Today’s big Editor’s test from be quiet!
We’ve had our hands on two eagerly-awaited new products… and not the least, since they’re the first peripherals from be quiet! Yes, the German brand, well known for its power supplies, water coolers, fans and cases, is entering a whole new segment with two mechanical keyboards: the Dark Mount and the Light Mount.
Mice should follow later in the year, but for now let’s concentrate on this first salvo of peripherals.
Before diving into the test, a quick look back at the brand and above all at a question that has been on my mind since the start of this review:
Why go into peripherals now, in such a saturated market?
It’s a risky bet, but not a crazy one. be quiet! This German brand is well known in the hardware world for its cooling systems, power supplies and cases. Founded in 2001, it quickly established itself as one of the leaders in the sector thanks to its performance, build quality and, above all, the silence of its products. A word that is not only in its name, but also in its DNA.
So when be quiet! decided to expand its range by tackling gaming peripherals, it didn’t do so at random. The idea is simple: to complete its range by expanding it and, above all, to take advantage of its already well-established position in the world of hardware to carve out a place for itself in an ultra-competitive ecosystem.
This first foray into the world of keyboards is true to its fundamentals: silence, more silence, and attention to the smallest detail in the finish.
But there’s a catch. And not the least: the competition.
The keyboard market is more than saturated. On the one hand, the historic brands continue to offer well-built products… but often too classic, almost set in their ways.
On the other, ‘custom’ brands, sometimes appearing out of nowhere, are exploding with ultra-customisable keyboards, top-of-the-range finishes, good value for money, and above all a committed community.
And perhaps that’s the real lever: the community.
Because beyond the product itself, it’s the community that gives a brand importance, that helps it to evolve, that supports it, that pushes it to innovate on future products or improvements. And in a world where customer engagement has become crucial, building a loyal user base has never been more important.
So we’re inevitably asking ourselves a number of questions:
Is be quiet! capable of winning over its community? Can its keyboards mark a turning point? Or will they simply be another attempt in a saturated market?
What more can be quiet! offer? What impact can the brand have in this already overcrowded world?
And perhaps this is why be quiet! bought the custom Mountain keyboard brand a few years ago: to prepare the ground in advance, and not enter this market unprepared.
And that’s exactly what we wanted to find out by testing the first two models in this new range: the Dark Mount and the Light Mount.
