Razer adds joystick to small mechanical keyboard

Do you use a keyboard and mouse or controller when playing computer games?

One of the biggest advantages gamepads have over keyboards is the joystick, which provides pressure-based control that most keyboards can’t. The Razer Huntsman mini counterpart, released on Thursday, complicates the debate a bit.

The name speaks for itself. Razer’s latest keyboard is a small nutcracker with pressure-sensitive mechanical keys. Patented analog optical switches can sense how hard you’re pressing a key and adjust your input accordingly. This is different from how most keyboards work; typical boards use a digital input and read a value of 0 or 1 (not pressed or pressed). All keys on the 60% keyboard can be programmed to use analog input using Razer software.

I ‘ve used these switches on the Razer Huntsman V2 full-sized analog keyboard and found them to be the most useful for driving games – I easily tapped to turn or pick up speed. Switches also allow you to change the character’s movement speed.

Analog mechanical keyboards are far from mainstream. There are several examples, such as the Wooting mechanical keyboards, which work similarly to the Huntsman Mini Analog. There’s also the Cooler Master MK850, which gave the Cherry MX Red keyboard’s eight switches analog functionality via infrared technology.

Razer does not provide a list of supported games, but the keyboard’s product page says the analog input will work with “any game that can be used with a gamepad.”Aimpad, which makes analog technology for the MK850, has a list of supported games here, but it may be out of date.

You can also program keys to perform two inputs with one press. For example, pressing E might register E when the key is pressed down at 1.5mm, and then enter Q as soon as you press the key all the way down at 3.6mm. This maneuver can be tricky to master, but it can be useful in some game applications such as performing combos. Unlike analog sensitivity, you don’t need a supported game to use this feature.

Razer software allows you to set the actuation point of each key between 1.5mm and 3.6mm. Ultimately, a keyboard should offer one of the most advanced ways to customize how each key works.

With a detachable cable (USB-C to USB-A) and small form factor, the keyboard is less bulky than most mechanical keyboards and more portable than the full-size Huntsman V2 counterpart.

It’s also worth noting that the Huntsman Mini Analog is 1000Hz, not 8000Hz like the numeric keypad version.

Razer keyboards tend to be expensive, and the inclusion of opto-mechanical switches with unique analog controls only exacerbates the problem. The keyboard costs $150 compared to $120-130 (depending on the mechanical switch chosen) for the non-analog version. The keyboard aims to justify its higher price with features like per-key RGB, dual PBT plastic keycaps, and five onboard memory profiles.