In 2018, while watching a Linus Tech Tips video, I was first introduced to mechanical keyboards. Prior to that point, I had only ever used cheap membrane keyboards that came with whatever computer my grandparents had bought in the late 90s from Dell, and after that, keyboards that were declared "gamer" due to the presence of blue LEDs under the cheap plastic keycaps. The first keyboard that I bought for myself was a logitech membrane keyboard from wallmart that I cannot remember anything about other than liking that I could use them in the dark due to their LEDs, and the ease of USB compared to PS2, which was what I had used up to that point. Yet, after watching the LTT video, I suddenly realized the latent potential of the means under which I interfaced with my computer. The video in question was Linus reviewing/advocating for a set of inexpensive mechanical keyboards that he recommended, and in hearing the typing demonstration, I was transfixed. Although quaint and unpopular in enthusiast spaces now, the clicky blue switches of the boards called to me near-forgotten memories of the legendary IBM model M, and these memories inspired me to head to Amazon and buy the keyboard as soon as I had the money to spend on a 30 dollars keyboard. Upon its arrival, I rushed to plug the keyboard into my well-worn gaming PC that had long since shown its age. Instinctively, I restarted the computer due to my past experience with the PS2 interface, but I quickly learned this was unnecessary in the coming days. The moment I began typing on the keyboard, I was welcomed into a world that I only recently have felt a desire to leave; a world where the mechanic acquation of switches and springs provided a means of not just interfacing with a computer as a functional means of indirect computational communication, but instead a hobby in-and-of itself. The keyboard in question was an Eagletec KG010, a bulky, aluminum and plastic keyboard with gauche gamer printing on the cheap ABS plastic keycaps. The type feel itself was excessively clicky, and light. In hindsight, it was some what mushy, as after the tactile bump and click, there was still considerable space for the switch to bottom out. At the time, this didn't bother me, but in hindsight, it makes using the keyboard difficult.
I kept that keyboard well into the pandemic, but with the lockdowns giving me more free time than I ever thought I would have, even with being a full-time student, I began reading more into different switches beyond the clicky blues that I had used exclusively before. So, I was brought to a cheap Magee board that had red switches, and very quickly found that the board was not for me. I wanted a cheap board to try linear switches, as I had heard good things, but this keyboard just felt mushy and unsatisfying. This was also my first exposure to a reduced layout, specifically the 60% layout, and I really didn't like it. The lack of dedicated function keys, nor an easily reached Fn switcher to allow for the use of Fn keys under a layer behind the number keys meant that I had to often contort my hand in painful ways when playing pretty much every single game. It was so bad, that I often considered switching to the membrane keyboard that I still had, as I had given my Eagletec keyboard to my boyfriend, and I really missed a full sized layout. I had a significant desire to replace the board, but didn't want to spend money on a keyboard if I still had a functioning one to make use of, but fate granted me reprieve when, within a year of buying the keyboard, it spontaneously broke. So, I did more reading into specific boards, and landed on Keychron.
My first Keychron keyboard was the K4, and I absolutely loved it. This had been my first time using brown switches, and I very much enjoyed how tactile they felt compared to the reds and blues that I had experienced in the past, and it being full sized meant that I had a much easier time playing my favorite games. I was interested in trying different switches, and because the keyboard was hotswappable, this was easily achieved. Although I never made use of the hotswappability of the keyboard, as I just enjoyed the browns too much to switch. Eventually, I was interested in a smaller but not totally reduced layout, so I landed on the 75% layout of the Keychron V1, of which I was very satisfied. It still had the same brown switches, and the smaller size allowed me to use it more easily on my desk, which is at all times filled with various Godzilla toys that I call my desk buddies. So, I gave my K4 to my boyfriend, and daily drove the V1. Yet, quickly I found some problems with this board in particular. Like all other MX style switches I had tried in the past, there was a slight mushy bottoming out after the tactile bump was actuated, which I didn't love, and the longer that I used the keyboard, and the more I read about other keyboards, I became interested in two distinct switch types: white linears, and topre; the white linears due to their potentially reduced tactile bump creating a reduced disconnect between that bump and the actuation, and Topre due to its completely different structure entirely. Where MX style switches contained a mechanical switch that actuated through the contact point from a spring, switch, and contact with a PCB (as opposed to the contact from a rubber dome on a membrane as with membrane keyboards), topre switches are electro-capacitive rubber domes that make direct contact with the PCB, rather than contacting with a membrane as is the case with a membrane keyboard. Moreover, the rubber domes used with Topre thicker, and of higher quality than the typical membrane keyboard, thus allowing for far more tactility than not only membrane keyboards, but also standard MX style mechanical switches. That being said, the fact that Topre was a rubber dome, something I had a bias against at the time, and MX switches were just cheaper all around, I wanted to stick with MX, at least for the time being.
Ultimately, I decided on the Womier SK71, which was my first keyboard that had an all aluminum chase. Although I intitially enjoyed the whites, and loved the weight of the keyboard, I once again had to deal with the frustration of a lack of function keys, which was problematic for the types of games that I enjoyed playing the most. All the same, I used and loved the keyboard for a while. Still, however, I had the same problem with the Outemu whites that I had with all the other switches that I had tried, and that was the difference between the actuation point, and the bottoming out of the keyboard itself. Althought he linears did help, as the actual tactile bump was reduced, the metal housing meant that there wasn't the same mushy buttom as I found on the plastic cases I had used before, I still did not like the disconnect between when the key actuated, and the tactile bump and sound. This problem, from what I read, didn't really exist with Topre switches, so I began looking into buying one in earnest. In looking into different topre boards, I was initially interested in realforce for their full sized layouts, but knew that I had become spoiled by the additional desk space that was afforded by my reduced layout keyboards, and as such, I became more interested in the HHKB, or Happy Hacking Keyboard. For those unaware, the HHKB has a non-standard QWERTY Layout, in which among other minor differences between the standard QWERTY, the capslock is replaced with control, the backspace is lowered down the board, and the arrow keys are hidden behind a function layer, along with the other Fn keys. This on the face of it would seem like it had the same problem as the other 60% layouts that I had tried, but this one had the key advantage that the arrow cluster was conveniently and comfortably located next to my right hand, with an easily reached Fn layer switcher under the right shift. Eventually, my interest in this layout pushed me to pull the trigger and spend the 240 dollars necessary for a new HHKB Pro Classic.
The moment that I typed on my HHKB for the first time, I became instantly excited to find that the disconnect in bottoming out was no longer an issue, as the moment that I felt and heard the tactile bump, the key actuated. Not only that, the tactile bump itself was significantly more satisfying than any other switch I had yet tried. The rubber domes really did provide a substantial tactile bump that made each keystroke feel absolutely fantastic. And unlike other tactile switches I had tried before, the actuation was much smoother, resulting in a smooth, but tactile feel that was unlike anything I had ever tried before that point. Unlike the Womier that I had daily driven previously, the HHKB is entirely plastic. At first, I was worried that this would cause the board to feel cheap, but I found it to be the exact opposite. The high quality PBT plastic that the board was made from made it feel substantial and premium despite the plastic chase, and in fact the plastic chase further allowed for the fantastically "thocky" sound that topre is so well known for. Thus, the keyboard not only feels fantastically tactile and smooth, but has a deep, resonating thock with each keypress. Taken together, the HHKB was the best feeling keyboard I had ever tried. The biggest barrier for me initially was the layout. At first, I didn't care for the position of the control, as I found myself mashing my finger against the empty space where the control key typically sat, and the lack of dedicated arrow keys was an adjustment when it came to coding. To my surprise, the position of the backspace too presented a challenge, and I continuallly pressed the \ key instead of the backspace. Yet despite these challenges, I adjusted after about a week of daily use, and found that it was actually substantially better than other keyboard layouts for me personally. The position of the arrow keys and the Fn switcher key are absolutely perfect for my hand, as I can very easily hit the function key and then press the arrow cluster with the same hand, all while not moving my hand from the position it was in before I needed to use the arrow keys. Not only that, the function keys were also much easier to press with the well placed Fn switcher. The control key too turned out to be an absolutely perfect place for it, as my hand never had to leave home row when using control, my pinky perfectly resting on control at all times, which made for remarkably easy and comfortable use for keymapping. So, with the fantastic HHKB layout, and the feel and sound of topre switches, I have lost interest in most other boards. Although I do wanna try a model M again some time in the future for nostalgic reasons, I don't think it will replace the HHKB as my endgame. Thus, my interest in mechanical keyboards has all but gone away, as I now have the perfect keyboard for me.
BIG DISCLAIMER: This is all subjective. When I say something felt "mushy" that is mushy to me, not an objective statement as to what does and does not feel mushy. It is a fairly common experience for people to find the HHKB to be mushy because of the use of rubber domes rather than mechanical MX style switches like is more common. The experience of mushy for me is specifically the feeling I get when I am typing, and the actuation point, and the point in which I feel a tactile sensation, or a "bump" are decently far apart. This is kind of a necessary component of the design of MX style switches, as they literally have a little bump in the plastic that a metal switch piece rubs against, which produces the tactile sensation as well as the sound of the switch itself. This differs from topre, or other higher quality rubber domes, where in the point at which you experience the bottoming out of the switch, the point in which you feel the tactile bump, and the point in which the first of the two key sounds, and the actuating point, are all the same. So when I hear the sound, and I feel the tactile bump, I know that the key was pressed successfully, and I get a nice tactile feeling as the rubber dome and its internal coil collapse,and then bounce back up. This bounce back up creates the reverberating "thock" that the switch is famous for, and all together this creates a very satisfying typing experience for me personally. MX switches don't do this for me personally, which is why none have properly satisfied me the way that topre does.
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