Why do many people like scissor switches?

[abrahamstechnology]

I mean, they are literally just worse rubber domes. So bad that each key has to be stabilized.
Is it just people in denial about the computer industry not caring about function or durability anymore, just copying APPLE?

[depletedvespene]

The like them when they're new, when they are, indeed, at their best and do feel good; afterwards, when the keyboard (or the laptop they're in) ages badly, people just cope with it and end up discarding the item (we have something called "new broom effect" around here to describe exactly this).

[Findecanor]

• Silence
• Bottom out distinctly. Thus, they provide much better feel and feedback than mushy rubber domes, which is what people compare to.
• Total height over desk. Users who would use a wrist-rest with full-travel keys don't need to.
• Lower inclination. Many full-travel keyboards have too much. Most scissor-switch keyboards don't have flip-out feet.

[abrahamstechnology]

But you still have to bottom out, pounding those cheap keys. Besides, Kailh makes several different kinds of low-profile switches, they haven't really caught on but they ought to.

It'll be very hard to convince all the Apple-copying idiots running the laptop industry nowadays to switch to low-profile switches at the expense of a few gained millimeters on their flimsy "hip" thin chassis. One of the reasons why I want to eventually design my own family of laptops (one day)...

[Muirium]

My favourite scissor switch keyboard is the very heavily used one in my 12 inch PowerBook, my first Mac, bought new when it came out in 2003. Still feels quite nice to me, all these years and mechs later. It’s no Topre, obviously, but it does have a perfectly passable feel, not at all bad for a laptop. You could blame some of my fondness for it on the sheer hours I spent writing on that little trooper of a machine, and its lasting nostalgia value for me now. But honestly, I always liked it. Right from first sight. The plastics are worn beyond the point of obvious cheapness, and the legend alignments are plain bad; but it still feels cosy to me. Much like the nostalgia trip of heavy aqua and pinstriped Tiger when you turn it on!

Apple well and truly fucked up since. The 2007 era aluminium desktop chiclet boards are what you all have in mind. Those are bad. Never liked them, or the MacBook from whence they came. I didn’t mind the flat keys so much as the feel of them. Only gotten shorter over the years since. No warm fuzzies for that stuff here. Indeed, I seldom write on my 2013 MacBook Pro’s keyboard for just how stifled it feels.

Scissor switches are like rubber domes: they can be done right, but almost never are. So the terms become synonyms for shite, almost fairly, until you find a good one.

[abrahamstechnology]

My favourite scissor switch keyboard is the very heavily used one in my 12 inch PowerBook, my first Mac, bought new when it came out in 2003. Still feels quite nice to me, all these years and mechs later. It’s no Topre, obviously, but it does have a perfectly passable feel, not at all bad for a laptop. You could blame some of my fondness for it on the sheer hours I spent writing on that little trooper of a machine, and its lasting nostalgia value for me now. But honestly, I always liked it. Right from first sight. The plastics are worn beyond the point of obvious cheapness, and the legend alignments are plain bad; but it still feels cosy to me. Much like the nostalgia trip of heavy aqua and pinstriped Tiger when you turn it on!

Apple well and truly fucked up since. The 2007 era aluminium desktop chiclet boards are what you all have in mind. Those are bad. Never liked them, or the MacBook from whence they came. I didn’t mind the flat keys so much as the feel of them. Only gotten shorter over the years since. No warm fuzzies for that stuff here. Indeed, I seldom write on my 2013 MacBook Pro’s keyboard for just how stifled it feels.

Scissor switches are like rubber domes: they can be done right, but almost never are. So the terms become synonyms for shite, almost fairly, until you find a good one.

My favorite are the old IBM Thinkpad keyboards. They seem to have more travel and used good quality rubber (the kind similar to Topre's rubber). Lenovo switched it to the clear fake rubber silicone crap.

Probably the reason I like it above all is the TrackPoint, not necessarily the keyfeel.

[stratokaster]

My favorite are the old IBM Thinkpad keyboards. They seem to have more travel and used good quality rubber (the kind similar to Topre's rubber). Lenovo switched it to the clear fake rubber silicone crap.

Last week I had a chance to compare T420s with a NMB keyboard to T430 with a "new style" chicklet keyboard. The keyfeel is pretty similar actually, it's the layout that's fucked up really bad.

Both felt fantastic compared to my 2016 MBP.