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Incubator Q&A

Welcome to the staging ground for new communities! Each proposal has a description in the "Descriptions" category and a body of questions and answers in "Incubator Q&A". You can ask questions (and get answers, we hope!) right away, and start new proposals.

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Incubator Q&A What is the benefit of mechanical keyboards?

One big disadvantage of mechanical keyboards is that they come with more friction and a longer distance for the key to travel. Which means slower typing. This actually makes them less suitable for...

posted 5mo ago by Lundin‭

Answer
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Lundin‭ · 2024-07-08T08:53:02Z (5 months ago)
One big disadvantage of mechanical keyboards is that they come with more friction and a longer distance for the key to travel. Which means slower typing.

This actually makes them less suitable for gaming! Which is ironic since a lot of these are marketed as gaming keyboards. Of course this mainly matters in games where quick reaction or quick typing are essential, typically the 1st person shooters or RTS variety. But also in MMOs and the like, where for some reason you aren't using your head seat and need to relay information fast by typing.

I recently bought a new keyboard, tried 20+ gaming keyboards, all which felt great to use but made me type slower. Then after trying all of them, I settled for a cheap standard Microsoft one with low buttons. Simply because I can notice a _significant_ improvement in typing speed when using it. I type nearly twice as fast with it compared to mechanical ones.

Now of course these rubber dome standard ones won't last as long and are overall of lower mechanical quality. But after a couple of years, a keyboards does start to become messy and they aren't easy to clean. Or when you eventually manage the classic spill of coffee all over it. So you might want to replace them after a couple of years for the mess reason alone anyway.