Mechanical keyboards have become an essential peripheral for many and reasons are not lacking. They are comfortable, fast and very practical to play but also to write every day or face working with the computer. If you do not know what they are and why they all have one, we review everything you should know about mechanical keyboards, what are their advantages, their drawbacks or what types are there, but we also review which one is best for your uses and what you do.
Mechanical keyboards look similar to the keyboard you’ve known a lifetime, but their difference from traditional keyboards is the way we press. The switch is individual, there is no global membrane. Each press is independent and there are many types of switches that adapt to the use that we are going to give it, to the force or speed that we need to write.
What advantages do they have
Although at first glance you think they are the classic old keyboards that nobody uses, it is far from being like reality. Mechanical keyboards have many advantages over what you can have on your laptop, for example, or virtual on the tablet.
- Quality and duration. They are more resistant keyboards that will last longer well, without suffering any damage to the keys and that usually have higher quality in materials and higher quality in their construction. Also, if a key is broken it is easy to fix the problem and just change the key individually. For other keyboards, you must change the entire mechanism.
- Variety and specialization. Mechanical keyboards are divided into types, as we will see in later paragraphs, and each one of them fulfills some functions. The specialization will allow us to choose if we want the keyboard to type when we work or if we want, for example, a keyboard that is used for gaming.
- Faster. For the most part, typing with mechanical keyboards is much faster than what we do with membrane keyboards. Maybe it seems unnecessary to surf the internet but it is comfortable if you usually write a lot but above all the speed you will notice if you are going to play and you want to be better than others.
- More clean. They are easier to clean because they can be completely disassembled.
- Lights . It may be for many an advantage and others simply do not care. But most mechanical keyboards have lights that allow you to use it at night without having any more lights on, for example.
Disadvantages or disadvantages
When choosing a mechanical keyboard you must take into account that it may be very different from what you are currently used to with membrane keyboards. The first and main thing that you will notice is that it sounds. Although there are many types, on a mechanical keyboard each key sounds much more when you press it than on a membrane keyboard. If you think this is annoying, save yourself buying one. Or think that you will have to get used to it and that at first it may seem strange to you. You should also bear in mind that its price is usually much higher than membrane keyboards and this price difference is totally justified. As we said at the beginning, they are not the old keyboards that you had twenty years ago, even though they may seem so because of their shape, but the mechanisms have changed and improved a lot.
Another common problem that we can find in mechanical keyboards is that they tend to tire more because we have to make more effort to press the keys. They tend to be less ergonomic and this leads to greater tiredness, but it is a matter of getting used to and taking better advantage of all the advantages.
They take up more. The fourth problem and another of the most obvious is that they take up more than membrane keyboards. There are small and even foldable membrane keypads that fit anywhere. Mechanical keyboards are taller and take up more. If you have little space it may not be for you.
For whom?
You may think you don’t need mechanical keyboards at home or office because you don’t play games. It’s a mistake. It is very useful to have a mechanical keyboard if you are a gaming fan since they are more durable and faster, more accurate. But they are also useful for anyone else looking to work comfortably, type faster, or spend hours at the computer.
What should we consider?
Beyond assuming the noise and the price, when choosing you should look at:
- Use that you are going to give it. We can say that this is the main thing. The mechanism is focused on the use that we are going to give it and there are more recommended to play, others designed to write or others focused to be able to do everything, with an intermediate system that will come in handy if we write or if we play.
- Material. There are usually some different materials in wireless keyboards, with PBTs being the strongest and highest quality.
- Numeric keyboard or not. Do you usually use it or not? It is important when choosing.
- Wired or not. In general, most mechanical keyboards are wired and there are usually not as many wireless models, but there are. Think about how you usually use it and what exactly you need.
- You look or not. In general, it doesn’t matter if you have lights if you don’t want to use them, because you just don’t have to turn them on. But if your intention is that you have them, make sure that it is so with the model that you have chosen and that you are going to buy.
What are the differences?
Basically mechanical keyboards differ by their mechanism and there are three main factors.
- Route that is made from the press of the key until it reaches the end of the actuation of the mechanism. Depends on the keyboard, there will be more or less.
- The acting force. As its name suggests, it is the force that you have to do on the key to activate it and dial it. It will depend on the keyboard that you have to press more or less hard depending on what you need.
- Action point. There is an exact point at which that key works and the signal is sent to the device to give the command. That is, it may be in the highest part of the keyboard and it is already activated, in the middle part. In general, most keyboards have the point of action in the middle, but those that are focused on gaming have the point at the top.
Types of mechanical keyboards
The mechanisms of the mechanical keyboards are practically the “everything” of these utensils. It depends on the mechanism and the use you want to give it, it will be of one type or another. The most popular and those that serve as a guide are the well-known Cherry MX . They are not the only ones and there are other manufacturers that use another nomenclature but the Cherry MX are the global ones and those that others have been imitating over the years. To easily understand the differences, they are mainly divided into colors. Each Cherry “color or type” has different characteristics such as a different path or a different activation force that will do one thing or another.
As we say, they are not the only ones. Other manufacturers such as Razer or Logitech have their own mechanisms but almost all of them have an equivalence to Cherry MX or are born as derivatives of them, using their colors and their systems.
Cherry MX Black
If you are going to play, the Cherry MX Black is a mechanism focused on gamers but with a greater pressure force than the Red model, with a linear mechanism with identical travel one way that of return, with a maximum of 4 millimeters. The actuation point is 2 millimeters and is around 40 grams of pressure and 80 grams. Another striking feature is that it is quieter than other mechanisms on the list although it will obviously make noise since it is a mechanical keyboard. It is focused for the game but more specifically for people who want a keyboard exclusively to play since the keys require enough pressure to activate and thus avoid pressing where we should not inadvertently. If you play but also write, Cherry MX Black is not recommended because the pressure you have to do is too much.
Cherry MX Red
The Cherry MX Red is one of the most common mechanisms for those looking for mechanical keyboards to play. It is especially focused on gaming and its travel is 4 millimeters minimum and its actuation point is 2 millimeters but the actuation force is about 45 grams. It is fast and recommended to play but it can also be useful if you need a computer to write something, write emails, etc.
Cherry MX Brown
The Cherry MX Brown is a mechanism that bets on 4 millimeters of maximum activation travel and 2 millimeters of activation travel. The pressure is intermediate, with about 45 grams in total and are characterized by being keyboards that take slightly longer to go down than to go up and thus a faster typing is achieved if you normally use the computer to write long texts but you also do not want to give up being precise in games. It is an intermediate keyboard and that makes it usually the most widely used mechanism by most users. If you write but also play, it may be your best option to familiarize yourself with them.
Cherry MX Blue
Writers have the Cherry MX Blue mechanism as their best ally. It is a keyboard designed to write long texts if it is what you spend time on the computer. Its travel is 2 millimeters of activation and 4 millimeters of maximum travel but the mechanism is different: it consists of two parts , as we can see in the image, whose first part or first half of the journey is soft and the second is harder. The usual activation force is about 50 grams and the keyboard is mainly focused on large typing sessions on your computer. If you are a writer, journalist or simply spend hours writing the Cherry MX Blue it will be the best and the one that will tire your fingers and wrists the least when you spend hours and hours in front of the screen.
Cherry MX Green
The ‘Green’ is a version of the Cherry MX Blue , with a similar structure and mechanism but in which you will need a force of about 80 grams for the performance. They are keyboards that require more strength and are focused on people accustomed to a typewriter system, for example.
Cherry MX Clear / White
The mechanism of the Chery MX White is similar to that of the MX Brown but from 45 grams of performance we go to 55 grams. They are less widespread than the previous ones and the improvement with respect to them is that we would have fewer accidental pulsations.
Cherry MX Speed
As its name suggests, it is a fast keyboard. The performance point of the Cherry MX Speed is 1.2 millimeters, making it superior to the rest, which is usually around 2 millimeters. The advantage here is that the activation will be done earlier and that is why it is one of the best for gaming. In exchange for this advantage in gaming, it will be more common for you to make mistakes when writing or writing any text. If you are an advanced gaming user, we recommend this type of keyboard.
Cherry MX Silent Red
Cherry MX Silent Red keyboards, as the name implies, are quiet. They are very similar to the Cherry RX Red with an actuation point of 1.9 millimeters and a total travel of 3.7 millimeters. A linear mechanism that requires about 45 grams. If you like silence, it is the best mechanical keyboard for you.
