Are mechanical keyboards worth the price?

[dotw]

I have always used membrane keyboards my whole life. Got an opportunity to try a mechanical keyboard of my friend's and immediately felt the difference despite it being a cheap Chinese mechanical keyboard. I was wondering whether it is worth spending 25-30 USD on a mechanical keyboard for an average user?

[chrispop99]

I had only used membrane keyboards until five years ago. On a whim, I splashed out on a mechanical one, and would never go back.

I'm almost embarrassed to say how much mine cost; it was very expensive. It's a Filco, with Cherry brown switches.

In case you didn't know, Cherry make the keyboard switches for the top keyboard makers, and they come in different pressure weightings, identified by colour.

Chris

[arjaybe]

I have a Unicomp keyboard, which uses the tech from the original IBM Model M keyboard. It was expensive but worth it in my case as I make fewer errors typing due to the better feedback in the keys. It might not be worth it if you don't do a lot of typing.

[j2mcgreg]

It depends. How many of the membrane (regular) type have you gone through just due to wear and tear? Before I bought mine, a Spadger, about eight years ago i was having to buy a new regular keyboard every three years since I am a heavy typist.

[rokytnji.1]

Salvation Army and Goodwill supplies my old ergonomic microsoft keyboards for about 3 dollars out here.

Old mech key gaming keyboards are a dollar.

[CharlesV]

For YEARS I refused to use membrane keyboards, having only ever used mechanicals. As a fast typist ( 120 wpm ) , a good mechanical keyboard were / are one of the best things you can feel a you type. (And personally I think they are *the* best you can use.

However... there are some membrane keyboards that are FAR FAR better than others and provide some excellent feel. The reason I started using Laptops was because of their keyboard. Lenovo also has had excellent keyboards, and although both companies have changed a bit over the years, I believe they keyboards are still very good.

The only other keyboard that I really like... is Logitech. They make one of the best tactile keyboards there is, imo.

As for good mechanical - without breaking the ban, Logitech K845 is my favorite keyboard, with the Red Dragon K556 coming in very close to it. Both under $60, and both VERY nice to the touch.

[timkb4cq]

I still use a 1986 model M keyboard because I make fewer errors with it. When I use my laptop keyboard or my wife's membrane keyboard I have to pay far more attention to my typing.
One note about typing on mechanical keyboards is that unlike a membrane keyboard you don't have to bottom out the keystroke, just press hard enough to "click" so it can be easier on your fingers and wrists.

[CharlesV]

Excellent point timkb4cq ! One of the primary reasons I didnt like membrane keyboard was specifically that lack of tactile and having the sense of burying the keys.

[davidy]

A regular old Dell keyboard can be rinsed off if you take it apart. As for mechanical, they are simply much nicer than a cheapo plastic one. You can get them in various materials like aluminum or even wood and in all sorts of configurations and colors and backlighting. The keys themselves, incl. the typing experience is also much nicer. The cheapo boards are great as backup and are practically free but I would never want to use one daily after buying a few mechanicals. Mechanicals are ~$100+ on average. I have 3. I actually like my Asus ROG gaming kb the best even though it has the weirdest design just for the fact it comes with a cover to keep the dust off when you're not using it. I don't type much so that helps too lol.

[NightCoder]

I still use a 1986 model M keyboard because I make fewer errors with it. When I use my laptop keyboard or my wife's membrane keyboard I have to pay far more attention to my typing. One note about typing on mechanical keyboards is that unlike a membrane keyboard you don't have to bottom out the keystroke, just press hard enough to "click" so it can be easier on your fingers and wrists.

Personally, I have never used such a cheap, disposable product as a rubber dome keyboard. I inherited two IBM keyboards (Model M) from my last company and used at least one of them for years. The buckling spring mechanism is extremely robust and designed for durability. On my desk at the moment I use a Cherry Model MX 3000 keyboard with blue Cherry switches. For reasons of space, I am currently using a Filco Majestouch 2 TKL with brown cherry switches for my second monitor. The latter was relatively expensive, but worth every penny! Both keyboards have a pretty tactile feel, especially if you want to type a little faster.

But the best thing IBM ever built were their beam spring keyboards, which cannot be surpassed in terms of robustness and are now sold at horrendous prices, around $2,000. The sound of the key mechanism alone is incomparable and conveys an extremely secure input feeling. It's a real shame that almost no one builds something like that any more. So, if you want to know more about the technology behind all of the previous IBM keyboards, then I recommend this video, which explains each part in detail (running time 16 minutes and 13 seconds). For a closer look at the keyboard, see here!

IBM_Beamspring.jpg