deskthority

Hello, I am building my own gaming computer. I've always had macs so I'm used to the very low action and short key-press of a mac. I am interested in getting a mechanical keyboard, as everything I've read/heard says they are a serious upgrade, but I tried the switch test board thing that my friend had, and I'm nervous it will feel like it's too hard to press the keys quickly as I'm used to. Is there a keyboard that can give me a similar feel?
Out of the cherry red/blue/green/brown/white/black, I liked the red the best I think, or maybe the brown, but I'm worried they will feel too soft. The only requirements I have are a couple of macro keys, programmable backlight would be cool but not necessary. I also don't want it to be overwhelmingly big (I'm used to a macbook!)
Thank you,
Ryan

One thing about mechanical key switches is that you don't have to press them to the bottom to make them activate: they activate mid-way.
At the risk of being flamed... I'd say that there is nothing that is inherently "better" about mechanical keyboards when it comes to feel: It is mostly a question of different preferences. That said, mechs are often made with better rollover characteristics and response time in mind, catering to gamers in a way that Apple's aluminium keyboards never can.

After mechanical keyboards have become popular among PC gamers there are now lots of different models out there.. and not even enthusiasts can keep track of them all. You could check out Ducky Mini or the CM Storm Quickfire Rapid-I that seem to be somewhat widely available.
The tenkeyless form factor is not uncommon, and what I would recommend for you if you would go mech.

Findecanor pretty much said it all. Personally I would go for Cherry reds mostly because the low weight of activation, but not too low such as gateron yellows. I feel I would miss click with yellows but not with reds. No one has been fragged for choosing Cherry MX Reds

rdennis42 wrote: ↑Hello, I am building my own gaming computer. I've always had macs so I'm used to the very low action and short key-press of a mac. I am interested in getting a mechanical keyboard, as everything I've read/heard says they are a serious upgrade, but I tried the switch test board thing that my friend had, and I'm nervous it will feel like it's too hard to press the keys quickly as I'm used to. Is there a keyboard that can give me a similar feel?

Six years ago I got an Apple Wireless because I wanted that kind of key feel — short travel, quick and responsive. I realized over time that while these keyboards are better than most rubber-dome keyboards, they become painfully tiring after a while — trying to type on them fore more than a few minutes is like bumping repeatedly into a wall, because of the low action and the need to bottom out for the key to register.

So last year I got a Pure Pro with Red switches and although the feeling was slightly bewildering at first, it was a most welcome change. It actually feels more responsive than the Apple keyboard, the Red switch is light to the touch, and it does not become tiring even after hours of typing. So in this regard I'll say that yes, mechanical switches are superior to rubberdome-over-membrane keyboards.

You could try the Brown switch as well — just as light as the Red, but with light tactile feedback. Not necessarily better than the Red or any other switch, it's just a matter of preference.

So, the big thing with scissor stabilized switches is that the short travel makes them fast, although they tend to be decently high force.

To make a longer travel keyboard faster, there's two ways to do it - drop the force, or keep actuation high (early in the stroke).

Cherry MX comes in some rather low force variants (MX red and brown both being rated at 45 cN), and then you've got Matias quiet linear, at 35 cN. (Actuation on the quiet linear is actually further in the stroke than on their other switches, though, which tend to be higher than MX.)

bhtooefr wrote: ↑To make a longer travel keyboard faster, there's two ways to do it - drop the force, or keep actuation high (early in the stroke).

For keyboards with no inherent actuation point - e.g. Hall effect, Topre style capacitive - you can in theory set the actuation point dynamically. In practice apart from the Noppoo EC108 and one prototype Topre board I'm not familiar with any boards that permit this.

So when are we making a Hall effect switch that is Cherry mount, plate, and PCB compatible?

You should first try the keyboard to see whether you can get used to it, old habits die fairly quickly when adapting to new peripherals imo. If the travel distance is still too hard to get used to, there's always O-rings.

Of course, being the Alps nut I am, I would recommend a V80-MTS or V60-MTS as those would be the more accessible Alps variants unless you don't mind going old school, then you have the world of Alps (and the many funky layouts) at your fingertips!

There are even a few old vintage Alps boards with NKRO so that makes them perfect for gaming. Windows lock functionality? How about no windows keys in the first place! You can't ignore that sexy symmetrical layout that is winkeyless!

Also, the higher actuation point and shorter throw is more reminiscent of the short travel of a scissor-switch laptop keyboard, though the two really can't be compared. If you ever get a blue Alps board, you won't regret it! The high actuation is really fun with everything from typing to gaming, in my opinion.

But what can I say, I'm kind of blinded by Alps love.

The people above who are much more knowledgeable than me have said most of the important stuff, so I'll just speak from my personal experience. I use a Q-Pad MK80 with brown switches (currently) and I can't overstate how useful the tactile bump in the browns is. You can easily hover with the key half down (it's not a lot of effort because the keys are relatively light) but not actuated because you can feel where the activation point is, and then just put slight pressure to push it over the bump - you could do the same with reds (or another linear switch), but the bump on the browns make it easier to fell where the actuation point is.