Understanding Mechanical Keyboards Better: Pros & Cons Of Mechanical Keyboards

With the advancements in features and technologies, Mechanical Keyboards have made a special place in the hearts of computer enthusiasts. Today most gamers, typists, hobbyists, and computer enthusiasts prefer to use a mechanical keyboard for many reasons. Primarily, the mechanical switches feel wonderful to type on, the RGB backlight effects create an amazing experience, and not to mention the smooth soft, and clicky sound of every single keypress. Mechanical Keyboards are a league of their own, they have a huge variety ranging across different price points with unique designer looks, premium switch options, and many other features. Let’s discuss some of the pros and cons of using a mechanical gaming keyboard and what makes a mechanical keyboard special. But let’s first understand what actually is a mechanical keyboard!!

What is a Mechanical Keyboard?

Mechanical Keyboards are specially designed keyboard which uses a mechanical switch underneath every key. Whenever any key is pressed, the switch underneath is pressed, where the switch stem starts its travel and hits the actuation point triggering the required response. There is a huge range of switches available in the market, which users can change in their mechanical keyboards to their liking. Each switch has its own tactile, clicky, or linear feel that determines the actual response of the keyboard. Well, the topic of what is a mechanical keyboard is huge, and we have already covered it before in a guide on our website. So be sure to check out our guide on what is a mechanical keyboard over here. Now, without wasting any more time, let’s begin with what makes the mechanical keyboards a better choice.

How are Mechanical Keyboards better than Rubber Membrane keyboards?

A mechanical keyboard is better than a rubber membrane keyboard in many different aspects. There are a variety of features that we get only with a mechanical keyboard like complete customization, mechanical feeling, better durability, faster trigger response, faster polling rate, clicky sound, RGB lighting, and many more. RGB Lighting is also available with standard rubber membrane keyboards, but in a Mechanical Keyboard, the customization opportunities for RGB effects are limitless(for some keyboards). Let us begin with all the pros of a Mechanical Keyboard.

Pros of using a mechanical keyboard:-

Full Customisation:-

A Mechanical Keyboard is fully customizable. It offers you full customization right from the looks where you can change the keycaps easily to the actual feel of the keyboard where you can change the mechanical switches to your liking. A simple switch change will change the entire tactile feel of a keyboard. On top of that, we also get multiple designer pre-built keyboards that have artistic looks with designer Keycaps. One can also upgrade their mechanical keyboard with artistic novelty keycaps. This level of customization is only possible with a mechanical keyboard.

Mechanical Typing:-

Whenever we use a mechanical keyboard, we can actually feel every single key bring pressed. Now this feeling usually depends on the type of mechanical switch being used on the keyboard, for example, a linear switch will have a smooth key travel and a soft creamy sound upon trigger, a clicky switch will have a slightly bumpy trigger point with a sharp clicky sound, and a tactile switch will have a bumpy trigger but with a soft sound. This type of feeling is exclusive to Mechanical Keyboards, after all this is where they got their name.

Better Durability:-

In a standard Rubber Membrane keyboard, where if anything goes wrong like any key not working or any keycap got damaged or lost its paint with usage over time, we have to purchase a new keyboard. But in the case of a mechanical keyboard, we can simply switch to a new set of keycaps or simply replace a few if required. Most of the new and updated mechanical keyboards have a spill-proof design that also protects them from accidental water splashes. The switches used in Mechanical Keyboards have a longer lifespan. Most of them have around 50 to 100 million keystroke lifespan.

Different Layout Options:-

Mechanical Keyboards come in various form factors and different layouts. We can choose as per our requirements and liking. Some people like to have a compact 65% form factor while some people like to have a 100% Full-sized keyboard with Numpad and everything. We personally find 75% compact and 80% TKL form factors to be hugely famous among gamers.

Comfortable & Precise Typing:-

Now we can choose our preferred type of keyboard layout that often helps in achieving a comfortable typing experience. Moreover, we also get magnetic or additional palm rest that instantly improves the comfort level for us. Mechanical Keyboards also have a non-conflict design, where we can type quickly and precisely.

Faster Response Time:-

What do we need from a keyboard? We need a faster response, tactile feeling, and precise key registers. All the above-mentioned points are delivered by a mechanical keyboard. They have a faster trigger response and also a faster polling rate. Mechanical Switches are also precise in key registrations, chances of mistakes in a mechanical keyboard are way lower than in a standard rubber membrane one.

RGB Backlighting Effects:-

Now, you would say we also have RGB backlight in Rubber membrane keyboards. Well, what makes the RGB effects in mechanical keyboards is their implementation here is much better. They offer better control over effects. Some keyboards even have per-key lightning effects(Corsair K70 TKL OPX) this allows us to completely adjust the entire experience to our liking.

Well, all these were the pros of using a mechanical keyboard. Apart from durability and customization, a Mechanical Keyboard gives you a remarkable experience with every single key press. We personally love the Blue Clicky switches. Now let’s discuss some cons of a mechanical keyboard, Some things we find hard with Mechanical Keyboards.

Cons of a Mechanical Keyboard:-

Not everything glitters in the world of mechanical keyboards. They have a few issues of their own although they are just a few, so let’s discuss them.

Maintenance:-

Although we need to clean our computer peripherals on a regular basis, Mechanical Keyboards need special attention. Dust easily gets accumulated in between the keys and then it might affect the performance in the long run. We should clean our Mechanical Keyboard on a regular basis. We have also written a blog related to this that you can check out here.

Noisy:-

Someone has said somewhere, what makes you can also break you. Well, some people want a silent treatment. Now we have a few switches that are silent but a rubber membrane keyboard is usually dead silent in comparison to a mechanical keyboard.

Pricing & Cost:-

Standard rubber membrane keyboards are available in the market for as low as 10-12$, Mechanical keyboards start at somewhere around 50-70$ at the very least. So mechanical keyboards are slightly on the costlier side.

Well, that closes our list of cons that we personally feel one might have with Mechanical Keyboards. In our opinion, the pros of a mechanical keyboard outweigh these minor issues and deliver an amazing experience while typing our next blog or simply playing some competitive games with our friends. Mechanical Keyboards offer us full customization, allowing us to create the keyboard of our dreams!!! Check out our collection of different mechanical keyboards, Switches, and Keycaps at Mechkeys.com.