Not All Linears Are The Same!
Figure 1: Not even all of these (mostly) KTT-made linears are the same! After all of my years of collecting, reviewing, and obsessing over switches, I can say with certainty that linear switches are the most misunderstood of all of the switch types. No, I’m not talking about mechanically either, as all of the claims of them “just going straight up and down” are somewhat kind of true. (Not too much though, don’t get that excited.) The part that is often misunderstood, though, is usually in what is being implied when people say that these switches just go straight up and down – “All linears might as well be the same.” If the title of this article didn’t make that obvious enough to you, I find that sort of idea to be completely and utterly wrong. The people who make these implications wouldn’t say that a Cherry MX Black is the same as a Novelkeys Cream switch? They also certainly wouldn’t ever claim that every Gateron-made linear is the same as every fancy TTC one out there...
May 29, 2024
While I wish I could spend the rest of the day and Drop’s article word limit on talking about all of the different switch brands we know of out there today, alas I cannot. Even though this was only a precursory glance of what all is out there, this should be enough to help many newcomers gain some sort of traction in understanding just exactly what they are looking at when buying switches. If you happen to need some more help, perhaps check out the article I wrote on Switch Marketing Terms: What to Know and What to Ignore. Or, if you’re really feeling adventurous, go buy some random brands and try them out!