What are the advantages and limitations of mechanical switches in keyboards?

The digital world is full of gamers and you may need gaming keyboards to enjoy the gaming experience to the core. Although you can use an ordinary keyboard for games, you could not get that completeness and comfortability of using a keyboard specially meant for gaming purposes. For instance, you would be using the keyboard for more than optimal duration as you would be gaming for several hours. So, the quality of the keyboard should be high. Mechanical keyboards could be the savior gamers as it offers the following benefits to them.

Advantages

Lifespan – You can blindly believe that mechanical keyboards will last longer than any other type. It is estimated that a mechanical keyboard can go well up to thirty to seventy million key presses. Hence, it is quite longer than all other kinds of keyboards. Some mechanical products will withstand more than that also. When you compare this with a membrane keyboard, you may be amazed at the reduced lifespan of about 15% of the former.

Less wear – The longer lifespan of mechanical switches is mainly because of the reduced wear. You will not feel any key being stuck while you type even after you are typing after a few years of doing so. The feel of typing on a new keyboard will be there till the end due to the absence of wear. You do not even hear the clattering sound of the keys while typing. You could not keep your other types of keys without wear for this much time.

Overall typing quality and experience – You will not feel you are typing with a mechanical keyboard. If you are using it for gaming, you can go with a gaming keyboard designed especially for that purpose and you will feel comfortable using it. If you are using the keyboard for typing, you can find a tailor-made keyboard suitable for comfortable typing also. Likewise, you can find several types of keyboards with mechanical switches that will adapt to the situation and will provide you comfort.

Stability – You can feel that mechanical keyboards are heavier than membrane or rubber keyboards. Hence, you can experience improved stability.

Limitations

Although there would be some silent models out there, you could find the majority of these keyboards making a lot of sounds while typing. Also, as the mechanical keyboards are more stable and have a long life, they will be highly priced most of the time. Sometimes, it would be unaffordable to you. For instance, you can use the same keyboard for years. However, you would pay several times the price of a membrane keyboard to get a single mechanical keyboard on your hands. You could find it tedious to move the keyboard or travel with it due to its heavyweight. Although weight will give you endurance and stability, you would find it difficult to port. Also, you would feel uncomfortable because of the weight when you use the keyboard placed on your lap.