Please explain to me the different types of keyboard.

pastymuncher

pastymuncher

pastymuncher

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Hi all, My trusty Logitech wave keyboard which I have had for a great many years has started playing up and several keys are now sticking. For £35 it's lasted extremely well so I have had my moneys worth. Now it's time to buy a new keyboard but I am confused with the types of keyboards available. There are basic ones like my Wave, tactile membrane keyboards and then there are mechanical keyboards with their huge variety of different types of switches. I have only ever had standard keyboards so have no idea about tactile membrane and mechanical keyboards and how they would be better or worse for gaming. I would be grateful if someone could explain the positives and negatives of each type for gaming use.

If you could also recommend a couple of keyboards within the following parameters that would be great. It's main use is gaming although multimedia keys are wanted as well plus it has to be wired and cost no more than £140. Must have a wrist rest as well as my Wave keyboard has a padded one built in and it's been brilliant. Many thanks in advance.
 
It's like going down the rabbit hole

There's whole communities dedicated
To mechanical keyboards
You can even build your own

Personally all the switches feel similar to me
Different actuation points that are measured in
Tiny amounts etc
Different clicky noises

All I can say is I have still got my corsair k90
Which I got maybe 11 years ago
So no arguments about expensive mechanical keyboards
Lasting a long time from me

Maybe have a look here

Edit
Of course the rgb on them
Is a big factor too nowadays

www.tomshardware.com

Best Gaming Keyboards 2024: Full-size, TKL, Mini, and More

The best gaming keyboards we've tested for grinding, shooting, exploring, and — well — typing.
www.tomshardware.com www.tomshardware.com
 
Last edited:
pastymuncher said:
Hi all, My trusty Logitech wave keyboard which I have had for a great many years has started playing up and several keys are now sticking. For £35 it's lasted extremely well so I have had my moneys worth. Now it's time to buy a new keyboard but I am confused with the types of keyboards available. There are basic ones like my Wave, tactile membrane keyboards and then there are mechanical keyboards with their huge variety of different types of switches. I have only ever had standard keyboards so have no idea about tactile membrane and mechanical keyboards and how they would be better or worse for gaming. I would be grateful if someone could explain the positives and negatives of each type for gaming use.

If you could also recommend a couple of keyboards within the following parameters that would be great. It's main use is gaming although multimedia keys are wanted as well plus it has to be wired and cost no more than £140. Must have a wrist rest as well as my Wave keyboard has a padded one built in and it's been brilliant. Many thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Keyboards are a personal thing.

You have people who prefer membrane switches and you have people who want a custom brass billet chassis and spend £1000+ on their keyboards.

I’m a big advocate of the Keychron Q range as it comes with a lot of features at a good price.

One feature you should always have is hot swappable switches as if you find you hate tactile switches, you can move to linear or clicky or whatever.

You should try demo a keyboard first by going into a store like Curry’s and trying their (admittedly) limited selection of keyboards first to see what feels good.

Another good shout is the GMMK or the Nuphy Halo range (only ANSI layout though).
 
@Mcnumpty2323 @JollyJamma Thank you for the info guys. Apologies that I haven't replied sooner but I have been very busy gutting and refurbishing our bathroom (is it still called a bathroom when it has a shower and no bath?) along with doing loads of research on keyboards. Damn it's complicated!! It took me ages to find a link that describes the different types of switches and how they sound but in the end I found this video about the different types of Cherry switches and I have decided to go with Cherry MX Brown switches which are tactile and don't have the clicky sound which I am sure would do my head in after a while. My current pick is the G.Skill Ripjaws KM780 MX Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. Yes I know it came out years ago but it has everything I want in a keyboard. It has red leds, not RGB but it would be set to red anyway so that's not a problem. I found somewhere with stock for £104 which isn't bad and the keyboard got good reviews when it came out. I am still looking but that is my current favourite. I will give it another couple of days of searching but I really need to order sooner rather than later.
 
Yeah I still call mine bathroom lol
Even though we removed the bath from it
Years ago

Don't expect brown keys to be silent
The actual switch might be
If you test it by pressing very gently/slowly
And release it
In the same manner too
Trying it on mine (cherry red from memory I think)
It's the key bottoming out
And topping out when you press and release them
That makes the noise

Looked at the gskill before
It got good reviews
Usb pass through is useful
And so is the very simple idea of a mouse cord holder
 
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