Mechanical vs Membrane Keyboards - What's the difference?

Today we're diving into one of the most common questions we get asked about keyboards! What's the difference between membrane and mechanical keyboards?

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[emintd]

i have purchased a Logitech G103 membrane keyboard 8 years ago and played hundreds of games with it. To this day it is still working without any problems. So membrane keyboards can also have a very long lifespan. Anyway great video. I will buy a mechanichal one since my membrane keyword is still alive but i got bored from it.

[carmensavu]

I don't know about membrane keyboards having a short lifespan. I have a Logitech K380 that's been through the ringer. One time I spilled a bunch of coffee on it and I thought for sure it would be done for. I lifted it and coffee was literally pouring out of it. But no, still going strong after 4 years.

[WolvenSpectre]

One exception to the NKRO and Membrane Keyboards are ones designed to work in PS2 connections vs USB. Although they are getting rarer, a keyboard that is native to the PS2 Port and wasn't backported to it, normally has NKRO. Or to be more accurate NKRO was created to emulate the natural state of a PS2 Keyboard's Native behavior.

Also there are Keyboard Shortcuts that are 4 keys long as well so for people trying to use those Non N-Key Rollover USB Keyboards are less functional.

Lastly, while not functionally a feature, the ability to change keycap sets on most mechanical keyboards is a nice difference as well.

[sebasrojas]

This is exactly the video I needed to see today before buying a keyboard. Thank you very much you just earned a like and subscription.

[steveneighner]

I made the switch to mechanical keyboards mostly because I wanted the backlighting feature. Since doing this last year, I've been through four of these things and each one has had issues with keystrokes registering multiple times so I have to keep correcting my spelling and it seems they're more for gaming than real typing. I started with cheaper ones, then broke down and got one for about $150 and finally got a hot swappable one with round keys that was a mistake because it's far more sensitive so you barely touch the key and it registers a keystroke so that even though I'm not having the issue with multiple keystrokes, I'm having the issue that I barely touch the thing and I'm getting keystrokes. It just seems that mechanicals aren't made for actual everyday use typing. Now I see a membrane keyboard that has backlighting and I think I'll try that next as it's cheaper and frankly, I've had it with these mechanical keyboards as even when I coughed up more money for a highly recommended one, I had the same issue of registering keystrokes multiple times when I only touched it once.

Maybe you should do a story on this as considering I went with top brands each time and had the same issue until the current one with overly sensitive keys, there must be something to this or else I'm just extremely unlucky. But I never had this issue with cheap membrane keyboards.

[NoFir]

I use the steelseries apex 3 membrane keyboard even though I am not on a budget. I somewhat enjoy their mushy feel, but you said most membrane keyboards have lifespan of 5 million presses. this keyboard has estimated 20 million presses. Although i will probs switch to a mech keyboard when this one eventually breaks

[MIchaelSybi]

I tried mechanical keyboards, but couldn't get used to them after so many years of membrane. I tried Varmilo and some top gaming ones from steelseries I guess, but they are still too noisy to me, and I have a hard time to adjust. It's also because both play games, and work, so it's difficult to combine those things. I don't want to adjust to something, which must be so basic and simple.

[myself]

My 30 Euro membrane keyboard is still perfectly fine after 8 years of daily gaming and text writing.

[generalkawasaki]

I am missing the part mentioning that Mechanical keyboards 9 out of 10 don't seem to have the numeric key section. To me that's a con, I need to type in a lot of digits. Also mechanical/membrane hybrids do exist -those types with 'floating' keys, I bought one lately and it doesn't make clacking noise.

[Nogardtist]

membrane breaks easily but the only pros is quiet
particles are dust and food gets trough the gaps and forces you to clean it with a chance of breaking the key also hard to replace especially on laptops

[michaell]

Excellent video explainer! One of the best for keyboard differences! :)

[Layarion]

i'm pretty sure the "no anti ghosting" "con" of membranes, is not an inherent feature, but the result of manuf. not thinking about gamer needs.

[joantonio]

I am different than most people... I simply hate the clicking noise... I once bought a half keyboard and put it back the same day because of the clicking sound... I would take a membrane all day over a loud clicking mechanical keyboard... Thankfully I found a very quite mechanical keyboard so no that annoying clicking sound

[HybridDecon]

Is there by chance a mechanical switch that feels like a membrane keyboard with that squishy feel? I have a mechanical keyboard that’s sat collecting dust because I didn’t like the feel compared to membrane. Barely anywhere in the UK stocks switches to try that aren’t just blue or red, so can’t just go test them sadly 😅

[RaduNerd]

i have a membrane keyboard, its really really really loud, i can press all my keys and they all register and i have no problem with it

[co_okiee]

i had a membrane keyboard it was not that bad i used for 3years until my dad finally agreed on buying a mechanical keyboard he said its just a keyboard it does the same thing but now that i got it now he wants
to buy one for himself

[akisalmenaho]

I have a custom gaming PC, but a stock keyboard from an Acer prebuilt. I don't do much work that requires a lot of typing and when gaming, I prefer controller over keyboard.

[chrisgamer]

The tactile feedback isn't nessesary. For example there are linear switches too. I prefer linears to be honest.

[JohnyIIOh]

Re ghosting: I'm holding down 7 keys on my membrane laptop keyboard and am still able to mute and unmute the video.

[waqmanime]

I didnt realise playtech was an actual company 😆 viva la dirt league sketches always referenced it though