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 there are many keyboard components to look into to find the perfect fit for you, I will be personally biased in saying that I think the switches are most important. For some takes on the other bits and pieces of mechanical keyboards out there, you should check out some of the articles that the other awesome writers at Drop have put out about them here. As to why I think that switches are the first component to consider in any mechanical keyboard build, here are top three reasons laid out:
As you may have guessed by the fact that we stock so many switches, each one can produce different feelings and sounds with each press of a key. While I cover some of the marketing terms and switch slang in this article that helps you understand what separates one switch from another (Coming Soon!), you’ll have to trust me for now that the options are near endless. Switch weights ranging from 30g to over 100g in force, with three different types, and hundreds of different color schemes all make for an incredible set of options for your perfect keyboard. Did I even mention that you can further customize your switches on your own after you buy them?
With that brief introduction as to why switches are such an important decision for you to make when picking your first or even fifteenth keyboard, I hope I was able to convince you to look a bit further into the details that sets switches like Holy Pandas and Gateron Yellows apart! My personal recommendation for next steps would be to look into the three main types of switches , though I won’t stop you if you want to jump right into trying some out for yourself. Before you do that, though, you may want to check out different marketing terms which you’ll often see with switches. Mod Edit: Fixed some formatting