Cherry MX5000 Keyboard

The Cherry MX5000 or G80-5000 is my favourite keyboard of all times. It is so wonderful, it makes all other keyboards look and feel broken.

The mechanical switches are known as the Cherry 2brown" switches. Of all the MX mechanical keyboards switches made by Cherry, they are my favourit: the actuation force is just right, the sound is unannoying to colleagues and the tactivle feedback is great. The MX5000 was the first to use these switches.

The adjustment functions of the MX5k are also absolutely wonderful. The gap between the keyboard halves can be adjusted to taste (even 0 to give traditional - broken - keyboard feel), as can the elevation of the feet and wrist rests.

When I talked to a Cherry employee at a CeBIT once, I asked: "why was the MX5000 discontinued?". He mumbled something about "too expensive" at first. I figured, that meant "too low a profit margin at prices accepted by customers".

He also mentioned patent issues. Somebody else obviously attacked Cherry and threatened to sue, so they rather discontionued their flagship Excelsior-Class product.

Only oneother adjustable keyboard is known to me: the Fujitsu-Siemens one. It is as adjustable as the Cherry, but it uses the Siemens mechanical switches. They are known to be reliable and many people like them - but not me. So the FSC adjustable is not an alternative to me.

Since the FSC is the only adjustable keyboard in the market, I figure it must have been Siemens to patent-sue Cherry out of the MX5k. Shame on them.

And BTW: The MX5000 was introduced in 1994. So in 2014 all patents valid in 1994 have expired.

ANYONE: PLEASE make a remake of the MX5000. Thousands of customers will love you for that.