Summary
- Mechanical keyboards are considered premium due to their large, complex design and expensive feel.
- The tactile typing feedback from mechanical keyboards reinforces the perception of quality for many users.
- Customizable options, repairability, and the coveted “thock” sound contribute to the rise in popularity of mechanical keyboards.
The mechanical keyboard propaganda is everywhere. Whether it’s a PC gaming streamer or a photo of any self-respecting enthusiast’s desk, there’s bound to be some sort of mechanical keyboard around, with that unmistakable clack-clack-clack as you pummel its keys.
The first IBM PC keyboards were exactly this type of noisy mechanical keyboard, with quiet membrane keyboards eventually replacing them to the relief of office workers everywhere, but in the past few years these keyboards have come back with a vengeance, and some people are outright fanatical about them. In fact, there are more than a few mechanical keyboard nuts on staff here at HTG—though I am not one of them.
So what gives? Why are all these people evangelizing these noisy (and often expensive) keyboards? I think I’ve nailed down the main reasons.
Mechanical Keyboards Are Seen as the Most Premium Option
I think the most obvious reason so many people whose work or life revolves around desktop computers idolize mechanical keyboards is because they are seen as the most premium keyboard option. Compared to regular membrane keyboards, mechanical keyboards are large, complex, and feel as expensive as they are.
Debbie Gluzband / How-To Geek
Of course, to me, this is a little like saying that a gas-powered car is more premium than a battery-powered one because it has lots of moving parts and is noisy. In truth, both main types of keyboards have their own strengths and weaknesses. So it’s not as cut and dried, but I think a lot of people simply think they won’t be taken seriously unless they’re rocking a mechanical keyboard.
I can speak to this from personal experience, since I’ve been roasted a few times when I post photos of my desk setup on social media, because I favor the Apple Magic Keyboard for typing. Speaking of which…
The Typing Experience Reinforces the Feeling of Quality
Kris Henges / How-To Geek
I think a lot of people simply like how it feels to type on a mechanical keyboard. There’s a lot of feedback, which differs in character based on the type of key switches you’re using, but a lot of people like having that feedback to tell them when a key’s been activated. Think of it like having a car with suspension that accurately tells you what’s happening where the rubber hits the road.
For me, I’m really ambivalent about it as someone that knocks out between 5,000 and 10,000 words a day. I eventually caved and got a Keychron K8 Pro, and it took me months to finally reach the same typing speeds I’m used to on my Magic Keyboard, without making errors. No matter which switches or mechanical keyboards I’ve tried, I find it fatiguing to write on these keyboards. However, I guess most people who love typing on them so much aren’t pumping out the equivalent of a novel every week, so maybe my perspective is a little different.
As it stands, I’ve gone back to writing on my Magic Keyboard and also prefer writing on my M4 Pro MacBook Pro’s keyboard over any mechanical keyboard I have ever tried. I prefer having minimal travel and a flat profile. I need the bare minimum of feedback to tell me the key has been depressed. On one of these flat chicklet-style keyboards my fingers absolutely fly.
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For gaming, there’s a real argument to be made for mechanical keyboards. Before I bought the Keychron K8 Pro, I used a mecha-membrane Razer Tartarus V2, which I still use with my gaming laptop when away from my desk. However, gaming at my desk, the K8 Pro is great, and so for people who write very little, but game a lot, mechanical keyboards are the superior choice across the board.
There are now also gaming laptops with mechanical keyboards built in, which is a nice touch. Since gaming laptops tends to be larger than the average laptop, there’s more room for mechanical keyboard keys, though even these aren’t the full-fat mechanical keyboards you’d buy for a desktop.
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Mechanical Keyboards Cater to the Customizers and Tinkerers
Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek
The best thing about mechanical keyboards is that they are infinitely customizable, and keyboard makers have really embraced that. You can buy a blank keyboard with no keycaps or switches, and roll your own completely custom keyboard that matches your needs. It goes well with the hobby of building a custom PC, where people don’t want their “rig” looking like anyone else’s.
Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek
You can 3D-print your own keycaps if you want, or order ones from the millions of choices there are online. Mechanical keyboards themselves have become a subculture and hobby all its own. Though I have to wonder when these enthusiasts ever actually use the keyboards for work or play, given they spend all their time testing switches that feel pretty much all the same to me.
Apart from customizability, mechanical keyboards have a major advantage when it comes to repairability. If some of the keys in your dome switch membrane keyboard stop working, well you’ll usually have to throw the whole thing away and buy a new one. With a mechanical keyboard, you can replace the switches in seconds. So as long as the mainboard is in good working order, the keyboard should pretty much last forever and that’s actually a big plus in my opinion.
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People Are Down With the Thockness
The last thing people seem to like about these keyboards is how they sound. In fact, like those people who stand around with their ears to melons to guess if they’re ripe by tapping them, sound is seen as a mark of quality. Does the keyboard have the right “thock”? Does it satisfy your ears?
You’d think the noise of these keyboards would be a major downside, and it was certainly part of why they fell out of favor. Now, however, it’s spun as a benefit. Honestly, one of the big reasons I finally decided to try daily-driving a mechanical keyboard myself was because the K8 Pro is pretty quiet for a mechanical keyboard, so I can just about tolerate it and no one else in the house has complained about its noise.
That said, almost all the people promoting mechanical keyboards on social media and YouTube are always wearing headphones. So do they even hear their keyboards while using their computers? It’s a mystery to me, but I think these are probably the big drivers of the popularity of these products and the rise of such an enthusiastic hobby.
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