Razer adds joystick-like control to a small mechanical keyboard

Enlarge / Razer's Analog Optical mechanical switches. (credit: Razer)

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

One of the biggest advantages gamepads have over keyboards is the joystick, which provides pressure-sensitive control in a way that most keyboards can't. Razer's Huntsman Mini Analog, released Thursday, makes the debate a bit more complicated.

The full-size version has an 8,000 Hz polling rate, but the Mini sits at the standard 1,000 Hz. (credit: Razer )

The name says it all. Razer's latest keyboard is a small clacker with pressure-sensitive mechanical keys. Proprietary analog optical switches can detect how hard you're pressing a key and adjust input accordingly. This differs from how most keyboards function; typical boards use digital input and read either a 0 or 1 value (not depressed or depressed). All of the keys in the 60 percent keyboard can be programmed to use analog input via Razer's software.

Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments