Mechanical Keyboard Switches - Part 2
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2017-05-06
·
1,088 words · ~5 min read
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choosing a mechanical keyboard is a lot like walking into a high-end Buffet you
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know it's going to be better than whatever slop you usually eat but you
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don't recognize half of the dishes and those little labels written in French
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aren't helping unless you're actually French so how the heck do you know what
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to pick well the key differentiator is the type of key switch that is being
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used some take lots of force to press down some are noisy some actuate at
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basically hair trigger and we've covered a small handful of switch types in this
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video but that was four years ago so
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it's definitely time for a second episode to cover other important switch
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types and since switches from German keyboard concern Cherry are very common
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in keyboards from major manufacturers like Corsair and Cooler Master we'll
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start with them so aside from the standard Cherry MX red brown blue and
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black which haven't changed since the last video a few more of their switch
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types have risen to prominence let's start out with MX speed switches which
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as the name implies are geared towards more competitive Gamers that want Ultra
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quick responses from their keyboards for that fraction of a second advantage over
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their opponents in practice they feel a lot like Reds meaning that their linear
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switches without a tactile bump or click
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but with a actuation distance almost twice as short at a mere 1.2 2 mm great
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if you're serious about getting every advantage in your game but speed
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switches can also make it easier to miss
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key things while you're typing as they actuate so quickly even from bumps on
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perhaps the other end of the Cherry Spectrum we have the MX green switches
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which are a very interesting typing experience like Blues they have a
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tactile and Loud click but they also have a much higher actuation Force
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meaning they're heavy keys that are noticeably harder to push down and some
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folks really like that robust old school feeling that while not the same is a
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little reminiscent of those buckling spring keyboards people used to use back
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in the day but if you are not interested in either of those extremes the MX clear
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is an interesting option they're similar to Blues but without the loud clickiness
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while still giving a strong tactile bump to confirm that you've actuated the key
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they're also slightly heavier although if you're interested they might be a
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little bit difficult to track down but they could be worth looking into if
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you've given the other common cherry switches a try and are yet to find that
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sweet spot but on the subject of sweetness cherries aren't the only fruit
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in the bowl when it comes to key switches even if companies like Razer
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are actually using cherry clones in their keyboards as you can see on this
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chart one notable alternative is the toer switch which contains both a spring
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and a rubber Dome making the action very smooth and cushion-like but with a
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tactile bump you feel pretty soon after pressing
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down they also bottom out with a distinctive thk in a lower pitch than a
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cherry switch which some people find very pleasing myself included moving
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right along let's look at the rron b3k better known as the RoR G switch that's
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found most frequently in Logitech keyboards these were initially developed
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to compete with Cherry MX Browns and they do feel fairly similar except the
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RoR G has a higher actuation point which Logitech bills as a responsiveness
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advantage and although Cherry fired back with their MX speed switches RoR Gs are
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still a solid choice now obviously there are a lot of other key switch types that
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we don't have time to thoroughly discuss from kale switches which are named for
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the company that produces cheaper Cherry MX clones and supplies some of razer's
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gaming switches not all of them but some to Alp switches that once came in many
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flavors like cherries but have become quite difficult to find on Modern
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keyboards if you want to really experience how some of these switches
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feel before shelling out your hard-earned cash on something you might
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not even like it is possible to order individual switches and in the case of
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some popular Cherry varieties you can even order a sampler of sorts for just a
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few bucks although it isn't actually a
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very equatable experience to a full keyboard you can still get some amount
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of reference for how it will feel in general making a decision here can be
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hard the huge array of switch types means that there's something out there
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for everyone unless of course nothing feels better for you than good old swift
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Channel Super Fun we do some cool stuff over there uh watch this video which is
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hopefully on the screen somewhere I don't remember all the call outs because I'm walking around the mic so I can't
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see the prompter but I'll see you guys next time this is actually getting a
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little dizzy whoa