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Work to good its things must be first, as a code porter, there is no a good divine weapon so can do, invisible install force, the most deadly. Loading force is good, do not cut over! Nothing can stop you from buying a mechanical keyboard except poverty.

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1. Basics

1.1 Types

• “Black shaft:“Power type, straight up and down, no sense of paragraph, trigger fast, rebound fast, sensitive reaction, do not suggest novice try, typing calculate, often play games can be considered.
• “The green axis:“Rhythm, paragraph sense is obvious, two words, cool, typing is very rhythm, experience the feeling of dancing fingers. The disadvantage is that high-speed input will have a sense of procrastination, noisy shortcomings, not suitable for high-speed and long time input, long time will be tired
• “Tea shaft:“Moderate, no no no paragraph sense, feel and film keyboard, between the green axis and the black axis, can basically adapt to all scenarios, games, typing can be.
• “The red shaft:“Soft, light, no sense of paragraph, like a spring changed black axis, trigger fast, responsive, suitable for games, typing, the disadvantage is that the novice may not be used to, but it is not a problem.
• “The green axis:“Paragraph sense, strong sense of rhythm, strong elasticity, rebound fast, sensitive response, only suitable for the game
• “Silver axis:” the axis of speed, similar to the red axis, trigger fast, easy to mistouch, suitable for rapid text entry

1.2 axle varieties

Kaihua shaft, Leber shaft, cherry shaft, Guadalong, Guantai, Razer

1.3 the key cap

“ABS material:” a wide range of applications, mature technology, cheap, entry-level to cremains are used. Some products add a coating process to the key cap surface (longer life, better feel)

• Advantages: feel warm and comfortable, smooth, low cost
• Disadvantages: not durable, easy to wear, easy to touch fingerprints, meaning oil, greasy feeling

“PBT material:” hard, long life, not easy to oil, feel more dry,

• Advantages: hard, wear-resistant, not easy to oil, feel dry
• Disadvantages: feel slightly dry, character processing difficulty

“POM material:” commonly known as “black ice”

• Advantages: high hardness, wear resistance is excellent, with self-lubricating characteristics
• Disadvantages: dry and slippery, more slippery than ABS after drilling (ABS because of the material characteristics, feel sticky after drilling), the appearance of the party can not be selected, because POM color is single.

“ABS/PBT Material Summary” :

• ABS and PBT are not the key to determine whether the key cap is good or bad, because the price is high or low, depending on the pursuit of details (character process, back reinforcement design, wall thickness)
• The cost of PBT key cap is higher than ABS material
• Use a long time to buy PBT material
• Buy high-end ABS or PBT for handfeel

1.4 Key cap character process

Two color molding = thermal sublimation > inkjet radium carving > radium carving > screen printing

“Two-color molding” :

• The color difference between the two materials forms the character,
• Very durable and does not wear off easily
• Transparent key caps can also be made from a combination of transparent and opaque materials
• Split font (below) the cost of key cap is low and the cost of closed font is high (no difference, just look and feel).

“Thermal sublimation” : for example, Amilo or Leopold, the fine workmanship, the use of PBT + thermal sublimation, like art, has the texture

• The heat permeates the paint rendering into the key caps, making the characters blend with the key caps
• Very durable and hard to wear off
• Personalized custom patterns, rich colors
• Low production capacity, low yield, not suitable for light transmission key cap (high cost, expensive price)

“Inkjet radium carving” : for example, the main selling point of Razer and pirate ship is RGB light, in order to better light transmittance of key cap, mainly ABS material + inkjet radium carving

• Transparent key caps are sprayed with paint and laser lettering is performed
• Good light transmittance, suitable for light transmittance key cap
• Not durable, characters do not wear, will drop paint leakage
• Large production, low cost

Radium Carving:

• Laser lettering on opaque key caps
• The font feels concave and convex
• Long use of typography grinds
• Large production, low cost

“Silk screen” :

• A character printed directly
• Non-wear resistant, usually printed on the side of the key cap
• The cost is low

1.4 hour

The printing method of characters on key cap: engraving, engraving, side engraving, no engraving

• Engraving: printing directly to the front of the key cap, more common
• Simultaneous engraving: similar to the same engraving, the difference is that the same engraving is engraved, the characters will be dented into;
• Side engraving: Print the characters below the key cap without words above the key cap
• No engravings: no words at all (this is also too cost saving!!)

1.5 the lights

The light includes: monochrome backlight, mixed light, RGB light (high cost). The key with backlight, the only role of the light is to increase the keyboard cool index, practical value is not high

1.6 there is no rush

Six-key no-punch means that you can press all six keys at the same time without collisions. The current USB interface and Bluetooth can do the basic 6 keys without punching, if the PS/2 interface (is the old kind of round port) theoretically can achieve full keyboard without punching.

1.7 the steel plate

The shaft body is fixed on the steel plate, below the steel plate is the PCB board. Now most of the mechanical keyboard with steel plate, legend is to rely on the built-in steel plate to increase the structural strength and stability.(the original factory generally does not have steel plate, such as Cherry) internal built-in steel plate, mainly depends on the personal feel problem, there is no high-end or poor technology, pure personal habits. Say to have a steel plate, one angry, direct hit test, product, boss head, kill with invisible, keyboard also not easy bad.(ha ha ha… …).

1.8 key number

The number of keys on the 104, 87, 84, 82 keyboard. The 104 keyboard has a keypad. The 8X series does not have a keypad. A keyboard without a keypad would be more compact and portable. Sometimes they say 60%, 75%, which is also the number of buttons.

1.9 hand

Mechanical keyboard is generally higher, use too long wrist may be uncomfortable, then can choose to add a hand support. There are a variety of materials such as wood, leather, plastic and so on, and the usual choice is wood. Nevertheless this belongs to advanced item, generally speaking do not need, basically belong to show off class item like the lamp.

1.10 other

Affect the price and quality of mechanical keyboards, in addition to the shaft body, such as large key design, adjustment. Internal PCB board process, quality. Mechanical keyboard panel material technology and so on and so on:

• Whether USB data cable key cable separation is supported?
• Gold plated USB interface & electrostatic magnetic ring
• Nylon braided wire
• Prevent liquid splashing
• Consider one stage or two stage tripod
• All keys no rush
• Whether the border is CNC trimmed (to prevent hand cutting)
• DIP DIP switch (FN key position adjustment, WIN key shielding, full key no rush /6 rush switch)
• Key switch (Qwerty key, Dvorak key, Colemak Key, Workman Key)

2. Mechanical brand

2.1 Understanding

• Cherry: Original, Cherry is known for its mechanical keyboard, not to say, faith. Representative g80-XXXXX representative products for G80-3000, G80-1843, etc
• FILCO: The keyboard uses a mechanical key shaft, designed in Japan and made in Taiwan. Simple and fashionable appearance, comfortable hand feel, rapid rebound, strong sense of rhythm, suitable for high-speed input, and long time use will not feel tired. FILCO keyboard cap fonts are elegant, with special coating, strong texture and skin-like smoothness, making typing a pleasure.
• IKBC: iKBC’s Poker keyboard, the first of its kind, is the world’s best known 60% production mechanical keyboard. IKBC has since partnered with Taiwan’s KBTalKing to launch other keyboards such as Race and Pure. This type of keyboard generally uses PBT key cap. The keyboard feels good, too. Bluetooth, cable support.
• Leopold: more than ten years of brand, generally using the original factory Cherry shaft, PBT material, two color molding
• Ducky: Ducky mainly has the following products: ZERO 2108, ZERO 2108s, ZERO 2087, ZERO 2087S, 9008 Shine 3, using the original Cherry shaft, PBT material, side engraving.
• Razer: Razer is one of the world’s top brands of gaming peripherals. Razer enjoys a high reputation among Chinese esports gamers for its high-end performance, excellent ergonomics and design philosophy that is always loyal to gamers. Generally, it is cool with lights, the shaft is not fixed, and it is usually MADE of ABS material.
• Reber: It’s entry-level. It’s cheaper. It’s ok.
• Dahl you: entry level, the price is cheaper, still can.

Etc. (a lot of mechanical keyboard brands, not a introduction, JINGdong, Taobao can basically see)

2.2 level

• Entry level: The ikBC DC-108, 3108, 300 to 500, and reber, 100 to 200 are all available to test the waters. And the GANSS GK/GS series, still good.
• Enter class: the keyboard of this stage is more awkward, less money is entry level, the feeling is similar, add a little money, it is ashes level, do not add to feel shortcoming again what, this may also be manufacturer for the purpose of positioning different price. Here is a brief introduction to the next few class mechanical keyboard (does not mean all class keyboard) :

1. Cherry G80-3000 (POM/PBT, Laser): The appearance party is not recommended to start with, like the little bully learning machine 2.Leopold FC750R(original Cherry shaft, PBT material, two color molding, Cherry switch): 2.Cool CK372(Cherry axis /RGB/ side penetration /104 key/full key no impact /PBT material/double color side engraving):

• The most important ones are the > 1000 yuan keyboard, which is basically only available on FILCO’s 104-hand II /GKing2 / Ninja. Are you kidding? I still have some, like this MX Board 8.0G80-3888. And the Leopold ELECTROSTATIC keyboard FC980C, but there are many more. A good thing is not expensive, mainly depends on the workmanship, and material, appearance, etc., is worth the money.

3. Summary

• The first time to choose, suggest green axis and red axis, tea axis choice
• Budget < 300 yuan, in leber, darr superior brands to choose, the best PBT material key cap, voice split character model
• Budget 300 ~ 500 yuan, buy cherry axis keyboard, suggest to buy PBT material, two color shape character keyboard (durable, but the keyboard and key cap work is not fine enough)
• ABS material + inkjet radium carved keyboard easy oil sticky, easy to sweat programmers carefully choose
• Recommended brands: Cherry, FILCO, iKBC, Leopold. Expensive does not mean good, pay attention to shop around, other brands can also be considered, if the price is appropriate, material, workmanship, appearance are good, you can start.

This article was typeset using MDNICE