Simple, Austere 'Suora' Mechanical Keyboard Shows Roccat Is Paying Attention

Roccat, it seems, is learning its market. Although many enthusiast gaming keyboards--such as Roccat’s own existing products--have extravagant, funky, chunky chassis designs, many in the enthusiast keyboard community seem to prefer products with a less-is-more look--smaller bezels, backlighting is unimportant. That sort of thing.

To that end, Roccat announced the Suora, a mechanical keyboard with a decidedly more mature look. It’s a full-size keyboard with a metal backplate and a numpad and F keys that serve double duty as media controls. Instead of RGB, Roccat opted for blue backlighting--a specific color that a representative told me is exclusive to Roccat--with a breathing effect and 11 brightness levels. It offers a 1,000 Hz polling rate and supports Roccat’s Swarm software, and it offers up to six individually programmable macro keys.

In a departure from the all too familiar Cherry-or-Kailh norm, the Suora comes with TTC Brown switches. These are uncommon, although we would not be surprised to find them on more keyboards in the near future. We found TTC Red switches in our recent review of the iBuypower MEK, and based on that, I'm optimistic that they will serve as a capable alternative to Cherry or Kailh.

There are few additional details to share about the keyboard at this time. We do know that the Suora will cost $99 when it ships in July.

(As an aside, other than the fact that it’s devoid of specifications, I love the press release for this product. It’s written in the same spirit as the Suora’s design: In the release, it’s as if the author wrote a paragraph or two stating little more than, “This keyboard has mechanical switches and no nonsense,” and then a manager said, “You have to add some market-speak,” and the author begrudgingly crammed some in. In the design, it’s as if they wanted to build a simple, clean keyboard, and then a product manager came in and insisted, “You have to add some flair--how about some lighting,” and the team begrudgingly added blue backlighting.)

Whether or not the Suora’s diffident austerity is indicative of high quality German engineering or is merely an attempt to chase a trend is something we’ll have to determine when we get a Suora in the lab.

Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.