Are Mechanical Keyboards Needed in PC Gaming?

No, mechanical keyboards are merely “nice to haves” and not mandatory in PC gaming. The money set aside for a mechanical keyboard should go to an SSD or a better GPU instead. When both SSD and GPU needs are satisfied, then maybe it is time for a mechanical keyboard. Be forewarned though that enjoyment of mechanical keyboards is entirely personal.

The value of mechanical keyboards is that they are incredibly durable. It is very unusual for mechanical keyboards to die within a year as compared to cheap rubber dome keyboards or, as you may have seen with Macbooks ^[1](Jeffrey, C. (2019, July 26). Apple to fully phase out MacBook’s butterfly keyboard by 2020. TechSpot. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from … Continue reading, butterfly switches. Most of these mechanical keyboards should even last a lifetime, especially those that are released recently with hot-swappable switches. A mechanical keyboard is one of the few things in gaming that is truly buy-it-for-life.

Then again, mechanical keyboards are not for everyone. Just because it is used by professional eSports players and streamers, does not mean that everyone will like it. The variance in preference for mechanical keyboards among individuals makes it a very tough recommendation. Some people find mechanical keyboards physically uncomfortable, or otherworldly noisy.

Fun fact: My teammates used this 150php / $3.22 mouse during TI. It’s their preferred mouse too. pic.twitter.com/znxXfEQ8Oe

— Jimmy (@DotaDeMoN) August 30, 2016

Using a mechanical keyboard will not make a person better at video games too. Peripherals, generally, do not alter performances significantly even in a professional setting. One can purchase tools, but not skills.

As for non-gaming purposes, a lot of coders and writers like to use a mechanical keyboard. The author of this site is a prolific writer and swears by the comfort of typing the entirety of this site on a mechanical keyboard as opposed to using membrane keyboards. For him, mechanical keyboards are great but it does not affect his typing and gaming at all other than the comfort aspect.

Yet, the fact that several coders and writers use Macs whose keyboards are not mechanical must be considered. Thoroughly experience mechanical keyboards of friends or relatives, or try them in stores. Blindly purchasing mechanical keyboards is imprudent.