LAS VEGAS—Whether they're intended for gaming or general typing, mechanical keyboards based on the venerable Cherry switches are readily identifiable by bulky keys that appear to have come straight out of the 1980s. That all changes on Friday, following Cherry's unveiling of its first low-profile mechanical switches at CES.

It's a big step for the small company based in Auerbach, Germany, which makes switches that many gamers and typists revere, but can also count the number of new designs introduced in the past decade on one hand. During a demo at CES, a company representative boasted that the Cherry MX Low Profile RGB is the first truly new development in mechanical switches in more than 30 years.

That's an arguable point, to be sure, but the switches are indeed impressive, and not only because they enable keyboard designs that are much slimmer than any Cherry-based board available today. During my brief time with a few prototype keyboards, I discovered that the MX Low Profile switches feel almost identical to the MX Red switches that I'm used to, despite being about 35 percent shallower. Red switches have 4mm of travel, while the Low Profile switches have 3.2 mm.

But shallower switches mean reduced key travel, which will be a deal breaker for many people—especially PC gamers—who are habitual key mashers. So while the MX Low Profile switches are adequate for typists and people who want a more minimalist-looking mechanical keyboard, they might not be the best choice for gamers. They'll also likely show up in a few gaming laptop designs.

Cherry said the Red-based MX Low Profile switches are the first they'll offer, hinting that slim switches based on the company's other designs are coming. Red switches are linear, with a relatively low actuation force, the original Black switches are linear but much stiffer, and the Brown and Blue switches have non-linear tactile feedback.

As for when you can buy MX Low Profile boards, nothing's been announced yet, but we'll likely see keyboards based on the new switch from manufacturers like Corsair and Logitech. There are low-profile switches from other manufacturers for sale right now, of course, but if you're in the market for a new slim keyboard, the MX Low Profile is definitely worth the wait.