geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Danny356 on Sat, 11 May 2019, 03:02:57
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for example
http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/products/mechanical-keyboard/wasd-v3-104-key-custom-mechanical-keyboard.html has plastic covering the switches on the sides
but
https://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-Apex-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard/dp/B074536KKX/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=steelseries+keyboard&qid=1557561654&s=gateway&sr=8-1
doesn't have a casing and the sides of the switch are completely exposed.
seems like the majority of exposed keyboards are "gaming" branded. Is there any sort of functional reasoning for all of this? easier to clean maybe? seems like itll be more prone to getting damaged though
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Most mechanical keyboards have a metal plate in which the key switches are mounted. In olden days it used to be painted steel — but that can rust, so nowadays it is most often anodised aluminium, often given a brushed or sandblasted finish before anodising to mask imperfections.
Because metal is considered to be more "premium", manufacturers found that if they exposed the anodised aluminium plate they could sell it as having a "aluminium case", with no real extra cost. :rolleyes:
Other than that, it is about trends.... For instance, brushed black-anodised aluminium was really trendy for computer equipment not long ago (just like glossy black and coloured transparent plastic decades before, respectively ...). If not real metal, the brushed pattern was often imitated in plastic.
The gaming-oriented mass-retail brand Corsair was early with an exposed kinked plate, in brushed finish. Now though, brushed finish has gone out of style a bit I think, and most new keyboards with exposed plate tend to have a sandblasted finish.
Apple were not first but they had spearheaded the trend with anodised alu computer equipment. Many brands have tried to imitate them but failed to make it cost-effective. Apple succeeded because of a very streamlined assembly line producing high volumes of the same parts for years, whereas PC brands change more.
A piece of sheet metal with one or more bends in it is much cheaper to produce than CNC-milled metal case that covers the sides — and you would have to make that sheet metal part anyway.
I suspect that one inspiration for this back in the beginning could also been homebrew keyboards that had a sandwiched case construction where the plate was the top because that was easier and required less material.
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Mostly for style points. I don't think there are functional reasons for this; other than shaving off a dollar in manufacturing costs.
I also think it makes the keyboards louder.
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for example
http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/products/mechanical-keyboard/wasd-v3-104-key-custom-mechanical-keyboard.html has plastic covering the switches on the sides
but
https://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-Apex-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard/dp/B074536KKX/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=steelseries+keyboard&qid=1557561654&s=gateway&sr=8-1
doesn't have a casing and the sides of the switch are completely exposed.
seems like the majority of exposed keyboards are "gaming" branded. Is there any sort of functional reasoning for all of this? easier to clean maybe? seems like itll be more prone to getting damaged though
Short answer - aesthetic preference. No case material on the side is usually just called low profile. Trend now is high profile boards. At one point low profile boards seemed to be big.