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this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
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Mechanical Keyboards
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Connectivity, firmware, mounting method (e.g. tray, gasket, etc.), weight (more is usually better unless you'll be moving it around), and if you want to try to avoid a rabbit hole, included keycaps; the look would count under aesthetic, but people can have very strong opinions about the profile (aka the shape).
Dammit, that seems like the rabbit hole right there ๐
What needs to be taken into consideration for firmware?
Generally, for a "normal" mechanical keyboard, just pay a few bucks extra to make sure it claims to have QMK and/or one of VIA or VIAL. The first is an open source firmware that, assuming the maker followed the license properly and released their code, allows for accessible updates and reflashing. The other two are actually WYSIWYG web/electron apps that run on top of specially configured QMK installs and allow you to change keymaps/macros/etc. on the fly without re-flashing. Some keyboard makers (almost exclusively Chinese companies at this point) are better citizens than others about their open source software, but for simple functionality you want to make sure they're advertising that they use them.
Thanks! That's something I wasn't even aware existed, but seems pretty important.
Only the cheapest of cheap mech boards (or vintage boards with no adapter) will be completely unable to be re-mapped, but the closed-source firmwares and their apps are generally quite limited and unpleasant to use. Not the biggest deal in the world if you use a full size or "tenkey-less" that simply lops off the numpad, but it gets more and more important the smaller you go. Even the very popular "75%" keyboards can benefit from good software as people get strong opinions about what they want the right-hand column to do.