10 Unpopular Truths of Mechanical Keyboards
You might not like most of them.
The mechanical keyboard craze of the past decade or so doesn’t seem to end. Hey, that’s all well and good, I am an avid mechanical keyboard user myself and recently recommended you should buy one in 2020, if you haven’t already. It even appears like you can’t even get rubberdome keyboards anymore, except the cheap pack-ins of major retailers and manufacturers like Dell or Lenovo.
Still, once you’re familiar with this fascinating subculture, there are some unpopular truths about mechanical keyboards revealing themselves. Here are the most unpopular ones, according to me.
Cherry MX switches are not the best, just very common.
Cherry MX switches are to be found in most mechanical keyboards off the shelf nowadays. Yes, they are “Made in Germany” and they do their job, giving you an introduction into the mechanical keyboard world. But compared to the vastness of mechanical key switches out there, the Cherry MX switches are really just your most basic option and the tip of a very huge iceberg. There are even “clone” switches like Gaterons that can often easily match the quality of Cherry MX switches and at times even surpass them for a much lower cost.
50 million keystrokes mean nothing.
The truth is, most likely, before anyone of us wears out the expected lifespan of any mechanical key switch two things will happen:
- Low quality keycaps (ABS plastic, laser etched or poor dye sub) will become shiny and look really used, the lettering may even come off.
- Even more likely is before all of that happens you will lose interest in your current mecha and move on to the next shiny mechanical keyboard.
Topre keyswitches are neither mechanical nor the best.
Topre keyswitches are rubberdomes with a spring. There, I said it. You could argue, that they are hybrids, but really they are rubberdomes. Obscenely expensive rubberdomes. And you know what? That’s fine. Quality rubberdome keyboards don’t need to shy away from being compared to mechanical keyboards. Truth be told, many people won’t even care half as much as your standard mechanical keyboard enthusiast on what they are typing. Just because something is “mechanical” doesn’t automatically mean it’s good. Topre just offer just another “flavor” of tactile typing experience that might just be as close to perfect as possible for some.
There is no overall best switch.
Yes there are switches aimed at different usecases and markets, like linears for gaming, tactiles for writing and gaming and clicky ones for pure typists. But honestly, you can game and write on any switch, really. There are literally hundreds of different switch types to choose from (if you’re going custom) and while there might be the one best switch for you, based on your preferences, there is no overall best switch, so asking for them in forums is pretty much pointless. Your best bet would be to get a switch tester/sampler and try some of them out for yourself.
Don’t bother getting into custom mechanical keyboards, if you don’t use the ANSI layout.
If you’re using the ANSI keyboard layout there’s PCBs, keycaps, mounting plates and all other the fancy stuff you need to build your own, completely custom mechanical keyboard aplenty. The sky is the limit, really. But if you’re natively using anything other than ANSI, for example ISO-DE (if you’re based in Germany for example) you really have a hard time finding all the parts necessary to build a completely custom mechanical keyboard. The market for ISO-layout keyboards simply is just too small. Your best option is getting an off-the-shelf mechanical keyboard in your native layout that you like and try to mod it to your liking with the little options you have (like installing dampening o-rings).
Obsessing over mechanical keyboards is pointless.
Finding that perfect keyboard or that perfect switch can be a great hobby and pastime, if you’re into it. But just like every other obsessively practiced hobby it can be a huge money- and timesink. It’s not uncommon that once you’ve found “your perfect mechanical keyboard” it’s not long before you’re wondering how that other switch might feel, or if you can live with an even smaller layout. It’s really hard to settle and mechanical keyboards are a real rabbit hole to get lost in. But it’s pointless. Objectively it’s maybe best to try out a bit and then settle for whatever feels “good”. Like in other aspects of life, chasing “perfect” will most likely get you nowhere, it will just keep you occupied and spending quite a bit. Your option to justify your irrational buying habits would be to call it “collecting” though.
A mechanical keyboard does NOT make you a better gamer.
All those gaming mechanical keyboards with fancy RGB LEDs and “speed switches” must exist for a reason right? Yeah, sure, to make money for the manufacturers. Yes, some switches may be quicker, smoother and yes there may be a fraction of a millisecond you could shave off your reaction time with a high end gaming keyboard with speed switches. But if you’re not gaming at competitive e-sports level, a milisecond here and there might not tip you over to greatness if you’re really just average. Also, consider this, whatever bit of reaction time you could save with a perfect mechanical gaming keyboard is negated by the input lag you will have on your computer, the delay your display might have and also don’t forget: internet latency. So the reality is, in a perfect setup on a perfect day a perfect mechanical gaming keyboard will make a near perfect gamer fractionally better. The same goes for mice. Go with whatever you feel comfortable with and work on your skill more than your gear, if it’s important to you to compete. Quitting videogames altogether might be an idea too.
Cherry MX Brown switches are terrible.
Sorry, but one of the most popular tactile key switches on the planet happens to be the scratchiest tactile switch there is. You can read about my hatred for this switch here. If you get the chance to try out the gorgeous Zealio V2 65g by ZealPC, you will know how tactile is supposed to feel. Yes this is quite subjective, like everything about mechanical keyboards (and most other things in life), but the Cherry MX Brown switch is objectively scratchy and “rattly” — there’s no way around it. Not even lubing it up helps.
Most mechanical keyboards are overpriced.
If you exclude the cheap straight-from-China offerings with no-name switches in them, most mechanical keyboards actually are way overpriced for what they are. I’d of course list the Topre keyboards here as the most ridiculously priced ones, but as we learned earlier, they are not really mechanical. Never forget, even if you buy from huge, well known brands, most of the stuff that’s in your mechanical keyboard comes from China anyways. The only thing you’re paying for is the margin of the keyboardmaker and maybe some higher tier materials. So if you find a mechanical keyboard you feel good about, go get it and see it as an investment, but don’t expect the really expensive ones to be made from some kind of super fairy dust. They are not. Waiting to get a deal on your particular mechanical keyboard of choice usually is a good idea.
Oh yeah, all that custom stuff and small-number orders from special keyboard websites (if you’re using the ANSI layout of course) goes well beyond the prices of stock mechanical keyboards.
Mechanical keyboards are not *that* different to each other.
I bet this makes the great mechanical keyboard god spin in it’s grave like a propeller. But honestly, once you’ve tried about twenty different mechanical keyboards with different switches or more, the actual difference between them isn’t all that big anymore. What you do notice though, is the really bad keyboards. But everything thats between “good” and “grand” doesn’t differ by much. Yes of course, materials, switches, weight, sound and the actual typing experience all come together into an unique experience for each and every mechanical keyboard, but you will soon begin to be able to love or hate something about all of them, thus making them all a bit “samey”. It’s mechanical keyboards after all, you’re not comparing apples to bananas, just apples to apples of different size and color.
All that out of my system, mechanical keyboards are still grand and I wouldn’t want to keep typing without them. Still, there’s a really cheap, non-mechanical keyboard alternative for ThinkPad lovers that also might be worth a look. If you’re into writing on a Laptop, I can highly recommend ThinkPads for their great keyboards alone.
Whatever you feel best typing on, is the best keyboard for you, no matter what technology makes it work. Enjoy your work, or as Neil Gaiman would say:
“Make great art.”
Thank you for reading my article, hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed typing it up. This article is only based on my personal opinion and does not contain any sort of affiliate links. Stay safe, stay smart, keep typing.
