10 July,2022 10:34 AM IST | Mumbai | Jaison Lewis
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Keyboards form a vital part of the experience of a computer. How it reacts to your touch and the feel of typing can affect your overall productivity. However, buying a quality keyboard is more painful than it should be. To make things easier, we checked the markets out to recommend five of the best.
Mechanical Vs. Membrane Most keyboards nowadays use membranes to detect the key you have pressed. If you are using a keyboard that costs less than Rs 1,500 it is most probably a membrane-based device. Membrane keys, as their name suggests, use a thin membrane over the circuit board. Pressing down on a key completes the circuit, and the corresponding letter can appear on the screen. This type of keyboard is usually produced as cost-effectively as possible, so even if the membrane doesn't get spoilt, the circuit board may fail in regular use. Mechanical keyboards are built to last. They use a mechanical switch under every key, which makes it durable and gives manufacturers a way to create keyboards with a specific feel. For example, my keyboard of choice has Blue Cherry MX keys. These keys are very noisy, have some resistance and I don't have to press the keys all the way to the bottom for the key to be activated. You can refer to the chart to find what works for you.
Why invest in a mechanical keyboard? Mechanical keyboards are not cheap. Even the cheapest one costs 10 times what you would pay for a cheap membrane keyboard.
However, along with the durability factor also comes comfort. You can find mechanical keyboards that are completely configurable, or you can go with one that sounds right to you by using the chart. With a mechanical, you have to buy a keyboard once, maybe twice, in your lifetime as opposed to one every six months.
Most mechanical keys are rated for 50 million keystrokes, while the best membrane keys are rated for five million key presses. Not to mention unlike membrane keyboards, mechanical ones can be repaired. So, when a key stops working you can get that key replaced.
If gaming keyboards are not your thing and all you need is a regular-sized keyboard with mechanical keys then the Filco Majestouch 2 is what you are looking for. This keyboard looks very run-of-the-mill but the key mechanisms are Cherry MX brown. The build quality as expected from a mechanical keyboard is also excellent. The keyboard design is as pure as it gets with no multimedia buttons, rear lighting or USB hubs. In fact, this keyboard comes with a PS/2 adapter in case you want to connect it to an older computer.
Price: Rs 13,299
Most keyboards you will find in the mechanical range will be gaming keyboards, and with that comes RGB and a lot of gaming features. The Corsair K95 is an excellent example of this. It features a brushed aluminium frame, 8MB memory for profile storage, a choice of Cherry MX keys (black or brown), and of course RGB lighting. You can connect your mouse directly to your keyboard using the USB passthrough. The K95 also has dedicated media buttons for quick volume control and a set of programmable keys on the left to create any shortcut you need.
Price: Rs 17,099
The SteelSeries Apex 7 is a very obvious gaming keyboard. It features an OLED smart display that can give you information directly from the app or game you are using. The body is made from aircraft-grade aluminium and it has RGB lighting. The Apex 7 also comes with a detachable magnetic wrist rest, which is very useful during long sessions. You have a choice between switch types (red, blue, and brown). As mentioned, red switches are quiet and have no feedback, while the blue is tactile and noisy, and the browns have nice tactile feedback while being quiet.
Price: Rs 14,999
TVS produces this old-school keyboard designed to look like it came from the era of 486 machines. The keyboard uses blue switches, and this results in a fair amount of feedback and a lot of noise. The keys don't need to be pressed all the way, which is great if you type fast. Previous models of this keyboard used the more expensive Cherry MX keys. However, the newer version uses a Chinese knock-off Blue keys mechanisms that still works well. This keyboard is still a good option because of the price versus performance. Be aware that it is a fairly large and noisy keyboard. Also while buying make sure you buy the USB version and not the PS/2 version which is meant for older machines.
Price: Rs 2,650
For those who don't like big keyboards, you can look at a 60 per cent keyboard. It is smaller than the average keyboard but doesn't feel like it. The Logitech G Pro is a tiny mechanical keyboard that is small enough to be portable. It features Kaihua blue mechanical keys which are tactile and clicky, just like the Cherry MX ones. Being a gaming keyboard means this one has RGB Lighting and programmable buttons. It also comes with a detachable Micro USB cable. There are rubber feet at the base of the keyboard to keep it in place and three levels of angle adjustment, most keyboards come with only one.
Price: Rs 9,927
