The be quiet! Light Mount mechanical keyboard is the brand’s first. The new Light Mount mechanical keyboard is the company’s first venture into the world of PC peripherals, and it’s quite an impressive leap. Leaning into the namesake, the Light Mount is a silent mechanical keyboard. While various models are in production, the Silent Linear provided for this review features factory-lubricated mechanical be quiet! silent switches, several sound-dampening layers and full ARGB support.
A personal favourite, be quiet! has long been known for its smart, well-designed PC components. The Light Bass 900 FX, for example, is currently my favourite case, and the excellent Lightloop 360 is as efficient as it is beautiful. The Light Mount mechanical keyboard is an interesting new venture for the company that provides an opportunity for be quiet! to lean into its vast experience of silent component construction and apply it to a whole new area of PC component construction.
The Light Mount is a fairly thin, full-size keyboard. Measuring 212(w) x 461(L) x 44(T) mm, the full aluminum top plate is supported by an ABS bottom, giving the Light Mount a solid and sleek profile. The brushed metal looks quite sharp on the all black keyboard and offers a subtle texture to the overall look.
A 3D multipurpose dial is affixed to the top left corner of the board with five programmable macro keys running vertically below. The dial, by default, controls volume but can be assigned to various commands within the OS. Along with these unique design features, the Light Mount also comes with a magnetically connected wrist rest that is positioned quite well for typing and gaming. The Light Mount offers a wired connection via the detachable USB-C to USB-A braided cable with a connection port located in the center of the upper edge.
“The be quiet! Light Mount Mechanical Keyboard Review also provides full per-key ARGB lighting that provides bright, crisp lighting.”
The be quiet! Light Mount Mechanical Keyboard Review also provides full per-key ARGB lighting that provides bright, crisp lighting. Along with the per-key lighting, a full-length RGB light strip accents the whole top of the face plate, with two additional RGB light strips adorning the underside of the keyboard, providing a subtle underglow effect. While the two underside lights could be a bit brighter, the rest of the Light Mount looks sharp and well illuminated when in use. The double-shot PBT keycaps ensure the RGB comes through right and is colourful on every key.
While the keyboard looks sharp in its own right, it’s the mechanical switches that deserve the spotlight. Built on a 5-pin Cherry MX structure, the be quiet! slient orange linear mechanical switches are impressively quiet in everyday use but provide a similar typing experience to traditional linear mechanical switches. Be quiet! has even gone so far as to lubricate both the switches and the stabilizers for larger keys, such as the spacebar, providing a consistently smooth and quiet user experience.
As a 5-pin MX design was leveraged for the Light Mount’s construction, each key is hotswappable with other 5-pin MX switches, giving users freedom to customize the experience to their liking. To further amplify the silence provided by the Light Mount, be quiet! Includes three layers of sound damping within the construction of the backplane. Between each layer of the board’s construction is a corresponding layer of foam providing ultimate sound damping for each keystroke.
This is much more than a gimmick, too. The be quiet! Light Mount is the quietest mechanical keyboard I’ve tested, bar none. It is also incredibly responsive. It features full N-Key Roll over (NKRO) with 1000 Hz poll rating. In games testing, the Light Mount performed well even while frantically mashing keys during my DOOM: The Dark Ages run. Keys are responsive and have a short actuation trigger, and though there was no specific number on the spec sheet, the actuation point feels similar to other orange linear switches, which measure a 2 mm actuation point.
The overall performance of the Light Mount is what I would expect from a mechanical keyboard priced at $169.99. It feels and performs exceptionally well, provides solid ARGB lighting and is, in fact, incredibly silent. My only real critique of the Light Mount has nothing to do with the hardware, but instead with the software, which should be noted, is the first component I’ve worked with from be quiet! to include software.
“The be quiet! Light Mount is the quietest mechanical keyboard I’ve tested, bar none.”
Called IO Center, be quiet! software is functional but feels a little underdeveloped in its current iteration. While lighting and key assignment controls are fairly straightforward forward, I noticed that each time the keyboard is unplugged and reseated, the software isn’t sure which profile to use between the hardware and IO Center. Additionally, I’ve noted that the keyboard occasionally defaults to the RGB lighting, requiring me to reprogram it.
Thankfully, this appears to be a software-related issue, which can be updated over time. As this is their first kick at the can, as it were, I’m willing to give them some grace as they refine IO Center. The software layout is fairly straightforward to navigate, which gives me hope for later iterations.
The Light Mount from be quiet! is an impressively quiet mechanical keyboard that is only hampered by its software. The silent orange linear keys, coupled with the layers of damping foam, help create a superb typing experience. The Light Mount construction, full NKRO support, swappable switches and ARGB lighting all help move the keyboard toward its $169.99 point, though there are other silent mechanical boards that price in cheaper, such as Razer’s Black Widow Lite, granted that is a ten-keyless. However, as a full-size model with quality construction and impressive noise reduction, the be quiet! Light Mount is a solid, silent Mechanical keyboard.
- MECHANICAL BE QUIET! SILENT GAMING SWITCHES – With factory-lubrication | Each keystroke on the Light Mount keyboard is smooth and precise, yet whisper-quiet. Our silent linear orange switches are pre-lubricated to reduce friction and noise. We even went the extra mile to lubricate the stabilizers that sit under every large key like Space and Enter, which can often make an unpleasant rattling noise if not treated properly. Fans of customization will appreciate that each switch is hot-swappable with other 5-pin MX style switches.
- RULE OF 3 – Triple-layered dampening | A total of 3 sound-absorbing layers ensure that Light Mount lives up to the name of “be quiet!” and each gaming session is running smoothly without annoying typing noise. One layer of foam is between the switches and the PCB, another is under the PCB and a third fills the bottom housing. Any potential echoing noises are immediately muted.
