Why are mechanical keyboards more expensive than membrane keyboards?

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Why are mechanical keyboards more expensive than membrane keyboards?

expensive, keyboards, mechanical, membrane

When playing, many users decide to use one type of keyboard or another, since in the end there are a large number of variants for the different peripherals on the market that allow us to customize our experience to the maximum. In this case, we are going to explain what are the main differences that a keyboard mechanic in front of one of the membrane, so that you also understand the reason why the former are more expensive than the latter.

Many people may think that the differences that exist between mechanical keyboards and those of membrane They’re not big enough to end up paying more for a model like the first one we mentioned, but we’ll show you below that these are definitely differences to consider.

Image of a mechanical keyboard

Main differences between membrane and mechanical keyboards

As we have indicated, there are a series of differences that end up marking the prices of each of the models that we can find, that is why we are going to give you a summary of the main characteristics that make mechanical keyboards superior to membrane ones.

To begin with, membrane keyboards use an actuation mechanism from which their name comes, and it is based on a rubber membrane that registers the keystrokes pressed. This rubber has a series of disadvantages such as a shorter lifespan (about 5 million keystrokes if it is not previously broken), a lower writing speed due to the need to press the key completely, a lower sensitivity and the possibility that when pressing several keys at the same time, the keystroke is not registered and therefore does not allow the keys to be used simultaneously.

membrane keyboard

We now have mechanical keyboards, which have an actuation system with a switch, a metal contact to register keystrokes and a precision spring, that is, a mechanism divided into three components that improves all the general aspects of a keyboard. To begin with, let’s look at the useful life, since they usually offer 80 million keystrokes with the advantage that the keys are individual, so that if one stops working, they can be easily replaced.

mechanical keyboard switches

On the other hand, we have a greater sensitivity, which increases the writing speed by easily detecting all the keystrokes, to which if we add the fact that the keys work individually, we do not have the problem of membrane keys by pressing several keys simultaneously.

There are other differences, but these are the main ones that can be found.

These differences make them have higher prices.

In general, we have seen that there are many reasons why mechanical keyboards are superior, and in the end everything translates into a greater amount of resources used to manufacture them, as well as higher quality materials and in general a development part that takes much longer. If finally we are looking for what suits us best in the short term, we may consider buying a membrane keyboard, but we must remember that a mechanical keyboard can last for many more years, so it is better to think long term and invest a little more to end up saving money.

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