What Are Mechanical Keyboards?

Have you heard of recent time craziness around the mechanical keyboards or though what are these mechanical keyboards? Mechanical keyboard keys are spring activated switches. We commonly use full travel membrane based keyboards for desktop keyboards and scissor switch keyboards for notebook computers. Mechanical keyboards are old fashioned, costly and feels somewhat closer to the old mechanical typewriters.

What Are Mechanical Keyboards? What Are Types of Keyboards?

There are various technologies used for currently available various types of appliances and computers :

1. Membrane keyboard
2. Dome-switch keyboard
3. Scissor-switch keyboard
4. Capacitive keyboard
5. Mechanical-switch keyboard
6. Buckling-spring keyboard
7. Hall-effect keyboard
8. Laser projection keyboard
9. Roll-up keyboard
10. Optical keyboard technology

Keyswitches of mechanical keyboards are of higher quality than other keyswitch types and each key has own dedicated mechanism to register a key press. The keyswitches rest on top of plunger mechanism which depresses into the unit and key is actuated when is halfway through the key travel. The major disadvantage of these type is higher cost. Also these keyboards make sound which may not always be acceptable.

The total system makes a way of pressing a key and actually generating a response in 2 ways – half press or full. This facilitates faster typing speed depending on the work and person. The users who uses only their index fingers to type will not have too much difference in feel – such peoples actually lesser for high volume typing.

Obviously there are types of mechanical keyboards too :

1. High Force/Audible Tactile Keyswitches: Not available – early Macs, IBM computers had this type.
2. Linear Keyswitches
3. Light Tactile Keyswitches
4. Quieter Tactile Keyswitches
5. High Audible Tactile Keyswitches

Most of the mechanical keyswitches are rated at 50 million keystrokes, relatively easy to clean, keyswitches can be changed, have a crisper tactile feel, more stabilized by the housing of the keyswitch. Most mechanical keyswitches are full-travel with a key travel distance of 4.0 mm.

Common need of mechanical keyboards is at gaming, coding and high volume typing. There are few dedicated websites on Mechanical Keyboards with reviews and full details of mechanisms.