Mechanical Keyboard Showdown

The keyboard is a computer peripheral that many people take for granted. The average user will likely stick with the $5 keyboard that came with their OEM computer until the keyboard dies or they replace the entire computer itself. Looking past the cheap bundled keyboards opens up a wide selection of different brands, designs, and features that a ‘normal’ keyboard can not offer. In this article I will be providing a rundown of some of the higher-end keyboards available on the market — the mechanical keyboards.

You may ask: “What makes a keyboard ‘mechanical’? Aren’t all keyboards ‘mechanical’?” To answer those questions we must look at how different keyboards operate. Most keyboards on the market today use a membrane or rubber-dome actuation device to capture the signal that is given by the user and relay it electronically to the PC. When a user fully depresses a key on a rubber-dome or membrane keyboard, a contact point is pushed onto a convex piece of silicon which makes contact with a PCB and closes a circuit, sending the information to the computer. These keyboards tend to have a ‘spongy’ feeling to them due to the rubber dome and generally have a shorter life-span of 1M to 10 Million keystrokes.

A mechanical keyboard is different because it uses individual springs and switches underneath each key, rather than a solid membrane. There are two major benefits of any mechanical keyboard: The keys do not need to be fully depressed (bottomed out) to send the signal and the average lifespan is approximately 50 million keystrokes. These keyboards also come in varying designs and switch types that allow the user to choose the key action that is best for them.

The most popular brand of switches are made by Cherry and are called ‘Cherry MX Switches’. Cherry makes several different types of switches, each with its own properties and they are color coded for convenience: Brown, Blue, Black, and Red are the most common.

There are other companies who also make mechanical keyboard switches such as Topre and Unicomp; Unicomp’s switch design is called the ‘Buckling Spring’.

The switches are designated by their action: Linear – a smooth key press from top to bottom; Tactile – a small bump is felt halfway through the key press; and Clicky – means there is an audible noise (click/clack) during the key press but before it bottoms out. The graph below states the major differences between the switch types as well as a few graphics to show how they operate differently:

Below is the official datasheet created by Cherry with the specifications for their switches including graphs for the actuation, release, and tactile points.

Below is a YouTube video created by YouTube user undarken showing the sound differences of the 4 major Cherry switches. Below that is a video by YouTube user studiosushi showing the typing sound and action of a Buckling Spring keyboard – the Unicomp Customizer which we will be looking at this article.

The Switches

Cherry MX Black

The MX Black is a relatively silent linear switch that is made for gaming. There is no tactile bump while pressing the key and it has a very quick response upon release of the key allowing the user to double tap at a faster rate. These keyboards can be used for typing, but because the MX Blacks require a bit more actuation force than the others (65g vs 50g (Blue) and 45g (Brown and Red)) and there is no tactile bump to alert the user the key has been sufficiently pressed to register the keystroke. It is possible to develop some finger fatigue after prolonged use until you get acclimated with it. Two keyboards in this showdown utilize the MX Black switches: The Steelseries 7G and the Ozone Strike.

Cherry MX Red

The Cherry MX Red switch is the little brother of the MX Black. The only real difference between these two switches is that the Red requires only 45g to actuate instead of the 65g for the MX Black. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive any test models with Red switches for this showdown, but a few available models are: Rosewill RK-9000RE, the Corsair K60, and the Corsair K90. I hope to receive one of these in the future to be able to update this review with my MX Red switch experience.

Cherry MX Blue

The Cherry MX Blue switch is made for typing and its features are opposite of the MX Black, with a relatively light 50g of actuation force and two forms of feedback – both the tactile bump and the click/clack noise when a key is about half-way depressed. During about a month of testing this switch-type I can say that it is my favorite of the lot for typing, as the MX Blue keys provide the best responsiveness and feedback (both audibly and physically). During gaming sessions with this keyboard I never felt at a disadvantage, although the tactile bump and clicky noise were unnecessary (and potentially annoying) while playing games. One important note about these keys is that they are quite loud; if you are in a room with other people (that are easily bothered or distracted by noise) a model with these switches may not be your best choice. There are two keyboards in the showdown that use the MX Blue switches: The dasKeyboard Model S Ultimate and the Cherry G80-3000 MX.

Cherry MX Brown

The MX Brown switch combines the best of both the Black/Red switches and the Blue switches into one. I found that it was easily used for both typing and gaming due to the low actuation force required for key press and the tactile bump for typing, while being relatively silent (unless bottoming out the keys). Also, because the release and actuation points are very close the action feels smooth. There is one keyboard in this review with the MX Brown switches: The Rosewill RK-9000BR.

Buckling Spring

The Buckling Spring actuator is one of the oldest designs for the mechanical keyboards. Those familiar with the old IBM Model-M keyboards will feel nostalgic when typing on a keyboard that features the Buckling Spring technology. Similar to the MX Blues, these switches make a noise when they are depressed but, instead of a click, it is a slightly lower pitch tick/tack almost as if you are typing on a typewriter (please refer to the YouTube videos posted above to listen to the action of the keys). This switch type is solely made for typing as it has strong tactile and audible feedback and a further travel distance than the Cherry switches. The typing on this keyboard feels very precise and each key press feels purposeful. I have one keyboard in the showdown that utilizes Buckling Springs: The Unicomp Customizer.

The Keyboards

Steelseries 7G

Feature List:

• Price: $170 (Newegg.com)
• Gold-plated Cherry MX Black mechanical switches
• Weight: 3.5 lbs
• Braided Cables (USB, PS/2, Audio, and USB Hub)
• 6key rollover via USB and NKRO over PS/2
• Media Controls via Shortcut key
• USB and Audio Hub
• Metal Plate-mounted keys
• White LEDs
• Large slide-over-top wrist-rest

The Steelseris 7G uses the Cherry MX Black switches (described in above section) and is one large keyboard, especially when the the included wrist-rest is attached.  The sleek black unit itself feels very heavy and comes with a host of nice features: Braided cabling (with both PS/2 and USB cables), a 2 port USB hub, headphone+microphone hub, media center controls, and a Windows-key replacement to avoid those accidental game-minimizing moments (which is used as the shortcut key for the media controls).  One keyboard design choice that I do not understand is a larger enter key, which forces the the backslash key to be squeezed into the upper row and creates a smaller backspace key.  For gaming that is not much of an issue (how much are you really typing while you are fragging?), but as a network admin – when going to network shares that all begin with \\ it definitely took some time to get used to the placement of the key(s).  Beyond that, I have no real issues with the keyboard—typing over an extended period of time became comfortable as I got used to the extra actuation force required to depress the keys.

Ozone Strike

Feature List:

• Price: $110 (Newegg.com)
• Gold-plated Cherry MX Black mechanical switches
• Weight: 2.5 lbs
• Braided Cables (USB,  Audio, and USB Hub)
• 6key rollover via USB and NKRO with USB->PS/2 Adapter
• Media Controls via Shortcut key
• USB and Audio Hub
• Clip-on attachable wrist-rest
• Red LEDs
• Red-lettered replaceable WASD keys

The Ozone Strike also uses the Cherry MX Black switches and comes with a long braided USB cable and also includes a microphone jack, headset jack, and an extra USB cable for the USB hub. It includes a removable wrist-rest, media control shortcuts (one key replacing the left Windows key), and replaceable WASD keys with red lettering. A couple small issues that I had with the Strike were that the spacebar felt like it was rubbing a tiny bit on the casing and, after about 2 weeks of use, the left shift key started squeaking a little when the key was pressed. These are likely nitpick issues with just the unit I was testing, but I felt they were worth mentioning. When comparing this keyboard versus the Steelseries 7G they are nearly identical in features, with the following exceptions: The Ozone Strike’s keyboard utilizes the normal-sized enter key (thus keeping all of the keys in their place), the Strike requires the use of an adapter to utilize PS/2 ports, and the Ozone model sells for between $40-$60 less depending on the retailer.

dasKeyboard Model S Ultimate

Feature List:

• Price: $145 (Newegg.com)
• Gold-plated Cherry MX Blue mechanical switches
• 3.0 lbs
• No key cap inscriptions
• 6key rollover via USB and NKRO with PS/2 adapter
• Glossy enclosure case
• Two-port USB Hub

Cherry G80-3000 MX

Feature List:

• Price: $87 (Amazon.com)
• Gold-plated Cherry MX Blue mechanical switches
• Weight: 1 lb
• USB interface and PS/2 via adapter

Another keyboard that uses the MX Blue switches is manufactured by the same company that makes the switches —  the Cherry G80-3000 MX. This device is relatively bare-bones with no bells and whistles, just a standard keyboard with a relatively vintage aesthetic design. One fault with the keyboard is that it does feel relatively weak and flimsy – the casing flexes very easily when lifted and is substantially lighter than any of the other keyboards in this showdown. This would be fine for a terminal keyboard for typing in commands/orders/etc, but it feels a bit cheap to be used constantly and to justify the $85+ price tag.

Rosewill RK-9000BR

Feature List:

• Price: $110 (Newegg.com)
• Gold-plated Cherry MX Brown mechanical switches
• Weight: 2.5 lbs
• Modular cable design for both USB and PS/2 cables
• Braided and gold-plated USB and PS/2 cables
• 6key Rollover via USB and Full NKRO via PS/2
• Red metal inner chassis and Blue notifier LEDs

Unicomp Model-M Customizer

Feature List:

• Price: $80 (pckeyboard.com)
• Patented Buckling Spring actuator technology
• Weight: 3.5 lbs
• USB interface

Conclusion

Mechanical keyboards come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and ‘colors’, and with a varying number of features. I feel that each of the switch types are designed to fulfill a main purpose–some are better for gaming and some are better for typing.

For mostly gaming I would select a keyboard that uses the MX Black or Red switches, and if I had to pick a gaming keyboard model out of this showdown I would choose the Ozone Strike because it has almost the same feature-set as the Steelseries 7G but costs significantly less.

If you will only be typing, a keyboard with either MX Blue or Buckling Spring technology would be an excellent choice; overall, my best typing experience came from the Unicomp Customizer.  However, when choosing a strictly typing keyboard (Blues or Bucking Springs) it is important to consider your surroundings due to the noise that each key press makes.

Lastly, if you are looking for a keyboard that fits the need to be both a gaming keyboard and a typing keyboard, I would choose the Rosewill RK-9000BR with Cherry MX Brown switches because it provides a nice balance of a relatively smooth key press and a small tactile bump that is near silent in comparison to the MX Blue and Buckling Spring keyboards.

With the information that I have presented in this article, including facts about the types of switches as well as a handful of keyboard options, I hope that you have gained some insight into which keyboard and switch type would best fit your needs. But, before you decide on a keyboard, I must recommend going to a computer store and trying out the various keyboard switch types for yourself, as what may be comfortable to one person could be annoying to another. Find the keyboard that fits your budget, feature-list, and comfort level, and enjoy a whole new typing experience.

– Don  Fisher (Janus67)