- I'm going to help you pick
out the perfect switch for you. I've also recruited the
help of a special guest so make sure you stick around for that. In the world of mechanical keyboards, everyone usually starts out
with one of the three starters, just like in Pokemon. You can choose between
a red, blue, or brown. Blue is the loud one that
you typically think of when you think of mechanical keyboards. It makes a loud click on each press. Brown is the safe option,
it's relatively quiet and has a bump you can
feel on each key press, and this can help minimize
mistakes while typing. Red is smooth and fast. Typically gamers lean towards red switches for their consistent feel with no bump. For very general recommendations, if you're trying to choose
between the three starters, red is for gaming, brown
is for general usage, and blue is for those people that like really loud keyboards. Keep in mind, you can
choose whatever you want. These are just super basic recommendations if you really can't choose for yourself. Beyond the starters it
goes so much farther. When you look at switches as a whole there are three distinct groups, linear, clicky and tactile. These starters fall
into these three groups with red being linear,
brown being tactile, and blue being clicky. On the screen you'll see
a list of popular switches in each category. You can even go farther
into more switch types including low-profile, optical, silent, EC, Topre, analog, and more! Low profile switches are much shorter and resemble laptop keys. These are often used for better ergonomics and a faster response time when gaming. Optical switches are another
good option for gaming as they actuate via light and don't have a debounce delay
like mechanical keyboards, so they're faster. Silent switches have a rubber
padding built into them to minimize noise during
the typing experience, but you're going to
experience a little mushiness. Topre switches are their
own thing entirely. They're technically rubber dome switches but they're much more tactile and providing consistent typing experience similar to mechanical switches. When you look to buy
keyboards at big box stores like Best Buy or Micro Center, keyboards will usually come with your standard Cherry MX switch option like the starters I mentioned earlier. But when you look at other budget options like on Amazon or elsewhere, you'll starting to see
different switch brands such as Gateron or Outemu, or even more budget brands
such as Jixian and Huano. These will generally be
cheaper than Cherry MX switches but they won't have the
same consistency or quality. You'll experience stuff like key chatter and not having a consistent
feel from switch to switch. But if you're on a budget, it's a great way to save money, money! Outside of just budget switches you can also find stuff made
for enthusiasts and hobbyists. These are bought at smaller vendors and you have to buy them separately and put them into your keyboard yourself. Some may even come
prelubed from the factory. Some popular enthusiast switches include Gateron Black Inks,
Gateron Yellows, Kiwis, Holy Pandas, Tangerines,
Alpacas, and more. It can get pretty crazy the deeper you go. For recommendations, you can see what switches
our community uses via our survey video right here. So with all of these options, how do you even figure out what you like? Honestly, this is probably one
of the most difficult things when it comes to keyboards. How do you figure out what you like without needing to buy
an entirely new keyboard? Well, here are some ways to help. Number one, you can go to
the store and try them. Usually stores have keyboards on display that you can pull key caps off and just start pressing around. Number two, you can go deeper and attend local meetups
in your community. Maybe put on some hand sanitizer and start pressing around
on other people's keyboards. Those usually come prelubed and modded. Number three, you can
chat with people online if you don't have the opportunity
to meet people in person. You can find a link to our
Discord server down below where there's a bunch of helpful people, sound test information, all of that. Number four, you can buy
switch testers online that can go from four
switches to 63 switches, depending on if you know what
you're looking for or not. And number five, you can
listen to online sound tests, but keep in mind that that's
just really depends on what they recorded with and
what you're listening from so it may not be 100% accurate. Sometimes to get a truly
accurate experience you'll just have to buy them and install them into your keyboard. Switch testers and chatting with people will get you a little bit closer, but eventually you'll
need to take the leap and start testing them out for yourself. Getting a hot swappable keyboard makes this testing
process a whole lot easier because you don't need to desolder and solder
in switches every time. A great starter keyboard
for testing switches is something cheap such
as the LTC Nimbleback. And eventually you'll
figure out what you like. If you're looking for recommendations, Gateron Yellows are one of the best budget options out there. Now I'm not a super serious gamer so I did get some help from one of my friends here on YouTube. Here's Techne! - All the right. So this is my third take
at this plug right here. Betty and Switch and Click
gave me two minutes to do this. You all know old Techne,
I love talking, right? So what I'm going to do, I'm going to set me a timer right here and hopefully, I can stay on track as I'm wasting my time already. But anyways, what we're going to talk is
the perfect gaming switch. What is the perfect gaming switch? And I can take the easy way out right here and say, ah, it's all personal preference. But maybe you're buying
your first gaming keyboard and you don't know a single
thing about any of the switches. So you go to the store, right? You see some Razors right there. You read about them, fast,
linear, smooth optical switches. Very nice switches there. Maybe you're going in first, hm, maybe I want a
low-profile board, right? Very short actuation, short travel. We're already getting confused, right? Maybe you're like, man, my
parents get mad when I'm gaming or my significant other, I
don't want to keep my kids up. So you go with that silent switch. Sounds and feels so good right there. Cherry MX Red Silents. But the thing on your mind is like, well, I'm hearing everybody online, I should go custom, loop my switches, loop my stabs, and go that route. Sounds nice, doesn't it? So right there we have three options that are
probably right on your mind. But the four I want to bring out are my four favorite switches for gaming, starting with HyperX Red switches. These things are butter smooth, very fast, fairly light switch. I really love these. Next up, Kailh Speed
Silvers on a custom board. A great option for gaming. A fast switch, not too heavy
at 50 grams, right there. Readily available and they're
not going to break the bank as far as these Kailh Silvers. Love these switches for gaming. But my two main switches, my two main switches for
two years going here, Cherry MX Speed Silvers. As you can see, I've got
them on my Meijer Pro and then my Corsair K70 TKL. I absolutely love Cherry Silvers. I love Cherry switches. You're gonna hear a lot of
people out there rag on them. Aw, they're scratchy, why go Cherry, go with these Tangerine, Blueberry, Banana, Slurpee, Milkshake
switches and lube 'em? No, no, no, no. That's not what we want to
do when we're gaming, right? We want to get our board, take it out, plug it in and get gaming. And that's what you're
going to get right here. I really love and highly
recommend Cherry Speed Silvers or any of these right here. I think these are great options. Yeah, they're all linear. Maybe you like tactile or clicky, and well, I just can't help you there. But all of this is so confusing. I feel your pain. Really get out there, touch some switches, play with some switches and
see what you're going to like. Great starting point, again,
is Cherry Speed Silvers for me. But again, this is all just exhausting looking for that gaming keyboard. What I'm going to do, I'm just going to go with a controller. - That was The Techne. For gaming related peripheral reviews, be sure to check his
channel out right here. Now when looking for switches
for typing, it depends. With new switches always coming out it's hard to give you an exact answer and it mainly boils down to preference. For typing, people generally
prefer a snappy, tactile option or a heavy, linear option, but honestly it just boils down to what you think feels the best for you. Here are some of my favorite
switches for typing right here. For typing I also highly
recommend going a step further and modding your switches
and your stabilizers too. This will make the typing
experience much more enjoyable. And thanks to all patrons
for letting us do what we do. Join down below, do it,
do it, click it, click it. And thanks to The Techne. Check him out because
he's awesome and cool. Okay, bye.
