Clickity Clackity GOODNESS.
A lighthearted completely biased report on why mechanical keyboards are superior to all other keyboards.
Mechanical keyboards ++
Pros:
- Less force to actuate
- Able to hit and register more keys at once (N-KEY Roll over)
- Sounds so good. SO GOOD
- Greater longevity (50+ million keystrokes per switch vs 15 million on rubber-dome)
- Spring tension “bounce-back” = faster typing (in theory)
- It beautiful.
Cons:
- Like none at all
- none
- literally no cons
What is a mechanical keyboard?
Let’s take a look at what isn’t.
Dome-switch keyboards:
Dome-switch keyboards are a hybrid of flat-panel membrane and mechanical-switch keyboards. They bring two circuit board traces together under a rubber or silicone keypad using either metal “dome” switches or polyurethane formed domes.
How it works: When you press on a key, the rubber/silicone pushes the poly down to make contact with the circuit board beneath it. On contact, a “keydown” input is registered.
Traditional Scissor Mechanism && Apple Designed Butterfly Mechanism
Not gross, but not great (like mechanical switches).
Mechanical Switches:
Made of several moving parts. A hard plastic “stem”, a spring, and two metal contacts. When a key is pressed, the stem pushes the spring down which allows the two metal contacts to connect. When this happens, the keypress is registered to the keyboards circuitry and therefore to the computer.
In other words, it is made with love.
Mechanical keyboards can hit and register more keys at once. This is known as N-Key Rollover.
A keyboard with n-key rollover, or abbreviated as NKRO, has the ability to scan each button press individually, as opposed to having the PC do it. As a result, every pressed button, or key, is noted, even if you’re pressing a bunch of keys simultaneously. This is particularly relevant/helpful for gaming. Not all keyboards come with n-key rollover as implementing the feature comes with certain cost and design challenges.
Accuracy is paramount in high-level gaming (or super fast coding).
Let’s take a look at how fast a pro-level video gamers actuate keyboard inputs.
We’ll look at a metric known as Actions per minute (“APM”).
- The highest APM recorded in a pro match is 818 APM. That equates to 13.65 INPUTS PER SECOND. Ignoring mouse inputs, that’s roughly 9 keyboard inputs per second
- Pro gamer averages 400 APM
- ME??? 190
N-Key rollover is necessary when you are attempting to send one or more input to your computer simultaneously.
[demo on keyboard]
Let’s talk about why mechanical keyboards might actually be better for heavy computer users (aka YOU ME US).
The second biggest threat to a long lasting programming career (IMO) is repetitive strain injury (hopefully || and not &&) carpal tunnel.
Switching to a mechanical keyboard may actually alleviate or prevent RSI or Carpal Tunnel. The reason is due to the lower actuation force required to register an input on a mechanical keyboard.
Actuation force of common keyboards vs light mechanical switches:
The actuation force of a key is measured by the required centinewton (“cN”) of push down force to reach actuation (or operating) point.
1 cN is roughly 1 gram.
- Linear (red): 45cN
- Tactile (brown): 45cN
- Rubber-dome: 70cN
- Apple’s Butterfly: 65g
Since we are all using Macbooks, let’s compare a Mechanical Linear (Red) Switch to Apple’s butterfly switch.
45g vs 65g — The average MacBook keyboard requires 44% more force to actuate.
Force measured in cNs does not sound like a whole lot. So…
Say we are able to harness the grams of force output by each individual keystroke and subsequently release all that force in one super-hero-like crushing finger press.
OK Let’s have some fun with numbers.
In the internets, one programmer tracked his keystrokes over one year. These are his stats:
- Grand Total: 2,599,992
- Monthly Average: 216,666
- Highest Month: 291,506 (Feb)
- Daily Average: 11,255
- Highest Day: 29,110
- Source: http://www.compiledthoughts.com/2011/06/1-year-26-million-keystrokes.html
Based on the daily average key strokes of 11,255. A good day’s of work is equivalent to:
506,475 cN of force exerted on a light mechanical keyboard. Or, 1,116 pounds of force.
731,575 cN grams of force on Apple’s keyboard. Or, 1,612 pounds of force.
Difference: 225,100 grams of force. Or, 496 pounds of force difference.
Fun-facts:
- It takes 231,307 cN of force to crack an average human skull. You can crack roughly 3 skulls by harnessing keystroke power on an Macbook keyboard.
- Mike Tyson’s punch is estimated at 498,200 cN of force. You exert more cN force from typing one day on a Macbook than a Prime Mike Tyson punch.
- After harnessing the cN force generated from one year’s worth of typing, that’s enough force to lift yo mama.
Conclusion:
Typing is incredibly strenuous on your tendons. 15 minutes shopping for a mechanical keyboard can save you up to 45% on energy spent typing.
