Cooler Master Reveals QuickFire Rapid-i Mechanical Keyboard

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

Meet Cooler Master's newest keyboard, the QuickFire Rapid-i.

Cool Master decided to jump in on all the excitement of Microsoft Build week with an announcement of its own. The company today announced the QuickFire Rapid-i, a full featured back-lit mechanical keyboard. 


The QuickFire Rapid-i runs on a 32-bit ARM processor and Rapid-i’s ActivLite Technology, and includes five lighting modes and five brightness levels. These modes include the ability to have each key illuminate on each key press and fade as you move away from the specific keys. There’s also multimedia shortcuts and NKRO. According to Cooler Master, the QuickFire Rapid-i boasts a 1ms response time in USB mode.

No word on availability or price just yet, but we’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything from our friends at Cooler Master. 

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Jane McEntegart
9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • c123456
    I think they could of had better attention to detail. "CAPSLK" looks dumb, they should have just done "CAPS" if "caps lock" wouldn't fit. The left shift key's text, while centered, looks misaligned compared to the other keys above and below it. The symbol they used for the return key is nonstandard, and generally looks bad / isn't descriptive. And who the heck uses a symbol for a space bar? Lastly, the numbers, and the symbols for the shift modifier are reversed here (e.x. 1 is above !). How dumb are these things?

    These aren't even the worse things.

    The function layer is almost completely useless. They don't have a single function key in the main portion of the keyboard. Instead they keep media controls to the right of it, and I assume what are macro keys (M1-M4) far beyond the reach of a normal hand. Since there's only the one fn button you can't use these keys while using your keyboard normally at all.

    I don't see people buying this keyboard.
    Reply
  • Cons29
    Arm procie? sorry for the dumb question.i recently bought a similar keyboard, but i bought a ducky, wanted a ten-key-less mechanical with white led. this looks nice though
    Reply
  • Marcus Lewis
    I think they could of had better attention to detail. "CAPSLK" looks dumb, they should have just done "CAPS" if "caps lock" wouldn't fit. The left shift key's text, while centered, looks misaligned compared to the other keys above and below it. The symbol they used for the return key is nonstandard, and generally looks bad / isn't descriptive. And who the heck uses a symbol for a space bar? Lastly, the numbers, and the symbols for the shift modifier are reversed here (e.x. 1 is above !). How dumb are these things?These aren't even the worse things.The function layer is almost completely useless. They don't have a single function key in the main portion of the keyboard. Instead they keep media controls to the right of it, and I assume what are macro keys (M1-M4) far beyond the reach of a normal hand. Since there's only the one fn button you can't use these keys while using your keyboard normally at all.I don't see people buying this keyboard.
    I thought it looked decent until I read what you said ... Now I hate it.
    Reply
  • CraigN
    13019779 said:
    The symbol they used for the return key is nonstandard, and generally looks bad / isn't descriptive.
    So it doesn't have the arrow at the end, so that makes it "nonstandard" or not descriptive? Everyone knows what the damn enter key is.

    13019779 said:
    Lastly, the numbers, and the symbols for the shift modifier are reversed here (e.x. 1 is above !). How dumb are these things?

    This is a logical design decision. If you have them in the standard layout, because of where the LED is on mechanical switches for the backlighting (which can't be moved because mechanical switch is in the way), you would light up only the secondary functions on the number row, and not the actual number, which Coolermaster seems to believe is the more important item to backlight.

    http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/5851/img20130108234722.jpg


    See above from Corsair's mechanical keyboard. The secondary functions are lit but the numbers are not. CM is merely flipping it to provide backlight to what they believe is the more relevant information.

    http://content.hwigroup.net/images/products/xl/185886-5.jpg

    Same keyboard, switches removed. This is how all backlit mechanical keyboards look under the caps.

    Razer took the same approach as CM:

    http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/RazerBlackWidow1.jpg

    Notice the numbers are inverted, because they actually get backlit that way.
    Reply
  • meheezen
    This is a logical design decision. If you have them in the standard layout, because of where the LED is on mechanical switches for the backlighting (which can't be moved because mechanical switch is in the way), you would light up only the secondary functions on the number row, and not the actual number, which Coolermaster seems to believe is the more important item to backlight.http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/5851/img20130108234722.jpgSee above from Corsair's mechanical keyboard. The secondary functions are lit but the numbers are not. CM is merely flipping it to provide backlight to what they believe is the more relevant information.http://content.hwigroup.net/images/products/xl/185886-5.jpgSame keyboard, switches removed. This is how all backlit mechanical keyboards look under the caps.Razer took the same approach as CM:http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/RazerBlackWidow1.jpgNotice the numbers are inverted, because they actually get backlit that way.
    Surely you noticed that the 123...789 are reversed, but the ` and ~ that precedes those keys and the -, _ and = + that follows them are not. (which doesn't seem to be the case with the examples you provided), and obviously they wont rewire those keys.Moral of the story: if you are going to make a product, at least give it some thought.
    Reply
  • canadianvice
    I wouldn't buy it. Everything coolermaster that i've had has broken down within months in some manner or another, and i take impeccable care of my things.
    Reply
  • CraigN
    13020455 said:
    Surely you noticed that the 123...789 are reversed, but the ` and ~ that precedes those keys and the -, _ and = + that follows them are not. (which doesn't seem to be the case with the examples you provided), and obviously they wont rewire those keys.Moral of the story: if you are going to make a product, at least give it some thought.

    I did notice that, he was addressing the numbers though, not the before and after, so that's why I mentioned it. I do think it's a bit odd that they wouldn't flip them too, as Razer obviously did with theirs, but overall has very little consequence. I almost never look at my keyboard when I type, even to use the number row, so it's of little impact to me what way they want to print it on there, all of my keys could be blank and it wouldn't effect me, unless you started rewiring all the keys ;P
    Reply
  • CMRajiv
    I wouldn't buy it. Everything coolermaster that i've had has broken down within months in some manner or another, and i take impeccable care of my things.
    Sorry to hear that. We've re-vamped our whole product line to focus mostly on quality and we'd love to hear your feedback on older products to make sure we've covered all our bases. Feel free to PM me your thoughts and we can pass it on and share with you our updates.
    Reply
  • canadianvice
    To be completely fair, I will admit that while I'm still not entirely confident in the quality of Coolermaster's more advanced items, CMRajiv did reach out to try and rectify the situation to my satisfaction. They're worth trying, though I might suggest getting the extended warranty as a precaution.
    Reply