʾib al-ʿaqālīm) with each special character programmed on a key. And when you do not need certain functions any more, you just replace them. […]

[Muirium]

Exactly! I added a layer to all my keyboards with Karabiner for typing gràvè àccènts: Ùpper and lòwèrcàsè, as I need them now, and was finding the option + backtick dead-key preface for typing them quite cumbersome in extended use. I just press Control to type them now.

Anything that keeps slowing you down? Program it away!