What size mechanical keyboard should I get?

Start with a tenkeyless unless you use the number pad daily. Dropping the pad takes a board from about 17 inches wide to about 14, which moves the mouse closer to the body and frees real desk space. A 65 percent keeps the arrow keys. A 60 percent drops them.

Are linear or tactile switches better for typing?

Tactile switches suit typing, linear switches suit gaming, and plenty of people disagree with both halves of that. The bump on a tactile tells a finger the key registered, so typists tend to bottom out less. Force matters more than type: 50 to 55 grams is the common middle.

Are ABS or PBT keycaps better?

PBT stays matte far longer, which is why most sets sold today use it. ABS develops a shine where fingers land, though it takes sharper doubleshot legends and a slightly higher pitched sound. Neither wears out quickly. The difference people notice is the shine, not the durability.

What maintenance does a mechanical keyboard need?

Very little beyond keeping dust and crumbs out of it. A wipe of the caps every month or two, and a full strip down once or twice a year, covers most desks. The switches themselves rarely need attention on a board kept reasonably clean and dry.

Does keyboard foam actually change the sound?

Yes, and each type changes a different part of it. Case foam under the PCB kills the hollow echo, a 0.3 to 0.5 mm PE sheet sharpens and tightens the sound, and two to four layers of painter tape on the back of the PCB deepens it. None of them fix rattling stabilisers.

Subject

Setup & Keycaps

A keyboard is three decisions stacked, and doing them in the wrong order is what costs people money.

4 min read

How to Clean a Mechanical Keyboard Without Wrecking It

A keyboard collects a year of dust, crumbs and skin oil. Cleaning it is an afternoon of waiting and about twenty minutes of work.

4 min read

Keyboard Foam and Sound Mods: Case, Plate, PE and Tape

Four cheap mods sit between a hollow, pingy board and one that sounds solid. Each changes a different part of the noise.

4 min read

Keycap Buying Guide: Plastics, Legends and Sizes

Most keycap regret comes from one thing: a set that doesn't cover your bottom row. Here's what to check, from plastic to spacebar.

5 min read

Mechanical Keyboard Sizes Explained: Full, TKL, 75%, 65% and 60%

Every size is a trade: keys you give up for desk and shoulder room you get back. Here's the whole ladder, measured.

5 min read

Mechanical Keyboard Switch Types: Linear, Tactile, Clicky and the Spec Sheet

The colour name on the box means almost nothing. The numbers on the spec sheet tell you how a switch will actually type.

Do these three in order

A mechanical keyboard is three choices stacked: how big the board is, what the switches feel like, and what the caps are made of. Almost everyone starts at the caps, because caps are the fun part. Then the set arrives and the right Shift is 2.75u and the board wanted 1.75u. Size, then switches, then caps. That order is free and it prevents the single most common mistake in the hobby.

Size deserves the most thought because it is the decision you cannot undo cheaply. A full-size board runs about 17 inches wide, a tenkeyless about 14, a 60 percent about 11.5. Those inches are shoulder room — your mouse ends up closer to your body. Whether you actually miss the number pad is a question about your job, not your taste, and the whole ladder of board sizes is easier to judge with the widths side by side.

Three numbers run through everything

19.05 mm is one key unit. Every layout, every cap, every mat is built on that grid. 6.25u is the standard spacebar, and the bottom row is where most keycap sets fail to fit a board, which is the thing a keycap buying guide exists to stop, and what the keycap compatibility checker works out for you. And actuation force in grams: 35 to 45 is light, 50 to 55 is where most stock switches sit, 62 and up takes a deliberate press. Colour names on the box tell you less than any of those three, which is why reading a switch spec sheet beats reading the packaging.

Sound is cheap. Feel is not.

Switches decide feel and swapping them costs real money. Sound is different — it is mostly the empty space inside the case, and a few dollars of foam and tape move it a long way. Case foam, a PE sheet and the tape mod each change a separate part of the noise, and the order to try sound mods in matters because the first one you fit hides what the next one does. Honest caveat: foam will not save a board with rattling stabilisers. Nothing will except lubing them.

If you are starting from nothing

Pick a size. Buy a hot-swap board so switches stay a decision you can revisit. Leave caps until you know your bottom row. Then learn how to clean the thing properly, because a year of skin oil does more to how a board feels than any mod. If you are buying for someone else rather than yourself, gifts for keyboard people starts with taking a photo of their board, and the desk it sits on matters too — where things go on a small desk decides how much board you have room for.

Common questions

What size mechanical keyboard should I get?: Start with a tenkeyless unless you use the number pad daily. Dropping the pad takes a board from about 17 inches wide to about 14, which moves the mouse closer to the body and frees real desk space. A 65 percent keeps the arrow keys. A 60 percent drops them.
Are linear or tactile switches better for typing?: Tactile switches suit typing, linear switches suit gaming, and plenty of people disagree with both halves of that. The bump on a tactile tells a finger the key registered, so typists tend to bottom out less. Force matters more than type: 50 to 55 grams is the common middle.
Are ABS or PBT keycaps better?: PBT stays matte far longer, which is why most sets sold today use it. ABS develops a shine where fingers land, though it takes sharper doubleshot legends and a slightly higher pitched sound. Neither wears out quickly. The difference people notice is the shine, not the durability.
What maintenance does a mechanical keyboard need?: Very little beyond keeping dust and crumbs out of it. A wipe of the caps every month or two, and a full strip down once or twice a year, covers most desks. The switches themselves rarely need attention on a board kept reasonably clean and dry.
Does keyboard foam actually change the sound?: Yes, and each type changes a different part of it. Case foam under the PCB kills the hollow echo, a 0.3 to 0.5 mm PE sheet sharpens and tightens the sound, and two to four layers of painter tape on the back of the PCB deepens it. None of them fix rattling stabilisers.