Ever wonder what the difference was between mechanical and soft keyboards, other than the feel of the keys? This article contains everything you could ever want to know about the mechanics behind the mechanical keyboard. I love the animated GIFs that show the different types of switches in action. [via TidBits]
The inner workings of mechanical keyboards
I personally don’t shed a tear for mechanical keyboards. I don’t really understand some’s fascination with them. They’re loud, obnoxious, and terrible for people who type fast. I also don’t know which modern keyboards were tested, but on mine I certainly don’t have to press it harder than my mechanical ones.
My father could type at 120 wpm, and due to his age he first learned to type on a manual typewriter. To type on one very quickly one had to learn the rhythm of the typewriter first and have your fingers learn the differences in key reset times. You couldn’t compensate for key reset on mechanical keyboards because key reset wasn’t a constant — it changed. It either kept up with you or not.
The article glorifies mechanical keyboards, but it disregards the fact that the biggest problem mechanical keyboards have is key reset — the amount of time it takes for the key to return to a position where it can be pressed again to register a keypress. On a modern membrane keyboard the reset is nearly instantaneous, and on a mechanical keyboard it’s not. For fast typists that’s the biggest problem.
He especially hated the buckling spring IBM keyboards because they were so slow at returning to position, and he’d describe the sensation to me when hitting a key that hadn’t reset as if he hit his finger on the desk itself. He’s broken springs that way as well. Today, I can type around 90 wpm, and I’m able to experience it from time to time on a mechanical keyboard.
Prior to using a membrane keyboard his favorite was an Apple Extended Keyboard with alps switches. The article didn’t even mention that kind, and for many it’s the best mechanical switch there is. Most today can’t type fast enough to even run into the problems many fast typists of the old typewriter days would gripe about for years about computer keyboards.
“My use-case is universal.” 😉
Bombastic declarative headline aside, at least the article’s writer suggests trying a mechanical-switch keyboard to see if it works better for one’s personal needs.
I love mechanicals because they’ve mostly helped me type better and faster, but my wife hates the noise most of them make. We’ve both settled on Apple’s current keyboard as a good-quality compromise that works for both of us.