Alright. Welcome to the world of beautiful plastic and empty wallets.
Here you’ll find my own mechanical keyboards and what you should consider if you want to buy your own.

These are my keyboards:

So you want to have one of these motherfuckers too? Here’s what you should know:

First: The form factor

Full-Size

These are the full keyboards you probably know about. They have function keys, arrow keys and a numpad.

Tenkeyless (TKL)

For these they chopped off the numpad and made they keyboard around 25% smaller.

60%

This is my favorite size. It has number keys, but no function keys, arrow keys or a numpad. I like it because it’s compact and it fits perfectly on top of a macbook pro.

40%

The new “how low can you go”. This size doesn’t even have number keys anymore.

There are other form factors, for example Ergodox, Leopold FC660 or 75%, but not as widespread as those above.

Second: The Switches

Switches are what registers when you press a key. There are many different kinds with many different characteristics. It’s just a question of what suits you best. My recommendation: Buy a switch tester first to get a feel for the different kind of switches.

Bonus 1: The Keycaps

Now, this is where you’ll spend most of your money on. Most of the keycap sets are manufactured in very small batches and via a group buy. This is where some people (normally around 100-200) come together and order the production of a community-approved design.
There are different shapes of keycaps (see below). If you want to learn about it you should probably take a look into the Mechanical Keyboard Subreddit Wiki to find out more.

Here are some sites that are worth checking out when you look for keycaps:

• keypuller.com (Overview of beautiful keycap sets)
• massdrop.com (especially the Mechanical Keyboards Community)
• geekhack.org (keyboard enthusiast board)
• pimpmykeyboard.com (Webshop of Signature Plastics, a big creator of keycaps)
• reddit.com/r/mechanicalkeyboards

Bonus 2: The Cables

Okay, so now you have a kickass keyboard, but still the cheapo plastic cable that came with  it. Don’t worry, Pexon has you covered. This company makes the best and most beautiful cables there are. Here are some examples:

The cables start at 12 GBP and go up to 30-40, depending on how you configure them. You can have different colours, coils, double sleeving, etc.

Have fun, leave a comment and subscribe to this blog if this article helped you.