Mechanical Keyboard Buyer’s Guide

The choice of a keyboard is very important. As there are many manufacturers keyboards, it’s necessary to be careful when choosing, because there also pretty bad one with good keys. We always neglect this external devise and most of us prefer buy a goo mouse than paying a good keyboard.

Then to get the best experience it’s important to buy a pretty keyboard. Also when a keyboard is made with mechanical switches and others with silicone membrane switches; you can distinguish them by their price. Mechanical keyboards are more expensive than other types of keyboards.

These are some questions the buyers or user suppose to ask when getting keyboards. How to recognize a good keyboard? Why get a good mechanical keyboard? How to maintain and change keycaps?

How to recognize a good keyboard?

For a good keyboard, first consider features and buttons. The keys in a dark place can be illuminated and become very handy. These are some characteristics that make to distinguish good keyboards to bad ones. Some prefer to keyboards made by membrane switches keys because of their low price.

A good keyboard is also characterized with three unique switch types: a light touch, the resistance in key presses and their interfaces.

Why buy a mechanical keyboard?

Mechanical keyboards offer some advantages which can be listed below:

• The feel. A keyboard made by rubber dome needs some effort to push against a solid piece of plastic. So you must use to much force necessary to actuate it.

• The choice. They many mechanical keyboards, with also many different types of switches, and notice that each switch has unique characteristics that set it apart. Then there are multitudes of options for choice from them. This helps you to discover which of them the best is.

• The durability. Mechanical keyboards are made with modern mechanical switches, and combined with the modularity of switches. That means mechanical keyboards can stay as long as possible. But it depends of the maintenance.

• The customizability. The fact of using discretely switches with common stem, makes mechanical keyboards good for customizing. Even when they change the keycap, modify switches or put in a whole new set of different switches. It allows the user to cut his keyboard as he wants and to make it perfect no matter how long he can use it.

How to maintain and to change keycaps?

Every time it’s very important to clean your keyboard from time to time. How to proceed? There are ways of doing this, you can take from a few minutes to hours, to clean it. It depends of how much dirt has your keyboard and how it needs to be cleaned.

Before starting cleaning the board, it recommends to remove the keycaps. The best way to do that is to invest in a keycap puller. It easy to use on different keycaps than plastic ring puller and switches are less damaged than using a coin.

First step, the small keycaps must be removed such as alphanumeric ones. How to do it? Just hole the two diagonal corners of the keycap with the wire keycap puller and remove it.

For the larger keycaps, use the same technique as for the small keycaps, but by using some specific material like cherry stabilizers.

To remove the larger keycaps, this is to proceed: hold the keycap puller under one side, then with attention lift straight up and the keycap can be free. When the keyboard is free, it can be pushed to one side by lifting the keycap one side and remove it. There are two kinds of cleaning:

Quick cleaning: The keyboard by the reason of his environment can get dirty quickly.

Wherever is your P.C on top of it there is always dust and other dirt that can fall in between the keys. So it suggests from time to time making a quick cleaning every two weeks. This is the very simply way to do this:

• Blow off any dust or dirt with air

• Use the clean cloth to wipe the keys. If the keyboard is used most frequently use water to clean it. Put water in a clean cloth and wipe the key tops.

• You can also some products like Windex if you are a smoker.

Deep cleaning: If you have stay for long without cleaning your keyboard, your board needs a deep cleaning and you make to do it immediately. The longer you wait the worse the cleanup is going to be impossible. These are the following steps:

• Remove the keycaps from the switches

• Open up the cases and remove the membranes

• In a warm water dish with soap soak in at least thirty minutes the keycaps

• To clean the circuitry it depends of the type of switches your keyboard has

Cherry, put the entire keyboard system into water and shake well so that the inside of the keyboard can be cleaned by the water membrane boards and rubber domes, separate the layers of the membranes, wipe them with a wet cloth and then with a dry cloth.

• Rubber domes, clean the dome with water, rub with the fingers if something is inside them.

• Then dry the keyboard the all night, no matter the kind of internals your keyboard has. If any other electrical part get wet blow off the water with air.

• When finish with internals, casing and keycaps, when removing them from water bring them out and dry them with a dry cloth.

• Finally when you are sure that everything is drying, and then put it back together.

Conclusion

In conclusion, as it was said at the beginning, as there are many manufactures, so there are also different types of keyboards. To get a good one will depend to anyone understands of these informations.  But also his durability will depend on how you maintain it. Understand that getting a good keyboard is not only about how it looks and feels. How you handle it will also matter. Think about maintenance.