It really is something you have to feel to understand. Once you do, you’ll never look back. The mechanical hype is real. Here’s why you should make the switch.
Pure typing bliss
As the name suggests, a mechanical keyboard is defined by the mechanical switches that lie underneath its keycaps. Each time you press a key, it moves downward on a spring-loaded mechanism, sends a signal to macOS, then moves back up.
Conversely, on a standard keyboard such as Apple’s Magic Keyboard, the keycap sits atop a rubber dome. As you push the key, it moves downward onto the dome, which squishes down and actuates the key press.
There are several problems with this rubber dome system. The first is durability. The soft dome wears down over time, reducing the consistency of its interaction with the keyboard’s contact points and potentially introducing errors in your typing. The longer you use it, the less dependable it becomes.
A mechanical switch, on the other hand, is made from much more solid metal or plastic that is designed to last. Some mechanical keyboards go a step further and use magnetic connections (based on Hall effect or tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) tech) to actuate each key press, reducing the number of physical contact points and increasing durability exponentially.
In other words, mechanical keyboards tend to be far more reliable in the long term, meaning fewer frustrating mistakes and costly replacements.
