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Know Your Type: Five Mechanical Keyboards Compared
MojoKid writes As a power user, you notice certain things that the average person might not. One of those is the difference between typing on a sweet mechanical keyboard with luxurious key action, versus pounding away on a run-of-the-mill squishy plank that relies on membrane switches to register your keystrokes. The difference may seem subtle to the uninitiated, though even casual typists can recognize that there's something inherently superior about a mechanical keyboard. Of course, it's the mechanical key switches that are responsible for elevating the typing experience. These are better than the rubber domes found in membrane keyboards in a number of ways, including feel, responsiveness, and durability. Mechanical keyboards are growing in popularity, as word is spreading about how good they are. In turn, keyboard manufacturers have responded by feeding more mechanical models into what was once a niche market. If you go out in search of a mechanical keyboard, you'll now find a mountain of options. This roundup further reinforced something we've known for a long time, which is that mechanical keyboards are the superior choice for both gaming and daily typing chores. That doesn't mean they're all created equal — there are different key switches to choose from, and features vary from one plank to the next. The choice of key switch type is highly subjective but we can say that Cherry MX key switches are indeed of higher quality than knock-offs like the Kailh switch. That's not to say Kailh switches are bad, just that you can discern a difference when going from one to the other.
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Two lines into the summary and I felt like a total idiot for not having major issues typing on my laptop all day long. ....
Now, where did I put those gold plated fiber optic cables again
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As a touch typist I am very particular with keyboard
I have been using keyboard equipped with Cherry key switches for decades and there are five different Cherry key switches ...
Red
Blue
Green
Brown
Black
All of them function differently. Some with 'clicks', some without. The 'tactile' feel is different as well
There is one site that I recommend --- no, not ad placement, I promise --- that gives you a brief description of the difference of the Cherry key switches
Hope this helps !
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Sorry, forgot to include the link
http://www.keyboardco.com/blog...
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
In their spare time, they're audiophiles ;)
No, that is not technically correct, and is somewhat of an elitist attitude.
Feel is something very subjective. Responsiveness and durability depends on the particular brand and type of switch that you use. There are some very good rubber-dome and scissor switches as well as there are mechanical switches that are crap.
Back in the '80s and early '90s when mechanical key switches was the norm there were more types available. These days, the market is dominated by the Cherry MX. It was one of the better mechanical switches then and now and it comes in several varieties. These varieties can feel quite different from each other, and you might like the feel of one, all or none of them - and that is OK.
The Cherry MX has also been cloned several times by other manufacturers, often in lesser materials and with larger tolerances.
The big durability argument with Cherry MX is not that they wouldn't break: because they sometimes do. The durability advantage is that you could replace individual key switches (or parts) that have broken.
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
Not these?
I'm partial to IBM/Unicomp buckling spring keyboards.
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even casual typists can recognize that there's something inherently superior about a mechanical keyboard.
Are you sure it's not that there's something inherently smug about clicky-keyboard fetishists?
I couldn't help feeling just a little bit dirty after reading the summary.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
As a software developer, I have to admit I avoid mechanical keyboards like the plague, they require more force to type, they're louder (a really BAD thing when you're blazing out code), they take more time to press and debounce, and they cost ~600% more than a scissor switch keyboard (that has none of those problems if you have a typical 2mm travel vector on your keys, 200% less than most mechanical keyboards).
Speaking as someone who *does* own (and am typing this on) a mechanical keyboard, I'll still say that membrane keyboards get unfairly disparaged, and that some are very nice to type on.
Some (emphasis "some") of the cheapest models are ******* horrible, true, but the one I have at work is actually pretty good even though that itself is a cheap one.
The best membrane keyboards I've used are miles better than the worst mechanical ones. And the scissor/membrane job on my old Compaq Armada laptop had a very pleasant, low-travel feel to them.
I'm pretty sure that a lot of it's what you're used to.
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Mechanical switches are just like analog vinyl. Because the action is analog it isn't just on or off but has a slight curve between the states.
This. Exactly this. Inexperienced typists just don't get it.
To convey proper nuance in text, I don't always want exactly 1 letter "A" when I press the "A" key. Using uniform whole letters can seem jarring and mechanical, particularly when writing personal email. Sometimes a message composer only wants, say, 0.95 "A", just to soften the letter out. Other times, it's nice to smooth the letter out a bit, letting it fade out genty across the length of the word instead of being uncomfortably square.
These mechanical keyboards are usually tuned to be "warmer", as well--when you press that "A" key, it has overtones and harmonics from other vowels. A little bit of "E" goes a long way, but true "golden fingers" agree that plenty of "O" adds mellowness and roundness.
The adoption of these digital, non-mechanical keyboards is also one of the major reasons why emotion and subtext - especially related to humor - are so often lost in text-based messaging.
~Idarubicin
If your goal is touch-typing, you picked all the wrong switch types. Browns are the closest and are designed as an in-between of Reds (gaming-focused) and Blues (typing-focused). You truly want Blues for typing.
I clicked the link, and looked at the keyboards being touted. Power users? Really? WTF? Whatever happened to the concept of KISS? They've got frigging LIGHTS under the keyboard!!! WTF needs LIGHTS to type with? And, why introduce yet another component that can go bad?
I'll second the IBM/Unicomp model M nomination for POWER USERS!
Seriously? Lights? That makes me think of the posers who put lights on their car's wheels. "Oh, look at me, I'm so cool!"
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