Most keyboards that come with laptops and desktops suck. Mechanical keyboards provide a much more enjoyable typing experience, as well as a ton of customization in look and feel, and they're more durable and easier to repair, too.
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Most keyboards that come with laptops and desktops suck. Mechanical keyboards provide a much more enjoyable typing experience, as well as a ton of customization in look and feel, and they’re more durable and easier to repair, too. For anyone who spends all day typing, programming, or gaming, it can be extra satisfying to customize every last detail of your keyboard to your exact requirements. But mechanical keyboards bring with them a lot of jargon—layouts and switches and keycap profiles, oh my—so here’s an overview of the terms you need to know to find the right keyboard for your needs.
Size and layout
When you’re shopping for a keyboard, your first and most important decision is the size and layout you want. Keyboards fall into four main categories: full-size, tenkeyless, compact, and ergonomic.
Full-size: These keyboards have all keys, including letters, numbers, modifiers, function keys, arrow keys, and a number pad. We recommend this size only for people who prefer a built-in number pad. Wide keyboards force you to place your mouse farther from your body, which can put strain on your shoulders, neck, and back.
The Best Mechanical Keyboards If you spend a lot of time typing, a mechanical keyboard can be a great quality-of-life improvement, and we have recommendations for just about every budget.
Tenkeyless (TKL): This layout has all keys except the number pad. Tenkeyless keyboards are several inches more compact than full-size boards, and they still have all of the most commonly used keys. If you want a numpad, you can use a tenkeyless keyboard with a standalone number pad and then move the numpad out of the way when you’re not using it.
The compact category is a catchall for a variety of sizes and layouts that take up less horizontal desk space compared with full-size and tenkeyless models.
75%: This layout is similar to most laptop keyboards—it has nearly all the same keys as tenkeyless models do, but it smushes the keys together so that it wastes less space. A 75% keyboard is the best option if you use the function keys along the top row frequently, since other compact keyboards lack those keys.
65% and 68%: Keyboards of this size ditch the function keys along the top but keep the arrow keys and a few keys from the navigation cluster. As a result, 65% and 68% keyboards take up less vertical desk space but are often similar in width to 75% models.
60%: These boards include only the core block of letters, numbers, and modifiers; they have no function keys, no arrow or navigation keys, and no numpad. They’re very compact and portable, but we recommend a 60% keyboard only if you’re willing to retrain yourself to remember key combinations every time you need arrows or functions.
40% and smaller: You can find even smaller keyboards out there, but we don’t recommend them because most people can’t live without the number row.
The Best Compact Mechanical Keyboards A compact mechanical keyboard takes up less space on a desk than a regular one—but you might need to be prepared to give up some keys in return.
Ergonomic keyboards: These can come in any of the above sizes but are split down the middle so you can hold your hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders at a more natural angle than you would on traditional flat keyboards. Ergonomic keyboards are either partially split or fully split. Partially split keyboards have a small gap down the middle but are still connected; they have a lower learning curve but aren’t as adjustable as fully split keyboards. Fully split keyboards are the most flexible and adjustable, as you can angle each half however you prefer.
The Best Ergonomic Keyboard If you spend all day at a computer, an ergonomic keyboard’s more natural tilt and customizable positioning may be more comfortable than a standard keyboard.
Switches
Next, you need to decide which switches you want to type on. Mechanical keyboards have an individual switch beneath each key, which makes this style of keyboard more durable, easier to repair, and more customizable than membrane, scissor, or butterfly keyboards. Mechanical switches come in three main varieties: linear, tactile, and clicky.
Linear switches feel smooth when you press them, from top to bottom.
feel smooth when you press them, from top to bottom. Tactile switches have a noticeable bump partway through the keypress, which lets you know that you’ve activated the key.
have a noticeable bump partway through the keypress, which lets you know that you’ve activated the key. Clicky switches feel similar to tactile switches but add a click sound to match the tactile bump.
Within these three main switch types are many variations, defined by their actuation force (how much effort you need to make to activate each key) and by their actuation point (how far down you have to press to activate each key).
For people who don’t already have a switch preference, we recommend Brown switches made by Gateron, Kailh, or Cherry because they’re popular, readily available tactile switches that are good for most tasks and quiet enough for most offices. For gaming, many people like light linear switches—such as Reds or Cherry MX Speed Silvers—because their relatively light actuation force and continuous travel make them easier (and theoretically faster) to activate, though they can be difficult to type on for the same reasons. Clicky switches, such as Blues, can feel fun and provide more typewriter-esque feedback, but we don’t recommend them if you work or game in a shared space because they’re very noisy and likely to annoy your co-workers or housemates.1
When Cherry’s switch patents expired in 2014, numerous clones of varying quality that mimic Cherry MX switches in their feeling and their color-based naming scheme popped up from companies such as Gateron, Kailh, and Outemu. And in the past few years, the category has seen an absolute explosion of switch varieties—including more clones, new variants, Frankenswitches, and recolors—from different makers, many of which feel unique and no longer follow the traditional Cherry MX naming conventions.
If you’re curious to try out different switches, you have two main options: a switch tester or a hot-swappable keyboard. Swapping out switches on traditional mechanical keyboards without hot-swap requires the equipment, expertise, and time to desolder the existing switches and solder in new ones. But on a hot-swappable board, you can simply pull the switches out and snap new ones into place. Hot-swap has historically been available only on expensive, high-end mechanical keyboards but has finally trickled down to more affordable models in the past year or so. (Keychron sells a variety of switches, and I’ve personally had good experiences buying switches from NovelKeys, KBDfans, and 1upkeyboards.) If you buy a keyboard without hot-swap switches, we advise getting it from a seller with a good return policy so you can exchange it if you don’t like the switches.
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Switch makers also make low-profile switches, which aren’t as tall and have less travel, and you can find still other, completely different types of switches, such as Topre, buckling spring, and Alps clones. None of these other switch types are compatible with the wide pool of keycaps designed for MX stems; we don’t recommend them for most people, but they all have their own unique appeal.
Keycaps
Keycaps offer another way to customize the look and feel (and even the sound) of your keyboard. Since half the fun of owning a mechanical keyboard is customizing it to your taste, we recommend picking a board with a high-quality set of keycaps, but you can always buy different keycaps for your keyboard later. When you’re shopping for keycaps, there are a few terms worth knowing.
Material: Keycaps tend to be made from ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) or PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), two different types of plastic.2 Cheaper ABS keycaps are thinner and sound higher pitched when you type; they’re also prone to wear and to become smooth and shiny with use. Keycaps made of PBT tend to be more expensive but are thicker and more durable.
Legends: In keyboard-speak, the letters, numbers, symbols, and functions shown on keycaps are called “legends.” Keycap makers have a few different printing processes for these legends that influence the look, feel, and durability of the keycaps, and the main two are called double-shot and dye-sublimation (or dye-sub). Double-shot keycaps can be made from ABS or PBT, and their construction layers the keycap color over the legend color. Using two different colors of plastic and two separate molds for each keycap, this process creates high-quality, durable keycaps, but it’s also more expensive. Some double-shot keycaps have shine-through legends, which allow the backlight to illuminate the transparent legends.
Dye-sub keycaps are made when heat permanently stains legends into the keycaps. Unlike cheaper pad-printed keycaps, which have their legends stamped on top, dye-sub legends don’t wear off with time and use. Only PBT keycaps use this process, and dye-sub keycaps cannot allow the backlight to shine through.
Profiles: Keycap profiles determine the height and shape of the keycaps in each row. Many pre-built keyboards come with keycaps that are sculpted to cup your fingers and feel comfortable to type on. If you buy keycaps separately, you can find a whole world of different profiles: DSA, SA, GMK (Cherry), XDA, and more.
Compatibility: Most full-size and tenkeyless keyboards in the US come with ANSI standard keycaps, which means none of the keys are of unusual size or in unusual locations. This makes buying replacement keycaps easier if the included ones wear out or if you fall down the rabbit hole of custom keycaps. But some keyboards—namely gaming keyboards, 65% and 75% compact keyboards, and ergonomic options—are more likely to have nonstandard keycap sizes that are a little trickier to find replacements for.
Keycap sizes are usually described in terms of a “u” width; 1u, for example, is the size of each of the number and alphabet keys on a keyboard, or 18 mm. A 2u key like the Backspace key is twice the size of those 1u keys. Gaming keyboards are more likely to have 1u modifier keys in the bottom row instead of the standard 1.25u size, compact keyboards often have a 1.75u right Shift key in place of the standard 2.75u right Shift key as well as 1u modifiers in the bottom row, and ergonomic keyboards tend to have wholly unique layouts with atypical key sizes and locations.
One other small detail to keep an eye out for is whether a keyboard has north- or south-facing switches. In north-facing switches, the LED cutout faces toward the top of the keyboard; these switch types are better at illuminating shine-through legends, but they’re not compatible with common Cherry-profile keycaps. South-facing switches have the LED cutout facing toward the front of the keyboard, and they are compatible with Cherry-profile keycaps. Some keyboards have both north- and south-facing switches, in different rows, so make sure to double-check for compatibility before buying a new set of keycaps.
Features worth considering
Any keyboard can work for any task—there’s not really any such thing as a special keyboard for typing, or a programming keyboard, or a gaming keyboard. That said, some features are more useful than others for certain tasks. Once you’ve decided what size, layout, and switches you want, here’s what else is worth considering when you’re shopping for a mechanical keyboard.
Windows or Mac support: You can use any keyboard with any operating system, but some keyboards come with Mac- or Windows-specific layouts, or even extra keycaps for both operating systems. Some keyboards give you a handy switch or key combination to swap between Windows and Mac layouts, and you can also easily swap the key functions in macOS.
Programmability: Many mechanical keyboards allow you to change the default behavior of certain keys to perform other actions, and some mechanical keyboards are fully programmable and customizable. The simplest form of customization is to use switches on the bottom or back of the keyboard that alter the layout or behavior of a few keys. For example, you can switch between Windows and Mac layouts, swap the Caps Lock key to Ctrl, or disable OS-specific keys like the Windows or Command keys. Other keyboards offer onboard programming, in which you press certain keys to record macros and customize the backlighting.
The most robust options come with manufacturer-specific software or support VIA, straightforward software that you can use to record macros, remap or customize certain keys, and futz with the backlighting. Not everyone needs this level of customization—some people just want to plug in a keyboard and have it do the normal keyboard stuff—but for nonstandard compact or ergonomic layouts or for gaming, this additional customizability is useful.
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Wireless: Wireless mechanical keyboards are becoming more common, and if you’re shopping for one, you should look for a stable wireless connection that doesn’t cut out, lag, or cause double key entries. We recommend getting a keyboard that can also work in wired mode in case the wireless connection flakes or the battery runs out, since many wireless mechanical keyboards still don’t have great battery life.
Backlight: Backlighting can be a fun addition to bring some personality to your desk. If a keyboard comes with backlighting, we prefer it to be either plain white or programmable RGB—though customizable backlighting tends to cost more.
Rotary knobs: Some keyboards have a rotary knob that controls volume by default, and some of these boards offer the additional option to program the knob to perform other actions. Rotary knobs are fun, but extra, dedicated media buttons and knobs take up valuable space on a keyboard. Even so, I find myself missing the knob when I go back to other, knob-less keyboards.
Features that don’t matter as much
Some keyboard features are still a pipe dream or come with serious drawbacks. Some extras aren’t worth paying more for, and others are complete marketing bunk.
Palm rests: Some keyboards come with palm rests, but most people shouldn’t rest their wrists or palms there while typing. Instead, you should keep your arms and wrists at a neutral angle rather than flexed upward at the wrist, a position called extension. “Repeated extremes of wrist extension can put excessive pressure on the median nerve as it passes through the carpal tunnel of the wrist, and this impairs nerve function and eventually results in injury,” explains a Cornell research study. If a keyboard comes with a palm rest, it must be removable.
Feet: Most keyboards are angled upward from front to back, or come with little feet to angle the keyboard even further if you prefer. But using a keyboard at a steep angle can also cause wrist extension. Professor Alan Hedge, director of Cornell University’s Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Group at the time of our interview, told us, “To minimize the risk of injury and to optimize performance, it is important that a keyboard can be used with the hand in its most neutral position. That is, straight and level.” A keyboard with a flat—or even negative—slope is ergonomically ideal.
N-key rollover: NKRO refers to how many simultaneous inputs a keyboard can handle before it can no longer recognize additional keypresses. Some earlier keyboards could handle only two or three simultaneous keypresses, but almost all keyboards today support at least six-key rollover, which is more than enough for typing, programming, and gaming.
Anti-ghosting: Ghosting is no longer a common issue, but on old keyboards, if you pressed three or more keys at once, the board could register phantom keypresses. Modern keyboards have anti-ghosting features, so this is no longer a differentiator.
Optical switches: Optical switches use a laser to determine when you actuate a key. Manufacturers claim that this tech works much faster than a traditional mechanical switch, but in our experience, a light linear option like the common Red switch or the gaming-focused Cherry MX Speed Silver is plenty fast. Optical switches can also serve to reproduce an “analog” feel—that is, how much you press down on a key affects the input, similar to how a joystick functions. These keyboards are uncommon, expensive, and of benefit in only a few game genres.
This article was edited by Caitlin McGarry and Arthur Gies.
Footnotes
1. How noisy any keyboard is depends on many factors, including not just the switch type but also the case material and design, the keycap shape and material, the room acoustics and noise levels, and how heavily you type.
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2. Keycaps can be made of all sorts of materials, including ceramic, brass, rubber, and so on, but ABS and PBT are by far the most common options.
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1. Switch List, Keybumps, November 30, 2022
2. Keycap Profiles, Keycaps.info, November 30, 2022
3. Giacomo Coltorti, Double-Shot vs. Dye-Sub Keycaps: Explained, Switch and Click, November 30, 2022
4. livingspeedbump, Physical Keyboard Layouts Explained In Detail, Drop, December 16, 2016
5. Keycap Length And Things You Should Know, Dwarf Factory, April 19, 2021
6. Weyman, Keycap Size Compatibility, WASD Support, February 1, 2022
7. Ideal typing posture: Negative slope keyboard support, Cornell University Ergonomics Web, March 27, 2015
8. Whitson Gordon, N-Key Rollover, Anti-Ghosting, and Other Keyboard Features Explained, Lifehacker, October 8, 2014
9. TheKey.Company, Keyboard University, November 30, 2022
10. Overview of Different Keycap Profiles, The Keeblog, November 26, 2019
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