- Okay. Why would anyone spend $1000
on a mechanical keyboard? I like the Apple one. (David groaning) We just got an interview with Taeha Types. Thank you to Shopify for sponsoring a portion of this video. Okay, so if you Google Answer in Progress, one of the first auto completes you get is about mechanical keyboards. Oh. It used to be, I promise. Sabrina's got one, I've
got one, Melissa's got one, and I like my mechanical keyboard, but I don't actually know anything about mechanical keyboards. I just Googled keyboards and
bought one that looks nice. Turns out, it was a
mechanical keyboard and it is nice to type on. But I'm not alone in my
newly discovered love of mechanical keyboards. It seems like more and more people in recent years are buying
mechanical keyboards. And recently, on my
travels on the internet, I came across these channels, forums, websites dedicated to
customizing mechanical keyboards and building luxury mechanical keyboards. I also saw that some of these keyboards were going for thousands of dollars. So, what's the fascination with this old-fashioned technology? Why is coming back into
popularity, and most importantly, why would someone spend
$1000 on a keyboard? Let's figure it out. (upbeat funk music) So, there isn't a book I could just read about mechanical keyboards to
make an elaborate book report, and in my research reading articles and watching YouTube videos, I was able to learn the
technical terms in the hobby, but I felt like I was
still missing something. I feel like just by doing some Googling and searching online, I haven't really been able to find what's at the heart of this
mechanical keyboard hobby and also what makes
people really enthusiastic about mechanical keyboards and spend a lot of money on a good
mechanical keyboard. So, I have a plan. It's a very complicated plan, it's a very ingenious plan, and it's one that no one
has ever thought of before. (dramatic music)
I'm gonna ask someone. - I get a lot of comments
of people saying, "I watched one video of yours
and thought nothing of it, and then six months later,
I've got 10 keyboards." And I'm kind of like, sorry? - [Taha] This is David,
otherwise known as Glarses. He has a YouTube channel where he builds mechanical keyboards and
generally causes chaos. - Screw it. Congratulations. - First of all, if your
recognize this place... - Hey friends. Welcome back to the channel. - No, you don't. So I thought we'd start with
looking at my keyboards, the ones that I've had so far, getting your impressions of them, seeing what you like, what you don't like. My first keyboard was the Apple one. You know, I like it. (keys clicking) - There is like no travel here. It's like you're tapping
on a billet of aluminium. I like that it's tactile. - So what is tactility? It's like the little pop
that you get when you... - It's like that feedback
you feel when you press down, that little bump that usually aligns with when the switch actuates. So I like that, but besides that, I hate everything else about this. - Well, I like it. - That's all that matters. No, that's not true. - [Taha] So my first mechanical
keyboard was this one. - Mechanical switches! Let's actually see what they are. Cherry reds. I like the 75% layout as well. - Everyone in my house complained because it was really loud. - Oh, this is loud? - This was loud. - I think my standard for loud
is... (chuckles nervously). - So I went from that to this. You know, a little quieter and no one in my house complains anymore. - So problem solved? - Problem solved. - So we're done. - Okay.
- Yeah. - Stabilizers are a little bit better. Um... They're still um... (keys rattling unpleasantly) (chuckles in disbelief) - So still not a fan? - Still not a fan, but I like it more. - That's the end of my
keyboard journey, and so now... - This is the start of
your keyboard journey. - So you've got some
keyboards that you wanna... (bang) Whoa. Oh! It's really heavy. - It's got a two-piece
aluminium case, and inside, it has an internal brass weight. Ooh, okay! - I donno what these are
called, like the non-square. - [David] These are the modifiers. - These are called modifiers. The non-square ones feel a lot better. - We'll keep it going. - This is a linear and
then this is a tactile? It's kind of like bubble wrap. - That's actually not a bad description. Like, you kind of have to build up to it and then it just collapses into itself. - It's difficult to explain like the feeling of things on camera. - It is, isn't it? - The space bar is so nice. That's sick! I love this. - [David] This is the next one. - Wow. This is really quiet. - [Man] You're dressed up as that one. (Taha laughing)
(David laughing) - Every single one, I'm like, wow. This doesn't have any of the keys. This is like half a keyboard. - Oh. This is a 60%. - So this is the Cherry MX browns. I think the thing that I'm most impressed with by is just the space bars. - It's such a world of difference from like (imitating clicking sound). Horrific. - I feel like a hipster. I love the look of this one. I would feel that like my fingers would get tired after awhile of these. And then you just have this one M key. (David giggling) I can now understand now that I'm here. They feel different, so I have a different
like response to them. - This is an SGI Granite. Instead of MX switches,
these have ALPS switches. - And these are switches
that don't exist anymore? These are really nice. I feel like the secretary
in "Monsters Inc." (David laughing)
I'm watching you, Wazowski. - How do I get into this? Because I've clearly been
doing something wrong and not like... - All of these comes from a custom kit. In the hobby, when we say a kit, we basically mean it's a case, a PCB, and a plate and you then buy your own stabilizers,
switches, and key caps and you basically build that
keyboard from the ground up. - Okay so. Keyboard. I wanna use this keyboard afterwards. (Taha yelping) So, mechanical keyboards are made up of a few key components. You've got the PCB, the casing, the plate, which kind of make up the brains and the body of the keyboard. The casing sort of houses
all of the components while the PCB is the
actual electronic circuit that communicates with your computer. Every time one of the
switches is pressed down, it completes a small electronic circuit, which sends a signal to your computer to let it know that one of
the keys has been pressed. But then you get to
the more exciting parts of a mechanical keyboard, the key cap and the key switches. The key cap is what you would normally think of when you think
of a key in a keyboard. And learning more about this, you can get these in a variety of different shapes, sizes, materials. Basically, anything that can be customized can be customized about a key cap. There's even a thriving
community of artisan caps, which are one-of-a-kind, sort of unique art pieces
that you can have as key caps. And in the process of
researching this video, I did order some new key caps, which was fun. And in the process of ordering that stuff, I ended up discovering this app by the sponsor of this video, Shopify. So, I decided to ask them if I could just talk about the app instead of doing a normal ad read, and they said yes, so now I'm just gonna do that instead. If you haven't heard of Shopify, it's a platform, you can
build an online store, it's very intuitive, there's
templates, it's drag-and-drop. It's really good. However, so basically, they have this app called Shop and what it does is it basically unifies all of your orders into one app. It plugs into your emails
and finds the order numbers and like you can click through and you can see all the details. Everything that you need is right there and you don't have to go into your emails, and find the tracking number, and then look at a website that was developed by one guy in 2007. We love it. You can ask it to send notifications when stuff has shipped,
if there's any delays. The whole shabang. The app also surfaces returns policies, so it becomes really
easy to be able to just see if you can still return
something, if it's in shipping, or even if it's arrived. It's all in the app and it's great. So basically, it's the best
app if you shop online. You can find more
information about Shopify and the Shop app in the
link in the description. So thank you to Shopify
for sponsoring this video and letting me talk to you about my favorite new app instead
of doing a typical ad read and on with the rest of the video. But pretty key caps aren't the only exciting part of a mechanical keyboard. What's underneath it, the key switch, is arguably just as interesting. This little thing is what makes a mechanical keyboard, well, mechanical. (switch clicking) When I spoke to Glarses
about these little things, I started to realize
the incredible history that goes with them. It's hard to pinpoint the objective origin of mechanical keyboards. Manufacturers were experimenting with a variety of mechanical mechanisms. As time progressed,
computers were no longer room-sized machines owned by large corporations and universities. They became smaller and more affordable. This meant more demand for keyboards, so manufacturers looked to increase production rates and cut costs. This resulted in membrane keyboards, which use cheaply produced
sheets of rubber rather than (keyboard snapping)
individual switches. Well, I mean, that was the take. These cheap membrane keyboards produced a mushy, rubbery feeling rather than a satisfying click of a mechanical switch. This new form of keyboard was marketed as a quieter typing experience, but its main popularity
was driven by its price. While many mechanical keyboard companies folded or switched to
producing membrane keyboards, companies like Cherry, now the most popular switch
manufacturer in the world, continued producing mechanical switches. While the typing experience worsened due to membrane keyboards, it generally didn't matter to most people. Personal computers were still seen as a productivity tool,
like a wrench or a hammer, and used for professional work rather than a personal electronic device. So, buying keyboards
at an accessible price for home and offices was the main concern. However, as we began to use
these devices outside of work and as our lives and identities intertwined themselves with technology, people started to view their devices as an extension of themselves, personalizing their devices
to suit their needs. As a result, in the late 2000s, early signs of the modern keyboard hobby started to flourish in
Korean on the desk forums. This is considered by many as the start of the modern keyboard hobby. So, the boards on the OTD forums were only ever sold in Korea and in
limited-run manufacturing, but in time, the US got their own forums and it's on these forums that people started to experiment
with the characteristics of different switches. And what they found is if they combined different pieces
from different switches, they could create a Frankenstein switch. (spookily) oooooh! And it's from this type of experimentation that we got fan favorite
Frankenstein switches, like the Holy Panda. So, the Holy Panda started
off as a Frankenstein switch where people would have to take two different switches and put
them together to make them, but because of their popularity, people started to manufacture the specifications of a Holy
Panda as one whole switch. - The creation of Holy Panda I guess accidentally created the switch that everybody wanted to try. One of the main sound tests and ways people probably heard of a Holy Panda, and I've kind of mentioned
was mine as well, was the Taeha Types sound test, which was his Fjell with Holy Pandas, so much so that most people say, you know, you watch this video once and you're done. You're into the hobby,
into the rabbit hole. (keys clicking) That really set it sky high as like the first big Frankenstein switch. - So during this time, the mechanical keyboard started to become (intense electronic music)
really popular with gamers. And it kind of makes sense because those are the types of people to spend a lot of money on computer hardware to have their optimal gaming setup for their zero millisecond
lag response time so they can get owned in
"Valorant" bronze lobbies. And with the rise of popularity in the gaming community, we saw a massive boom in a type of switch called the Cherry MX switch. If you've ever tried to
buy a keyboard online, you were probably given the
option of a Cherry MX switch, whether it was a red switch, a blue switch, or a brown switch. - I don't think too many people would fight you in saying that Cherry MX, or Cherry as a brand, are probably the most important player in mechanical keyboards and
now has become the de facto. The Cherry MX patent expiring was probably the most important milestone for the explosion of boutique
switches in the hobby. - The Cherry patent
expiring was a game changer, an environment modifier,
a different gravy. Because now that the
original patent had expired, you could take the original design and you could modify it and remix it and then you have a new
switch, built different. And this caused the rise
of new manufacturers such as Gateron making new switches in the Cherry MX style
without getting sued, which is always good, I guess. But also, we saw the rise
of smaller community vendors such as Zeal and NovelKeys. And so we got this whole new wave of innovation of people making modified Cherry MX style switches. - People really liked the Ergo Clear, but didn't like the effort
you had to go to make them. You know, you needed two sets of keyboards where you needed to open
it and put in a spring and Zeal basically said, okay, I'm gonna go make the first manufacturer community-made custom line of switches. That switch was so, so,
so important because it was the first switch
that was community made. - And now we get to the craziest part of this whole story, the Stealios controversy. Bum, bum, ba! So basically, Zeal, one of
the community manufacturers, was creating this switch
called the Zealio. It was a boutique switch that was sold through a variety of
different marketplaces. So basically, Zeal would
tell a bunch of marketplaces that they were allowed to resell the switch that they were producing. However, one of these
marketplaces was selling counterfeit Zealios. Bum, bum, ba! So, they were actually an
official reseller of Zealios. However, they were selling
more than they were supplied by Zeal, so they were getting some knockoff Zealios from somewhere. But the counterfeit Zealios, otherwise known as Stealios 'cause they stole the design of it,
you get the picture, were almost identical in feel, experience, and design to the point where it was so hard to tell the difference. And the quality was
basically the same as well. So people started wondering who was the manufacturer behind the
Stealios, the fake Zealios. I guess if you can produce
such high quality counterfeits, you can produce your own
genuine boutique switches, and that's exactly what happened. So many more people saw
the quality in the Stealios and decided to make their switches from that manufacturer. Literally crime does pay. What is this story? And that takes us all the way up to now. There's been this explosion of switch designs and a
lot more manufacturers and the whole scene is bursting with unique designs and new and exciting ways to try out the hobby. There's different form factors, different tactile feedback, and custom and artisan key caps. - Seriously, if you haven't
built your own keyboard, I strongly recommend it. It's not as hard as you think and you really end up with this thing that you can really say I built this thing that I know use to type on every day. It's really cool. Nowadays, you can go
online and design a board that looks nothing like
anyone has ever seen before or build a board that
reflects your personality. And now it's my turn. So, what are we building? - Which ones do you feel
you're kind of more drawn to? Let's just eliminate a few first. - So I'm trying to find
my favorite switch. How do I do this? - You type on them, and then
you type on them some more, and you keep typing on them until there's one that just shines
above the rest of them. - I'm like hypnotized by this. (David laughing) - It's good, isn't it? - I was like (sighing). This sounds like walking
on snow in Minecraft. (keys clicking) I think this one's gotta go. I'm gonna get rid of this. It's just not satisfying. You're fired. I think, honestly, this
is the better feeling keyboard for me. This is like popping bubble wrap all day and that is a very nice feeling. So I think I'm gonna go
for this one as my final. - It's the winner. I mean, I guess the closest thing we can build your keyboard then
will be these Holy Pandas. - So these are the Holy Pandas I've been hearing so much about. Okay. If I'm honest, they just look
like any other switch to me. I'm excited. Cool! - Today, we are building
this Glacier 80 TKL. Do the honors. - It's a very fancy box. - It's lovely. - Doing an unboxing on
the Answer in Progress YouTube channel. (David chuckling)
What's going on? What am I looking at? - So, this is foam, this is more foam, this is more foam. This is our PCB, which is kind of our... - [Taha] This is the brains. - Brains of the keyboard. It's hotswap. Okay... that's not a problem. - So this is, oh my God, I'm gonna have to stand up for this. (David laughing) This is really heavy. This is a real keyboard. - [David] Now we have to stab this open. (David laughing) (plastic popping) - There you go.
- Ow! - So the first thing you need to do when building a keyboard is
to prepare our components. So these are our stabilizers. - So like, the space bar doesn't wobble because of this?
- Yes, exactly. You wanna increase smoothness and we want to remove rattle. - I'm so scared of breaking it. - Honestly, you won't break it. And if you do, we have more. (David giggling) These ones are a bit finicky. Let me do this one. There you go. (David laughing) You actually need to snap this off 'cause it's two individual ones that will connect by cable. - I was scared of breaking these. (suspenseful music)
(David laughing) - There you go. Now, this is the fun part. We get to put a switch on. - What exactly are we doing? (David laughing)
I'm just pressing buttons. - I'm pressing it to make sure it feels consistent throughout the press. Make sure there's no like
ticking on the edges. So this will probably be the part where you speed up 14,000%. - I think it'll be funner
if you just cut on every (keys clicking) click. Just like (imitating clicking). This is the last one? - Mhm. - [Taha] Done. - [David] Geez. - Completed keyboard, guys. - [David] That is a pretty keyboard. - Key caps. Eight. Six, seven, eight. - [David] It's actually
seven, eight, nine. It's the wrong eight, also. That's the num pad eight. - I tried. - Q, W, E, R, T, Y, U. - I have B and I wanna put it next to A. (David chuckling) I think these are the real winners. (dreamy music)
(keys clicking) - Before A. (David clapping) - We did it. So this is my new kaybo- keyboard? - [David] This is your new cable. - In comparison to my first ever keyboard. (keys clicking) - Let's take that away from you. (keys clicking) - My first foray into
mechanical keyboards. (keys clicking) For context, I'm not like doing
this softly and this hard. Whenever I watch these videos online, I always think they're
really hamming this one up and then they like go soft
on that, but it's not true. (keys clicking) - I think the stabilizers are probably the biggest difference. It's an easy mod you can
do to any keyboard, really. Once your ears are open to
rattle, you can't unhear it. Like, you don't know it's
there, you probably don't care, but once someone tells you it exists and it doesn't have to, it's game over. - I guess I'm done with this keyboard. (David laughing) (keys clicking) Do you know what I typed? - Please subscribe to Glarses' channel. - I actually did type
thank you for watching. Please subscribe. - Oh! (keys clicking) - To the Glarses channel. Thanks for doing this. - No worries. Thank you for helping me. This was fun. - Can I keep this? - Yeah, sure. Just pay me the amount for the keyboard and we can, you know... - How much is this keyboard? - Probably like $650. - Wow. So, be sure to subscribe to our Patreon. (Taha laughing)
(David laughing) I was just about finish work, but then I got an email from the king of mechanical keyboards himself. We just got an interview with Taeha Types. Oh my God! Hello. How's it going? - Hi. Nice to meet you, Taha. - This is Taeha Types, arguably one of the most influential mechanical keyboards creators on YouTube. He has sound tests for seemingly every switch on the market and has built luxury mechanical keyboards for the likes of LilyPichu, Dave2D, and Tfue. So basically, I've been on a
mechanical keyboards journey for the last month of two. - So you're really fresh? - I'm really fresh, yeah. Here's like the central
question of the video. This is where I started from. Why would anyone spend
$1000 on a keyboard? (Taeha chuckling) - I think something that I've just come to realize is there are
certain things in my life that I use quite a lot. I have a Herman Miller Aeron chair and most people would say, why would you spend that much on a chair? But like, if you think
about it, at least for me, I'm sitting on a chair more than half of my day sometimes,
so why not invest in that? And as someone who does spend their time in front of a keyboard for many hours a day,
I'm constantly typing. I think it is people used to not think of the keyboard as something that could be invested in, but with the recent popularity
that this hobby has seen, I think many of us are starting to realize the keyboard can be
something that's pleasant. - I definitely didn't really how much of a difference the
custom mechanical keyboard or even a modded mechanical keyboard is from just off the shelf
mechanical keyboards. - The keyboard hobby is
just one of those hobbies where you have to try it in person to really understand, I feel like. No matter how many videos you watch, no matter how many sound
tests you listen to, nothing really beats trying it and experiencing it in person. I kind of went through
what you went through, too. After I felt my first one, I was like, okay, this is addicting. (Taeha chuckling) I see why people spend a
lot on their keyboards. - Why do you think the hobby has like exploded in popularity? - I mean, I think my Tfue
video definitely helped. He is still probably one of
the biggest names in Esports. I think the pandemic hit three or four months after my Tfue build came out and everyone started to work from home and I think people overall were just consuming more content
during the pandemic. People started to care about
their work setups, I guess, 'cause everyone's working from home, they wanna treat themselves a little bit, everyone's socially deprived, they're trying to feel something
through retail therapy, so I think the pandemic for sure also played a great part in the recent rise of the hobby. - I think, also, I think
there was a lot of people during the pandemic who had never, ever thought about a work setup. Like, they had always
worked in the library or in an office. - It's an interesting time for newcomers. I feel like it's both
a great and a bad time for people trying to get
into the hobby at the moment. The hobby's kind of going through growing pain phase as everyone's trying to scale up to accommodate
for this influx of demand. There is that customer experience aspect that might rub people the wrong way. One of the first confusing terms you might hear in the
hobby is the word group buy and that's what the hobby
operates on largely still. You can think of a group buy essentially as kind of a
Kickstarter or Indiegogo project. Basically, individuals
in the hobby essentially putting on a project idea. We're not mass producing
these keyboards, right? It's individuals running
their own projects. It can take months, sometimes years. We are seeing years
timelines now at this point for certain projects. You need to have a lot of
patience in this hobby. You should expect at least
half a year, minimum, just to call it safe as of now. - What do you think is the future of the mechanical keyboard hobby? - I think there's still a ton
to be explored with switches. Everyone is still so hooked onto the Cherry MX design style. I think it's gonna be interesting to see the new types of switches
that come out, for example. I mean, I'd love to see
crazier keyboard designs. I mean, who knows. Maybe we'll have like an SD card reader or extra USB ports on a keyboard one day. Meet-ups, maybe now's
not the greatest time to advocate for meet-ups, but I got a lot of questions saying like, where do you find these meet-ups, how do I go to a meet-up? Honestly, if you have an
interest in running a meet-up, I would say go for it. Everyone's just looking for someone to take that initiative. So if there are no meet-ups
in your area that you know of, feel free to organize something. It's still a very friendly
and community-oriented hobby. - Meet-ups sound really exciting. I've never been to a meet-up. The only person I've met who's interested in mechanical keyboards is Glarses. - You kind of had a mini
meet-up there too, I feel. - I guess I never really thought about going to a meet-up. I was like, meet-ups sound really cool, but it's probably for people
who know about keyboards. - I mean, that was me too. It still feels nerdy to say I'm going to a keyboard meet-up. (Taeha giggling) But I think the first one that I went to just really left a nice impression on me, just like how friendly everyone was, just being able to try and even like just touch all of these
nice, pretty products that I've been seeing online. Hopefully, once the world opens up more, we'll have more of those, but if you can go to a meet-up, highly recommend you do. Meet-ups are probably the next big thing for raising even more
awareness of a hobby. - So, in the process of making this video, I've been trying to figure out how to explain why the
mechanical keyboard hobby is so appealing. And I think it's everything that everyone has mentioned already. It's the fact that you
can build a keyboard that is completely unique to yourself, but it's also the fact that a custom mechanical keyboard is just so much better than anything you can find off the shelf. And with how digital our lives are and how much time we
spend at our computers, having a lovely keyboard that looks and feels like yours has brought a small joy into a part of my life that is usually so mundane. But honestly, it's been really
hard to describe to people why this hobby is so appealing, but once you put a custom
mechanical keyboard in front of someone and they type on it, I think you get it immediately. Everyone I've shown my
keyboard to has said, yeah, I get it now. But also just personally, with technology becoming increasingly proprietary and sealed off and with big tech companies consuming basically the whole of
the technological world, seeing the mechanical keyboard hobby remain a small community of designers, hobbyists, and enthusiasts just making keyboards because they love it has been a breath of fresh air. And I think that's beautiful. And yeah, while you can spend $1000 on a mechanical keyboard,
you don't have to. You can build a nice
custom mechanical keyboard for a lot less than that
it'll last you for years. And honestly, I would
recommend buying at least one custom mechanical
keyboard in your life because it's such a unique experience. In fact, in the process
of making this video, our editor, Joe, built his own custom mechanical keyboard for the first time and I think he agrees. It's just something that you
have to try to really get. - [Joe] It is so cool and I
didn't even mention the lights. - Anyway, thank you for
watching this video. If you like what we do, you
can support us on Patreon. And if you don't have a
couple of dollars to spare, you can subscribe to our newsletter where we give out free
bonus stuff, playlists, and potentially some keyboard ASMR. Anyway, thanks for watching keyboards. (bell ringing)
