Six Reasons That Makes A Mechanical Keyboard Expensive!!
Mechanical Keyboards are used widely today. They have instantly taken a place in the hearts of both computer enthusiasts and gamers, they have now also become Keyboard Enthusiasts. Obviously, who won’t love the lovely mechanical feel of keystrokes on a keyboard. As a result of this, the demand in the market for Mechanical Keyboards is constantly on the rise resulting in many new products being launched regularly. While everything seems interesting in a mechanical keyboard, unique build, mechanical switches, etc, the only thing that holds off from the day-to-day users is the extra-exorbitant prices. We agree today we have products available at the budget price points too, but considering them against any regular rubber membrane keyboard the price difference is always huge. Why is that?? Why are mechanical keyboards so expensive compared to a regular rubber membrane or scissor-switch keyboards?? Let’s find them out with today’s blog.
Well, there are a few reasons to call upon the increase in price tags of a mechanical keyboard that consists mainly of their build materials, accessories, and even the building processes. These things mainly contribute to the increase in the price of any mechanical keyboard. Here are the top six reasons we believe bring the rise in the prices of a mechanical keyboard.
1. More parts in the internal arrangement.
2. High-quality Materials required for mechanical keyboards.
3. Different Keycaps.
4. Mechanical Switches.
5. Labor-intensive assembling.
6. Extra components required for Multiple connections like Bluetooth, Wireless, and more.
If we talk about the price to performance ratio, a mechanical keyboard always performs well with its high durability and actual mechanical feel on every single keystroke. It doesn’t matter if you like Linear Switches or Tactile or Clicky, each and every single actuation type has its own mechanical feeling that we as a user love. Let’s dive deep into the above-mentioned points and discuss further on them.
Multiple, More Internal Components:-
First and foremost, the multiple components included on a mechanical keyboard increase its cost of production. Brands usually use high-quality components like PCB plates, Positioning plates, Silicone foam pads, mechanical switches, etc. If you compare them against a rubber membrane keyboard, we don’t get such padded structures or gasket-mounted structures in most offerings. Also, most of the mechanical keyboards have RGB backlighting which is produced by small LEDs under the keys. RGB backlighting is usually not found in rubber membrane keyboards, exceptions are there. More components mean more cost required to procure them and hence bring an increase in the cost of the mechanical keyboards.
High-Quality Of Materials Used:-
As we stated above, brands usually use high-quality materials for their keyboards. This not only applies to the internals of a mechanical keyboard. We get some premium keycaps, high-quality CNC machined metallic or even PC casings, etc. If you look at a regular rubber membrane keyboard, you will notice most of them have a standard plastic casing. While there are many mechanical keyboards with plastic casings too, if we check closely we will notice that they use high-quality ABS plastic shells. Mechanical Keyboards also feature PBT keycaps which are costlier compared to ABS or standard plastic keycaps on a rubber membrane keyboard. All these also contribute to increasing the cost of manufacturing and hence affecting the cost of the keyboards.
Keycaps:-
Keycaps are an important part of any keyboard. Mechanical Keyboards not only offer us high-quality PBT material keycaps, they are also made using high-quality dual-toned injection melding techniques. PBT material offers better durability, touch-feel, rich finish, and provides oil resistance. We don’t see them wearing off anytime quickly. Although PBT material is slightly on the heavier side. Keycaps are designed in different shapes and profiles, with different color themes and designs. They take a share in the manufacturing cost and hence affect the pricing of the end product. There are keyboards with ABS keycaps too, but if you notice, even the ABS used by mechanical keyboard manufacturers is of high-quality compared to the standard rubber membrane keyboard.
Mechanical Switches:-
What makes a mechanical keyboard special? We would say its mechanical keystroke feel simply makes them stand out from the crowd. The primary thing that makes any mechanical keyboard stand out from other types of keyboards is the mechanical switches under every single key. These mechanical switches are costlier than a rubber membrane arrangement. Each key gets its own mechanical switch. The larger switches are even supported by stabilizers for a smooth operation. All these switches and stabilizers for a keyboard bring an increase in manufacturing cost and hence the end product cost too.
Labor Intensive Assembling:-
Now we have got all the components, but for a mechanical keyboard creating the end product is a labor-intensive task. You ask how would so? Well, mechanical switches are soldered onto each port on the keyboard plates and that process couldn’t be completed precisely without an actual person doing it. Most of the components have to be arranged precisely by trained persons. This increases the cost of labor hence affecting the final price of the products.
Increased Components for Multiple Connection Types:-
Most of the new mechanical keyboards support three-connection modes including Bluetooth connectivity, Wireless 2.4GHz connectivity, and the standard USB Type-C connectivity. Now we are not saying that these wireless connections are not available with non-mechanical keyboards, you might find these wireless connections in them too. Three connection modes obviously take some extra chips on the keyboard motherboard and hence increasing the price of the keyboards.
Final Words:-
What makes a mechanical keyboard great? Well, all the components inside contribute their share in giving a remarkable experience for the users. We can say to create this experience, Brands have to put in high-quality components that also offer us some freedom in switching components on the keyboards. And these internal components mainly affect the prices of any mechanical keyboard. We hope we were able to answer the question at the beginning of this blog, what actually makes the mechanical keyboards so expensive!!!
