Mechanical keyboards

[ls-]

Sadly IIRC the model M went out of production before the Windows/Option keys were added

You can buy Unicomp keyboard, if you miss IBM model M

[Lochton]

Not really seen the best arguments for the mechanical, one of the losing ones is the one I hear every raid night, a member has one and you can 100% hear it.

Not seen any benefits of having one, other than a very minimal responsive time that I in many cases won't even feel/notice.

[Grishnaar]

Interesting, I learn something new every day.

I'm old enough to recall the old IBM mechanical keyboards, which were a PS/2 connection, and built like absolute tanks. Time to look into a new one.

Aye, it's a pain in the ass, really. In PES I can't press down, left, ctrl and D, for example -.-

In WoW, I often have to jump in order to continue running the same way while I use 2-3 keys xD


I was 6-7 (around 1990.) and my friend had ibm old school keyboard, one that clicks as you type. It was awesome xD

[Mythbredor]

Your guildee is an asshole who bought a loud keyboard. With O rings and reds they are basically silent. Oh, they last 5-10x longer as well.

Yeah I have an orion spark and you can hear it if I'm smashing my keys but I can also type almost silently.

But simple fact of it is, mechanical keyboards last longer and feel nicer. Switching from membrane to mechanical I will never go back.

[Lochton]

Your guildee is an asshole who bought a loud keyboard. With O rings and reds they are basically silent. Oh, they last 5-10x longer as well.

Well, dunno, but that is most the bad arguments I have experienced through multiple raiding teams, and Rated battlegrounds.

Currently running a Logitech G110 since 2010, still no problems - other than a bit dirty..

[Xamwick]

If you use a super loud mechanical keyboard and don't use push to talk, you are the cancer.

[Kuntantee]

I've been using mechanical keyboard for years now. I doubt there is any significant gain in responsiveness or something different. Mechanical keyboards simply feel better to use and are more durable, that's all.

Unlike many in this thread, I can easily switch back and forth between membrane and mechanical keyboards without any problem and I really don't think switching is a huge problem in general.

[Normie]

Mechanicals are preferred by people who type a lot because it doesn't require as much effort to push the keys and because they're more durable.

Negative on both fronts. Apple's "chiclet" keyboards work great. Mechanical keyboards are much more complex and prone to all sorts of problems unless very well engineered.

Anyone who was around for the pre-membrane days knows how badly average quality mechanical keyboards sucked. Among other flaws, anyone who was around for the really early days of home computers knows about this infuriating thing called "keybounce," which all mechanical keyboards are prone to. (Thus, they have "debouncing" circuitry and/or logic.) Also, individual key switches just wear out, again if not carefully engineered and built. It's really unusual for a membrane switch to wear out although the keycap can fail.

It's a preference but unless your mechanical choice is high-dollar and very well made, membrane will be better on the average.

Interesting, I learn something new every day.

I'm old enough to recall the old IBM mechanical keyboards, which were a PS/2 connection, and built like absolute tanks. Time to look into a new one.

The number of keys you can depress simultaneously on a keyboard is a function of the keyboard design/circuitry/firmware and has absolutely nothing to do with whether its switches are membrane or mechanical. You can have individually addressable keys on a membrane keyboard, or you can have anything less. The exact same thing applies with mechanical keyboards. Back in the day when they were the norm, mechanical keyboards had the exact same "can't press more than 2 or sometimes a particular set of 3 keys at a time" issue for the exact same reasons.

[Deleted]

I love the razor mechanical keyboards but i think they are a little overpriced

[caervek]

Anyone who was around for the pre-membrane days knows how badly average quality mechanical keyboards sucked.

The were no average quality mechanical keyboards, the ones you are thinking of were probably the fake mechanicals which were just membrane keyboards with springs in the keys actuating the membranes to give a fake mechanical feel. True mechanical keyboards (cherry switches, alps switches, buckling springs) were all good, hence why people still use 20+ year old boards today.

[Lathais]

You can usually press any combination of keys up to 6? In most cases without an issue, compared to the membrane ones, and to be able to press that many and randomly on a membrane you gonna end up paying as much as a mechanical.

That has nothing to to do with whether or not the keyboard in mechanical or membrane at all. This is referred to as keyboard ghosting. There are various ways of giving a keyboard anti-ghosting, either in certain areas or for the entire keyboard, but this raise the cost. Mechanical keyboards, already being more expensive, typically have the best forms of anti-ghosting, though there are plenty of higher quality membrane keyboards that have them as well.

https://www.microsoft.com/appliedsci...explained.mspx

[Normie]

The were no average quality mechanical keyboards, the ones you are thinking of were probably the fake mechanicals which were just membrane keyboards with springs in the keys actuating the membranes to give a fake mechanical feel. True mechanical keyboards (cherry switches, alps switches, buckling springs) were all good, hence why people still use 20+ year old boards today.

OK you just have no idea.

Adorably misinformed. Thanks for all the laughs.

You also have no idea.

At least the first 15 years of computers I owned had nothing but mechanical keyboards, and by and large they were greatly variable in quality. Aside from computers with outright chiclet keyboards, generally every keyboard through the late 80s and early 90s was mechanical. My first half dozen Apple keyboards certainly were. My TRS-80 Model I00's keyboard was (still is). My TRS-80 Model I (acquired before it was called Model I) certainly was. If your universe had its Big Bang in 1995 then I suppose some of you folks have a point.

[Normie]

That's nice. These are modern mechanical keyboards, not those from20+ years ago.

There are many nice 30+ year old mechanical keyboards. For example, a Selectric. An original IBM PC keyboard to some extent.

But saying "all mechanical keyboards are excellent" is ignorant. Because they aren't. Not even the modern ones. Nor are they inherently superior to membrane keyboards. Personally I prefer Apple's chiclet keyboards to pretty much any other style of keyboard, and my fingers are pretty good (120wpm, 130 on a good day).

[Artorius]

There are many nice 30+ year old mechanical keyboards. For example, a Selectric. An original IBM PC keyboard to some extent.

But saying "all mechanical keyboards are excellent" is ignorant. Because they aren't. Not even the modern ones. Nor are they inherently superior to membrane keyboards. Personally I prefer Apple's chiclet keyboards to pretty much any other style of keyboard, and my fingers are pretty good (120wpm, 130 on a good day).

Don't lose your time trying to explain things for people who don't want to read and think they know things they don't. It really isn't worth it.

[Normie]

(when a chiclet product is designed to only last around 5 years)...

I wear the texture off a keyboard in 3-12 months. The lettering in the next year or two (yay for backlit keys). Meanwhile dust and hair. Tell me again why I want a 5 year old keyboard with slick keycaps, half the letters missing, and needing 2 hours of periodic disassembly and cleaning? Simpler to just buy another one.

[Normie]

I have been using the same keyboard(cost me $100) for 5 years. The only key that has even slight wearing is my s. None of them are slick and I don't bottom out with every keystroke. I also have never had to disassemble and clean my ducky keyboard. Nice try though. Maybe you should do minor research before you spread lies.

Getting mechanical keyboardialists to perceive reason is less likely to succeed than persuading Ali Khamenei to convert to Catholicism.

Still, that's what free religion is for. Enjoy yours!

[Lathais]

I have been using the same keyboard(cost me $100) for 5 years. The only key that has even slight wearing is my s. None of them are slick and I don't bottom out with every keystroke. I also have never had to disassemble and clean my ducky keyboard. Nice try though. Maybe you should do minor research before you spread lies.

I've had a membrane keyboard that also does not have any keys worn out, none of them are slick and I have not had to disassemble it to clean it in over 5 years as well. These are not features unique to mechanical keyboards. You can get high quality membrane keyboards as well, though yes, they keys themselves will likely wear out long before a mechanical would.

[Deleted]

Mechanical keyboards is great for games like LoL because imo it has the perfect resistance and firm to excecute a certain spell.

[Deleted]

I use one of each, as in:
a standard keyboard (razer deathstalker) and a mechanical keypad (razer orbweaver)

For shorter game-sessions i preffer to just use the keyboard, but for longer ones (as in raids) the keypad pays off...
Not that much in how it increases my performance (which i doubt it does) but much more in it not causing my palm to hurt over time.

I don't like the clicking sounds of mechanical keyboards. :/

[Lathais]

I don't like the clicking sounds of mechanical keyboards. :/

Get one with different switches that don't click then. Not all mechanical keyboards click.