The 5 Best Mechanical Keyboards You Can Buy on Amazon

What's makes it a mechanical keyboard?

A mechanical keyboard has discreet tactile switches beneath every key. The other main type of keyboard you see is a membrane keyboard, like those that still come in many laptops.

What is a keyboard switch?

The switch is the part on a keyboard beneath the key cap you type on. It is the part that gets pressed so your keystroke is registered. Different switches have different sounds and feels.

What does hot-swappable mean?

If a keyboard is hot-swappable it means you can remove the switches and replace them with other, compatible switches. Typically, a hot-swappable keyboard will include a key cap and switch removing tool. Try it out sometime if you have one, it's very relaxing.

What do the different numbers in the TKL keyboard names mean?

Any keyboard with a number pad can be considered TKL, but there's various degrees of compact we are talking here. The number generally is what helps you determine what percentage of a full keyboard it is. Be that 75%, 65%, and so on. I don't personally like recommending them once you get down to 60%, because that's when the arrow keys have to get hacked off.