Mechanical Computer Keyboards & Keypads

The Mechanical Keyboard: Pro Gaming's Secret Weapon

When you want to experience top-notch controls in your favorite shooters, most pro gamers will say that the most important peripheral is the keyboard. A good keyboard is reactive, provides adequate feedback for your keystrokes, and will last for years. Mechanical keyboards are often considered to be the most responsive, but not everyone understands the advantages of these mechanical keyboards for gaming.

When you buy a mechanical keyboard available from eBay, you want to ensure that the key performance matches your specific needs. To understand the mechanical keyboard colors, you'll have to understand what each does:

• Cherry MX Blue: These have the most feedback, and they tend to "click" when you press the keys, which reminds many of old-school keyboards.
• Cherry MX Green: Similarly to the blue, green switches click, but they are slightly harder to actuate.
• Cherry MX Red and Black: Red and black switches have almost zero feedback until they bottom out. Instead, these feel smoother, but if you want a slightly softer spring, red is the way to go.
• Cherry MX Brown: These feel similar to the blue switches, but there's no click on these mechanical keyboards.
• Cherry MX Clear: These feel like the brown switches, but there's a stronger tactile experience once you've actuated the switch. Gamers that like a lot of feedback prefer these mechanical keyboard switches.

Sometimes, to have a more actuated experience, keyboards will cost a bit more than standard non-mechanical keyboards. It's possible to find a mechanical keyboard for an affordable price if you search on eBay. On eBay, it's relatively easy to find new and used mechanical keyboards that have good switches and more than adequate feedback and rollover.

For a mechanical keyboard, the definition of rollover is effectively how many keys the keyboard can recognize as being pressed simultaneously. For example, if you're playing an MMORPG, you may use the W, A, S, and D keys for movement, but if you want to cast your spells and move diagonally, you'll have to press at least three keys at once. For this reason, a keyboard with "n-key rollover" will ensure that the keys are scanned independently so that every input can be recognized without being lost in the shuffle. A good mechanical keyboard should be able to recognize all of your keypresses so that your performance doesn't falter.