· 4 min read

You Probably Don’t Need a Mechanical Keyboard

# Random Talk
This article was auto-translated from Chinese. Some nuances may be lost in translation.

A truth it took me years to realize. The shorter the key travel, the lighter the actuation, the faster the typing speed, the less the fatigue.

I’m not sure whether it’s the atmosphere, the fact that software engineers are naturally drawn to keyboards, or simply because the job requires long hours of typing, but I’ve always just liked the feel that mechanical keyboards bring.

Both in my own experience and in previous jobs, quite a few colleagues used mechanical keyboards. After moving to Japan, I even noticed that many coworkers had more than two HHKB keyboards, and some even bought their own parts and PCBs and soldered together split keyboards by themselves.

In the past, I also really liked mechanical keyboards. I once bought a FILCO MINILA with brown switches. Back then, hot-swappable boards weren’t mainstream yet, so once you bought it, you were stuck with it. It was one of the keyboards I enjoyed using the most. Later, I bought the HHKB electro-capacitive keyboard, which is very well known in the development world.

I really like the feel and key layout of HHKB. In Japanese, people use “コトコト” to describe the sound. It’s completely different from the kind of feel mechanical keyboards pursue, but for me it’s very comfortable. HHKB is great, but it has one issue:

  • Not having arrow keys is still very inconvenient (on HHKB, you have to hold Fn to use them)
  • The keycaps are quite special, so customization isn’t really possible

Later, I went back to mechanical keyboards again, and this time I got even deeper into it, even starting to get into custom keyboards. Over time, I bought:

  • Nuphy Air65
  • Nuphy Halo65
  • Zoom65 v2
  • Neo65

Since HHKB layouts are relatively uncommon on the market, PCBs that support split spacebars, Tsangan Enter, and split backspace are especially great to me. Because the PCB layout determines the key layout.

On top of that, I also tried all kinds of different switches, just to find the ideal feel and sound in my mind. In the custom keyboard world, achieving that “mahjong-like” clacking sound is something many enthusiasts chase.

Later, I realized something: when you need to write code for long periods of time, the fatigue caused by mechanical keyboards is actually quite noticeable, especially with heavier switches. On top of that, custom keyboards more or less have issues with connection stability.

In the end, I went back to electro-capacitive and membrane keyboards:

  • Niz Atom 68
  • Keychron B1 Pro

The reason I chose these two keyboards is that they both support key remapping, allowing me to keep an (almost) HHKB layout.

It took me years to realize this truth. The shorter the key travel, the lighter the actuation, the faster the typing speed, and the lower the fatigue. Another benefit of electro-capacitive or membrane keyboards is that they’re quiet, so your coworkers are less likely to hate you.

The Niz Atom 68 is an electro-capacitive keyboard with 35g actuation force, and the B1 Pro is a membrane keyboard that’s extremely portable. Both support keymap customization.

I’ve finally come to understand that a keyboard is a tool, a HID (Human Interface Device). As such, it should do its job well: maximize input speed and minimize fatigue. And if you need to take it out with you, it should be lightweight and easy to carry. Everything else is just fluff.

Custom keyboards are a lot like luxury watches: once you start chasing them, they stop being tools and become collectibles.