Scrutinizing Mechanical Keys’ Impact on Gamer Experience

Quick Links

• Benefits of Mechanical Keyboards for Gaming
• Drawbacks of Mechanical Keyboards for Gaming
• Do You Need a Mechanical Keyboard for Gaming?

Key Takeaways

• The light actuation force of mechanical keys reduces the need for heavy pressing on gaming keys.
• Mechanical keyboards offer superior tactile feedback, reducing uncertainty during intense gaming sessions.
• Gaming mechanical keyboards boast advanced features, enhancing gameplay with macro buttons and customizable actuation.

Mechanical keyboards are easily one of the most popular things recommended for gaming PC setups. However, mechanical keyboards may not be as essential to your gaming experience as you think, despite their benefits.

Benefits of Mechanical Keyboards for Gaming

Since we’re talking about gaming, we’re mainly going to focus on gaming mechanical keyboards since they offer many features that normal mechanical keyboards don’t offer. Of course, we’ll also state the benefits of using any mechanical keyboard for gaming.

Lighter Actuation Force

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Unless you specifically build your mechanical keyboard to have a heavy actuation force,the most popular mechanical keyboard switches require little actuation force compared to common rubber dome keyboards.

Rubber dome keyboards also require you to press the key all the way down in order to register a click and add to that the squishy feeling that makes you want to press the keyboard harder to feel some sort of tactile feedback. Mechanical keyboards, on the other hand, have the actuation somewhere in the middle, making bottoming out less of a necessity.

Mechanical Keyboards Have Better Tactile Feedback

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As we’ve mentioned, non-mechanical keyboards usually require you to bottom-out the keys in order to actuate them and have poor tactile feedback. Mechanical keyboards give you great tactile feedback, even if the switches on your mechanical keyboard aren’t specifically tactile switches.

I’m currently writing this on my mechanical keyboard that uses linear switches and I use this for both gaming and work. Even if there is no tactile bump on the actuation point, the bottom-out feedback is solid, letting me know that I don’t need to press any harder.

When you’re gaming intensely, this tactile feedback is precious. It lets you know that you’ve done the action without second-guessing yourself. If you’re not constantly worried about whether you’ve successfully pressed a key on your keyboard or not, you’re left with more mental capacity to worry about what you need to do in the game.

Gaming Mechanical Keyboards Have Many Functions and Features

Gaming mechanical keyboards have come a long way since they were first popularized in the early 2010s. Gaming brands have come up with many new features that bring gaming to a different level.

You have the commonly found features such as N-key rollover (allowing you to press multiple keys at once), customizable macro keys, low-latency wireless, and active lighting features.

However, there are unique features like on the Wooting HE, equipped with hall-effect sensors that allow you to have analog inputs instead of just the typical on-off switch that most keyboards have. If you don’t want to use it in analog mode, you can also customize the actuation distance, allowing for instant actuation if millisecond precision is a concern.

Most gaming mechanical keyboards also feature dedicated macro buttons—easily accessible buttons that you can assign any action. Arma, for example, has so many keybinds that you’ll often have to either move your hand from one side of the keyboard to the other, or move your other hand from your mouse to your keyboard. Macros and layers would allow you to bring those keys and functions to just one side, saving you time.

Mechanical Keyboards Are Highly Customizable

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One of the most popular features that regular mechanical keyboards have is customizability. You can either buy a mechanical keyboard that’s already built, ready for use, or buy various parts that suit your needs.

As gaming is practically a sport, having equipment that you can customize to fit your gaming style is pretty important. Talking more specifically about gaming-oriented customization, you can get rubberized or textured keys to remember where certain keys are on your keyboard.

You can choose between clicky, tactile, or linear switches , or even switches with different actuation points. There are so many different directions that you can go with a mechanical keyboard that you might want to check out our ultimate beginner’s guide to mechanical keyboards .

Drawbacks of Mechanical Keyboards for Gaming

There aren’t many drawbacks to mechanical keyboards since they do everything regular keyboards do but better. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. If you’re using a non-mechanical keyboard right now, you should take these into consideration and see whether it’s worth switching to a mechanical keyboard.

Mechanical Keyboards Are Heavier

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Mechanical keyboards tend to be heavier. While enthusiasts would see this as a plus, this can be a drawback for many. Repositioning your keyboard mid-game can get tiring and it makes it less portable.

Putting non-mechanical keyboards side by side with mechanical equivalents will result in the mechanical keyboard almost always being the heavier one. Instead of having a rubber lattice over a PCB, you have individual switches that are made of multiple components that contribute to that weight.

However, the customizable nature of mechanical keyboards means that if you really did want a lightweight, ultra-portable keyboard, you can definitely build one yourself.

Mechanical Keyboards Cost More

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Mechanical keyboards are composed of more components: the switches, keycaps, PCB, case, backplate, etc. These things combined end up making a fully functional mechanical keyboard more expensive.

Most non-mechanical keyboards are pretty straightforward, having a PCB that doesn’t need switches to actuate, a singular rubber lattice that’s practically indestructible through normal use, and a simple plastic housing and keycaps. This makes them cheaper and lighter.

Mechanical Keyboards Are Louder

The sound of a mechanical keyboard is something that really polarizes opinions. Many love the sound, but seemingly just as many hate it.

There are different switch types with different sound profiles, but most of these are louder than non-mechanical keyboards. You can use O-rings to soften the bottom-out sound, but that usually ruins the feel of the mechanical keyboard and doesn’t account for the rebound sound after letting go of the switch.

To get a pretty quiet mechanical keyboard, you’ll have to go to pretty great lengths to achieve it, which might not make it worth it for you.

Do You Need a Mechanical Keyboard for Gaming?

A mechanical keyboard isn’t a necessity for gaming. It’s different from a mouse where a mouse needs to translate your analog hand movements accurately to your computer. Keyboards are really just boards consisting of on-off switches.

Professional gamers have reached high-performance levels just from regular, cheap, non-mechanical keyboards. Even when I switched to a mechanical keyboard, there just wasn’t that big of a performance increase—but it did feel really good.

The verdict is this: You don’t need a mechanical keyboard, but you most likely want one. You can easily try them out at internet cafés or tech shops. Get a feel for them, but if you can’t justify the price, rest assured you’re not missing out on much performance.