Normal keyboard vs Mechanical keyboard

4 min readJul 12, 2020

In today’s world, many types of keyboards are available out there in the market. The selection of a good keyboard is crucial, especially when you are a gamer or someone who uses a computer all day long. Normal Keyboard vs Mechanical Keyboard Never-Ending Competition and Comparison. Let us Find Out Normal Keyboard vs Mechanical Keyboard.

Here, we are going to look around the difference between Normal keyboard and Mechanical keyboard.

Normal keyboard

Normal keyboards operate on membrane technology as the manufacturing cost is very low and easy to produce. A normal keyboard consists of three layers. The top layer is called a dome, which uses a plastic or metal material where different symbols are imprinted. The membrane is in the middle layer. A circuit-board resides at the bottom layer.

When a key is compressed, the force is transmitted to the circuit beneath to register the keystroke. To register the keystroke, the user must apply an adequate amount of force to compress the key completely.

The keycaps are not detachable, hence the cleaning process is a tough job. The lifespan of each key resides between 5 to 10 million clicks. Moreover, a user cannot press many keys together which can be an issue whilst typing swiftly or playing games.

Merits

Quiet
Cheap
Lightweight

Demerits

Low durability
Lack of tactile feedback
Difficult to clean
Heavy keypress

Mechanical Keyboard

In these keyboards, mechanical switches are used to activate the keys whenever pressed. Each key has its dedicated mechanical switch consisting of a base, spring, and stem. These switches have activation points that reside just above the lowest point of compression. Because of this, the requirement of complete compression is omitted which results in lighter keystrokes for typing. Usage of springs and components makes these mechanical switches long-lasting, providing a better lifespan of approximately 50 million clicks.

In mechanical keyboards, multiple keys can be pressed at once and have them all be registered which is called key rollover feature. As it is kind of mandatory to have “N Key Rollover” feature whilst playing games, most of the gaming keyboards are mechanical keyboards. These mechanical keys give you better response time that leads to low latency. The keycaps can be removed and replaced which allows the customization.

Merits

High durability
Customizable keys
Light keypress
Easy to clean

Demerits

Expensive
Loud
Heavyweight

Which one is for you?

The bottom line is that you should consider your needs before selecting the keyboard. Those who use the keyboard all the time, coding, programming, writing/typing different stories or articles, playing games, the mechanical keyboard would be the perfect option for you. The rest of all can go with the normal keyboard.

Mechanical Keyboards: Should You Switch?

You do not need to go out and buy an amazing mechanical keyboard for a light-use family PC or an Office PC, and you won’t want to plug one around for your laptop or tablet. But if you’re a PC power user, Gamer / Streamer and you’re willing to shell out a few hundred dollars on a high-end CPU or graphics card, don’t cheap out with a pack-in stock membrane keyboard. You might find that moving up from your old rubber-switch keyboard to a nice mechanical model could make your computing more enjoyable overall. More people like us love to hear that TAK-TAK-KHAT-TAK sound.

Are Mechanical Keyboards Better for Gaming?

Huh? What the heck is this question? Personally, I’m fond of Mechanical Keyboards, because of sound and feel plus response time. Lots of people want to know the answer to this; unfortunately, it’s usually more complicated than they expected.

Every gamer is different. Your best bet in figuring out if mechanical keyboards are better for gaming for you is to try them!