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MangoTangoFox
4
Feb 12, 2014
There are two kings when it comes to Cherry Switches.
For typists, BLUE is by far the best. The tactile and audible response is amazing, and I can almost guarantee that they will give you the most significant improvement in touch-typing speed, though all of the switches will make you faster over standard membrane and laptop boards.
For gamers that also like to type, BROWN is the best. It offers most of the responsiveness of blues, but they are much quieter and therefor less distracting while gaming, and they are less likely to be picked up by your microphone, especially with dampening pads/o-rings.
Black and Red might be fine if you always bottom out your key-presses, but if you do that, you wouldn't care about speed and precision, which the tactile feedback allows for, as you can confidently move just past the activation point very rapidly.
Now with all that said, for gamers that only want to game and don't care about typing pleasure or speed at all, there is an even better solution. Membrane Keyboards. This is a very common misconception, but it is limited to boards with very specific properties. Ones were the keycap will not move at all until you build up an exact amount of pressure. But when they finally move, that pressure needs to make it so that the key snaps down and activates. To find keyboards like this, there is a very simple test. Simply press down with one finger, and it should be impossible to depress the key, without also activating it. Usually, the only way you can do that, is if you use the strength of your other hand holding your finger, to go past the pressure without fully depressing the key. If your keyboard is like that, it is optimal for gaming. I know this sounds weird, but trust me, this comes from tons of experience and testing.
I know for sure that the Microsoft Sidewinder x4 and x6 boards fit that requirement, and I think the Steelseries APEX boards do as well, but the problem is, the sidewinders are discontinued/rare and cost too much, and the apex boards just cost too much even though they are still being made.
If you are dead set on gaming and only gaming, I'd highly reccomend trying some boards in person to see if any pass that test, or find one of the APEX boards on sale. (I snagged one for $20 from tigerdirect, but to this day they refuse to give it to me, claiming that they don't have any in stock, and yet they continue to sell them...) I'd also reccomend something with Macros on the left side and music/volume controls up above the num-pad or in the F keys under a toggle, as both of those can be very useful both inside and outside of games.
However, if you would like to increase your typing speed and enjoy typing more, I'd fully reccomend Brown Cherry Switches, because the nearly binary function of the specific membrane boards I mentioned that is so great for gaming, feels horrible for typing, and will probably make you slower then a basic/standard membrane that you'd see in schools. It has to do with key repetition speeds and various other factors that I could spend an hour explaining. >.>
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