Trying a Mechanical Keyboard

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] just in case the title isn't obvious yet I know nothing about mechanical keyboards as a matter of fact I was never really interested in them so when a company called IQ annex reached out asking if I wanted to try one of theirs my initial response was sure but of course not without doing my own research because obviously I wanted to know what I was getting myself into but what I didn't know was I was actually about to jump into a rabbit hole that was so deep it basically extended all the way out to the edge of the known universe I was kind of shocked and in all at the same time so I'm gonna try my best to share with you what I understand about mechanical keyboards and why they're so popular and what my experience is like [Music] when paying for something that's significantly more than what one would consider a regular household item the initial question is naturally why so to help answer that question I have to first understand what a mechanical keyboard is a mechanical keyboard basically used individual switches underneath the keycaps as opposed to a thin plastic membrane that regular keyboards use this gives a mechanical keyboard a more tactile feel when you're pressing on the keys and theoretically they should last a lot longer and honestly that's pretty much the main difference the end except it isn't [Music] part of the allure of a mechanical keyboard is the ability to customize it basically to your heart's content now you might be thinking oh okay so let me change the color of the keycaps well yes you can do that but it's actually a lot more than just that remember the switches that mechanical keyboards use well there's three basic types linear tactile and clicky linear basically feels consistent throughout the pressing of the key the key press actually gets registered once you press it all the way down tactile switches provide more feedback by having a more shallow actuation point and having a little bump mid press to know that your keystroke was registered clicky switches are like tactile switches but has more sound to it hence the name now both tactile and clicky switches have a shallower actuation point meaning you don't have to press the keys all the way down for it to register but switches don't end there oh no [Music] there are more variations of switches than I have hours left in my lifetime so for the sake of saving you time and myself I'm just gonna talk about probably the most popular ones which are made by a company in Germany called cherry annex under this company alone they have four different switch types designated with a color name to define the actuation distance switch type and actuation force I told you rabbit hole for example what I have are Cherry MX brown switches which means they are tactile have a 2 millimeter actuation distance with an actuation force of 55 gram force meaning that's how much force it takes for the key press to register which means different actuation forces can give different key feel at this point in life what did I get myself into remember there are other switches from other companies with their very own naming conventions and characteristics which I won't go over because I want to witness my children grow aside from switches you can also customize just about everything from key caps to the actual case speaking of cases [Music] there are a multitude of different shapes and sizes for mechanical keyboards what I have here with me that I Kunik sent is a 100 key keyboard in the form factor of a 96 keyboard I think basically from my little understanding of it the keys are much so close together getting rid of excess space making the overall footprint significantly smaller than a full-size keyboard while still retaining most of the keys such as the numpad the key caps are called cat pee caps which are slightly shorter in profile than s80 caps how they differ and feel I have no idea on the topic of feel that's probably the number one deciding factor as to why someone would switch to a mechanical keyboard I've been using this keyboard for a few weeks now and it was no simple task for me because of the build quality this keyboard is actually heavy the case is made out of aluminum that are screwed together and honestly looks really nice I'm not a fan of any sort of RGB lighting so I was a little hesitant with this having LED lights underneath the switches fortunately I can turn it off by hitting FN plus C although I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that I kind of liked the LED colors at least once in a while I can cycle through them by pressing FN plus this guy and my favorite one is probably the teal color the overall profile is taller so getting used to typing on this with the already tall key caps was a bit of a challenge a wrist rest might be in order I also needed to get used to the spacing of the keys since they were so close together this works with my Mac computers but I still get confused with the win and alt button since sometimes one works and what doesn't depending on what application I'm using so I did a little research and found out that if I hold the FN key plus the a button for 5 seconds it switches to a Mac layout this keyboard is Bluetooth capable but Ike UNIX also provides a cable if you want to use a wired connection and it's nice that they also provided a bluetooth dongle in case your computer not Bluetooth capable also they included this little device to pull out key caps if you want to replace them a spurred sound well that really depends on you the clicky sound brings back memories from my childhood when my sister would type late at night for school well I'm not particularly fond of the sound it adds another sense of tactility to the typing experience which in my case is a good thing so to conclude after a few days I already started to notice that I looked forward to using this keyboard over the regular one that I had it's almost like I had a new toy that I was still discovering different ways so playing with these my new details about mechanical keyboards are very hard to quantify as they require personal taste in feel what I can definitely tell you is that typing has never been more engaging for me at least which makes my day today a little bit more interesting I mean I never knew that something as mundane as using a keyboard can feel a bit more intentional and maybe satisfying but what about the price is it really worth all the hype as a society that's basically always connected via technology we've become increasingly sensitive to what others think of our every move right down to the stuff that we actually buy for ourselves we feel that we have to somehow have a list of justifications as to why we willingly parted with our money I'd say it's just like picking a cologne or a body spray so you choose to smell that you like best and then you decide whether you want to pay the amount for that a very specific and personal experience so at this point I kind of understand why some people would pay an abnormally large amount of money for keyboards I mean what they're really paying for is a personal experience and not only that aesthetics does play a big role there are so many variations that your heads going to fall off from spinning and to find one that's perfect just you know for your taste and the feel I mean it's it's kind of hard to put a price tag on that to be honest remember this is coming from a person who's spent around 200 bucks for an Apple keyboard just because I liked the way it looked lucky me you don't have to spend that much money I mean at least in the beginning if you wanted to maybe try your hand at mechanical keyboards there are actually a lot of affordable options out there the only thing is you just have to be brave enough to jump through the rabbit hole and hopefully you have enough time thanks again for watching if you'd like this video please hit that subscribe button also check out my podcast with fellow creative Chelsea horn called the coffee with creators podcast we basically talk about tech photography and social media and also just life in general as creative professionals all the links are going to be down in the description below and I'll catch you guys again real soon take care [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Michael Soledad

Views: 26,767

Rating: 4.8937197 out of 5

Keywords: mechanical keyboard, f96 keyboard review, best mechanical keyboard, iqunix review, best keyboards 2020, productivity hacks, tech review, keyboard review, KAT keyboard, keyboard switches, what are mechanical keyboards, best gifts for guys, tech gift ideas 2020, wfh, work from home setup, home office, life of a designer, a day in the life

Id: c_3sv0RlfgM

Length: 9min 42sec (582 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 05 2020