The Ultimate Trip to Mechanical Keyboards

The soft plasticky squelch sound and mushy bumpy feel from a series of buttons is an experience that you will get with a mechanical keyboard. But, by rewinding 20 years back, you can observe that keyboards actually gave a solid sound and feel. The hard stroking keys and clickity-clack sound have been a source of nuisance for a pretty long time that made the idea of mechanical keyboards very appealing among regular computer users.

What is a mechanical keyboard?

Source: Wirecutter

In simpler words, mechanical keywords are embedded with solid key switches. These tactical keyboards offer an array of keys to effectively add input. Most of the standard desktop and laptop keyboards are equipped with membrane switches where you have to press the key all the way down to fully register your input. Once you press the membrane switches to the hilt, the electrical circuit in a membrane is pushed to connected the top and bottom of the rubber switch. Due to the presence of a rubber dome, the mushy feel is given to the these keyboards.

With mechanical keyboards you need to put less force to press key. Pressing keys activates a physical switch with a spring mechanism and give users a satisfying tactical click. Thus, if you spend long hours in front of your computer whether typing or playing games, you should switch to a mechanical keyboard for sure.

Evaluation of MKs

Mechanical keyboards were earlier based on electronic typewriters that resulted in the noisy and tactical switches. In the beginning stage, keyboards were part of the mainframes and other business scale computers only. But, with the tsunami of the PC revolution, MKs became a common household entity.

To offer cheaper keyboards, rubber domes became a favourite choice of manufacturers. On top, they are much quieter, thus more suitable for offices. Now, with the purge of the 90s gaming world, the dominance of MKs became more powerful.

Why mechanical keyboards?

Source: Verge

Have you ever wondered why a wave of mechanical keyboards never subsidizes? Because they are:

• Superior – MKs have been flourishing for the past 40 years without a hitch. Certain switches on the keyboard can easily take years of abuse without problems. As compared to rubber domes, MKs have higher build quality. Thus, if you ignore price, then the superior quality of mechanical keyboards can live with you for ages.
• Entertainers – The crisp, clean and subjective mechanical keyboards have given a real experience to the gamers and writers. MKs offer much more variety to people who thoroughly enjoy the linear and tactical keys while playing or typing on the computer.
• Ergonomics - There’s no official study present on the ergonomics of mechanical keyboards, but designers are constantly striving to improve the comfort type and layout of the keyboard to make it highly user friendly.
• Community – MKs community is quite large and extremely helpful. There are plenty of websites like Deskthority, Geekhack, Massdrop and some other brands that are also booming with active and welcoming members. So, whenever you are stuck somewhere or required assistance from fellow MK users, then you are just one tap away.

How to pick right mechanical keyboard?

When you are looking for the be perfect MK, then you have to mull over different components of keyboards and your requirements.

Source: MonitorNerds

The deciding factor for everyone is different, but the common consideration factors are:

• Layout – The primary step to consider before picking the right keyboard is what type of layout you want. The traditional full-size board is quite popular among the regular users, but you can spice up things up a little by changing mechanical transitions. Now, if you aren’t comfortable with a full-size board, then you can try tenkeyless keyboards as these boards have no numeric keypad. On top, if you want a highly compact keyboard, then you can go for 60 percent boards that have alphas, numbers, and modifier keys only.
• Switch – Once you have figured out the size of your keyboard, then you have to consider what type of switches you want. Cherry’s main mechanical switch patents expired a few years ago, so there are a ton of clone switches that are Cherry-compatible. There are a plethora of Cherry or Cherry clone switches available in the market. Mainly there are three different types of switches that are popularly used – clicky, tactile, and linear.
• Customize – Once you have selected the type of switches and layout of your keyboard, then you are ready to pick the right keyboard. But, if comfort is very important for you, then you can even customize your board with custom keycaps or cables. And, if you are more adventurous then you can build your own keyboard from scratch. The benefit of a custom board is that you can put switch testers to work easily.

Some of the major key switch brands

MKs market is flourished with numerous great brands, but the most trusted and popular switch brands are:

Cherry MX – They have set the highest standard of switches. This brand has been developing switches for more than a decade now and they are doing a pretty great job. The original Cherry MX colours are ubiquitous. A couple of years back Cherry keys were monopolizing the market, but today plenty of companies have built their own switches based on the Cherry archetype.

Source: Cherry

Topre – This is a Japanese key switches company that offers quite expensive keyboards with deeper sound but perfect tactile feel. You can experience these switches on keyboards like CM Novatouch and the Topre Realforce.

Kailh – Razer company used to design keyboards with exclusive Cherry switches till 2013, but now they have started using Kailh switches. These key switches are pretty similar to the Cherry switches but they have minor quality issues.

Gateron – It is a Cherry clone, but slightly over the bulky side with higher actuation. These brands offer the best quality MKs under a limited budget.

Mechanical Keyboards – Good or bad investment

Overall, looking at the benefits and structure of the mechanical keyboards – we can clearly state that having MKs is a good investment. Especially, if you are a gamer or writer who has to tweak keys, then you can feel comfortable and more productive with mechanical keyboards. But, to experience the real benefits of mechanical keyboards, you have to order the perfect keyboard based on your requirements.