Set your keyboard up correctly

What the key specs mean and what you might want to change for better performance or comfort.

“Red models are the most popular, as they require the least force of all. There’s no click, and the motion is extremely smooth, making them very responsive, hence their popularity with gamers. ”

A standard, affordable keyboard uses a rubbermembrane behind each key. Press the key and the membrane makes contact with a bottom layer, closing an electronic switch which causes the key to activate. However, for this switch to close, the user must push the key all the way down to the bottom. This leads to slower reaction times, not to mention increased fatigues. There’s also no feedback — it’s hard to tell when you’ve reached the bottom of the key press. This rubber membrane is why standard keyboards are nice and quiet.

A mechanical switch is very different to the membrane approach. There’s a variety of different mechanical switches on the market, but they all tend to work the same way. Instead of a rubber membrane, every single key has an independent switch. These can be engineered to travel different distances as well as the amount of pressure needed to activate each key — for example, Corsair’s new K70 uses Cherry’s new MX speed switch, which only needs to travel a mere 1.2mm before registering. Most mechanical keys need around 2mm of travel before they activate, which is why the speed switch claims speed improvements of up to 40%.

Handy features

Mechanical keys also last much longer than membrane keyboards, at around 50 million clicks versus 10 million for membrane. Most mechanical keyboards also feature n-key rollover, which means that it’s possible to hit every key on the board at once, and they’ll all register — most membrane keyboards can only handle two or three simultaneous key presses.

Other key features of gaming keyboards include extra keys that can be bound to macros (pre-recorded combinations of key presses), programmable RGB lighting, frameless designs for easy cleaning, and headphone output/ microphone inputs. Some also come with a dedicated set of media keys, such as play, pause, volume control and forwards/backwards. It’s no wonder they cost more than the cheap membrane design used in offices around the world.

Cherry MX switch colours

Cherry makes a variety of different keys, which they separate by colour; Brown, Green, Blue, Red, Clear, Black and Speed. Each one has a different tactile feel and travel distance. Blue switches deliver a click as soon as they’re pressed, while Green do the same but require more force. Brown switches tone down the tactile click, with it feeling a bit more like a bump than a loud click, making them a little quieter. Clear switches require less force, but it seems that the Red models are the most popular, as they require the least force of all. There’s no click, and the motion is extremely smooth, making them very responsive, hence their popularity with gamers. Blacks are similar to reds, but require a little more force to activate. Finally, there’s the brand new Speed switch, which we mentioned previously.

Confused yet? To be honest, the best way to figure out which key feels best to you is to visit a store that has a variety of mechanical keyboards on offer, and try each of the Cherry MX colours. Our personal favourite is the new Speed switch, followed closely by the Red.