Best Mechanical Keyboard for Gaming & Typing

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RavenSEAL

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I'm still stuck deciding between MX Brown Cherry and MX Blue Cherry keyboards. I'm very interested in the CM QuickFire but I still want more feedback before making a choice.

Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated :D
 
You really have to try them out to make a final decision, everyone's different and is going to like different things.
 
look up reviews and info on each switch, im partial to MX reds and Browns the Blues are a little load like TS3 picks up the typing sounds when set to voice activated. Best bet tho is to do some in depth research on each switch. and see which one sounds closer to what your looking for.
 
Just make sure to throw out any nonsense about switch types being categorized into specific roles, it's complete BS and all boils down to personal preference.
 
Or just get two keyboards, one for gaming and one for typing like I did!

EiyAf.jpg


-Patrick
 
I just bought my first mech keyboard a week ago. I love the MX Blues for typing and gaming. But that's just my opinion and I have not tried any other kind of switches.
 
Goodfellah said:
Or just get two keyboards, one for gaming and one for typing like I did!

EiyAf.jpg


-Patrick
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I wish I was able to afford that, haha. I just lost my job unfortunately and are trying to put money into starting a small business...this is kind of my last PC-Gaming delight before the money starts running dry.
 
RavenSEAL said:
I wish I was able to afford that, haha. I just lost my job unfortunately and are trying to put money into starting a small business...this is kind of my last PC-Gaming delight before the money starts running dry.
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Well the black keyboard is red switches, and the gray keyboard is blue switches. I think the blue switch one is just barely more fun to type on, but the red switch is a lot better for games in my opinion. You should at least try to get to a best buy and try out the black widow or whatever it is called, that they sell, that at least has blue switches that you could try out to see how they feel. I love both of these and they weren't that pricey, a little over $60 for each, just have to keep an eye out on sales for them.
 
Just remember that Blues on the Blackwidows might feel a bit "mushier" than they would on most other standard 104 and 10-keyless boards because it uses a plastic backplate instead of aluminum (standard on most current 104 and 10-keyless boards), iirc.
 
I think I'm gonna hang until Black Friday and see if I can save a few bucks on one, hopefully I'll have a new job sooner or by then.
 
I ran to best buy today and tried the arrow pad on the Blackwidow (through the box even, they didn't have a display unit), I was about to bite the bullet at the listed $104+tax after much strafing back and forth around the store...until I ran up to the check out counter only to find out it was actually $140+tax because employees at best buy suck at printing the correct labels...$160 for a Razer product?! Nope.

Then I ran to CompUSA (who didn't have ANY display units for mechanicals) to only find ONE mechnical keeyboard, a $130+TAX Thermaltake. Nope.

Anyways, I went ahead and bit the bullet on the CM Quickfire Rapid (Blue) for $70 w/ next day shipping. With Amazon, I pretty much get a free 30 day trial with the thing, so if I feel the investment wasn't worth it, I'll get my money back minus the shipping. Shame it's not backlit, that's the only thing that bothers me at the purchase point...I think I'll live through it though.
 
I just picked up a CM Quickfire Pro for $75 from Fry's. It was on sale, plus an open box, which saved a few more bucks. It has MX Brown's, which is what I was hoping to get anyways.

I love the feel of it, although the feedback isn't huge. I can feel a slight click half-way down as I press, but that's when I'm looking for it. Regular typing, I don't really feel it. I do enjoy the clickity-clack.
 
RavenSEAL said:
Shame it's not backlit, that's the only thing that bothers me at the purchase point...I think I'll live through it though.
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Buying your first high-end keyboard is normally rough as you don't really know which features mater most to you. Which switches you like, which ergonomic features mater most. Do you need media keys and volume control? Do you need PBT keys or ABS? key backlighting? macro keys? Does the keyboard simply make too much noise when typing? That is before taking quality and price into account.
 
RavenSEAL said:
I'm still stuck deciding between MX Brown Cherry and MX Blue Cherry keyboards. I'm very interested in the CM QuickFire but I still want more feedback before making a choice.

Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated :D
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Just bought a CM QuickFire with Brown Cherries and absolutely love the way it types/feels for both work and gaming.

Only problem is that I'm having a spot of confusion with getting my PS/2 port to recognize it and am using it via USB til I sort out what the issue is (it may not be with the keyboard).
 
OrangeWolf said:
Just bought a CM QuickFire with Brown Cherries and absolutely love the way it types/feels for both work and gaming.

Only problem is that I'm having a spot of confusion with getting my PS/2 port to recognize it and am using it via USB til I sort out what the issue is (it may not be with the keyboard).
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Quickfire Rapid or Quickfire Pro? I know for sure the pro won't work with a passive USB->PS/2 adapter as I had the same issue on my PC since the USB didn't like it. I had to end up buying a Zowie Celeritas for home, and just brought the Quickfire to the office so I can have a mech board here as well.
 
Ponder said:
Buying your first high-end keyboard is normally rough as you don't really know which features mater most to you. Which switches you like, which ergonomic features mater most. Do you need media keys and volume control? Do you need PBT keys or ABS? key backlighting? macro keys? Does the keyboard simply make too much noise when typing? That is before taking quality and price into account.
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I hear ya. I'm pretty much taking a shot in the dark buying the keyboard, we'll see how things turn out.

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it tomorrow. I'm almost complete sure it'll be a huge upgrade over my cheap-o Cyborg key as I'm not enjoying coding with these dome keys.
 
I'm wondering, as I've seen a fair number of "compact" mechanical keyboards, IE. without numpad, etc. What's the draw? Is it only a size constraint? Funds for a mechanical keyboard?
 
More desk space mostly; some also argue more comfort when using keyboard with mouse as well, which is understandable.
 
Skull_Angel said:
More desk space mostly; some also argue more comfort when using keyboard with mouse as well, which is understandable.
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I suppose, it's all up to personal preference. I guess some people like myself don't feel it though, and like using the numpad for any number input.

In any case, I'm enjoying my CM Quickfire Pro. I'm thinking of testing another keyboard with different switches, but not sure if I can do that within the 30 day limit of return on this one. And it feels pretty good, these brown switches.
 
Citizen86 said:
I suppose, it's all up to personal preference. I guess some people like myself don't feel it though, and like using the numpad for any number input.

In any case, I'm enjoying my CM Quickfire Pro. I'm thinking of testing another keyboard with different switches, but not sure if I can do that within the 30 day limit of return on this one. And it feels pretty good, these brown switches.
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It's a bit of both to be honest...

Speaking of which, I just got mine...

It's weird.

I haven't typed in keyboard like this in years. It's certainly an interesting feel.

The one thing that is already bothering me is the lack of wrist rest, my wrist is already feeling it and I've only spent a few minutes typing "The quick brown foxs jumps over the lazy dog".
 
RavenSEAL said:
It's a bit of both to be honest...

Speaking of which, I just got mine...

It's weird.

I haven't typed in keyboard like this in years. It's certainly an interesting feel.

The one thing that is already bothering me is the lack of wrist rest, my wrist is already feeling it and I've only spent a few minutes typing "The quick brown foxs jumps over the lazy dog".
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You can always buy a wrist rest and use that, or you could get a KB like the TT Meka G Unit or Zowie Celeritas that have a wrist rest included with them. The Zowie is built in and I believe that the TT one is detachable. I use a Quickfire Pro at the office and a Zowie Celeritas at home, and I don't particularly notice not having a wrist rest on the CM. Personal preference I guess. It took some getting used to with the Zowie since it has a wrist rest that I'm used to, but no adjustable feet so I couldn't raise it up like I'm used to when typing.

All mech boards are built with certain people in mind and you just need to find one that best suits your comfort. Design is just as important as switches when it comes to overall comfort level while typing.
 
From my perspective of gaming (FPS, RTS, MMO), graphics design and software development:

I've tried dozens of gaming and mechanical keyboards (Deck, TT, IBM, every one Logitech has ever made, Microsoft) and my favorite, by far, is the Corsair K90. Looks slick, built like a tank, great key press and travel, great lighting/media/macro features, good software, fantastic wrist rest.

On top of that, and this is a big one, it's spectacularly easy to clean and almost impossible to get dirty because the keys do not live in a housing... see below for what I mean:

G73wG.jpg
 
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Corsair's K60/90 look nice and would be awesome if not for the RD and key repeating issues that still go unresolved :mad:
 
I'm curious, I saw a few said that Blues are excellent for gaming, but isn't it harder to do double tapping with Blues? Or is that just me?
 
SolidSnakeUS said:
I'm curious, I saw a few said that Blues are excellent for gaming, but isn't it harder to do double tapping with Blues? Or is that just me?
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All down to personal preference, as far as I can tell. I think quite a few gaming keyboards use Blues, but many use Reds because they're easier to push. So... yeah. Personal preference.
 
It is personal preference. Some argue that Blue are hard to multi-tap because of hysteresis, by design Blue switches require further key travel to reset the switch which may interfere with multi-tap operation if you hover near the actuation point.
 
BurntToast said:
I have a Ducky Shine and it kicks ass!

They just came out with a V2 model. No idea whats different with it. I think the shortcut keys are now media keys or something. Not sure what else.

Love my KB and would buy it again!

http://tigerimports.net/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=12136
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They're still shortcut keys, but no longer adjust PS/2 poling rate since they are no longer PS/2 compatible. Instead they added functionality for 6-KRO or NKRO over USB with one of the 4 DIP switches.

Other than that they added some more lighting options, but I think that's all.
 
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