From nonchalant to chalant.

A switch type with smooth, uninterrupted travel from top to bottom. No bump, no click. Common in gaming-oriented switches like Cherry MX Red and Gateron Yellow.

Deep, muted, satisfying. Like a small book hitting carpet. The opposite of a tinny laptop keyboard.

A switch with a noticeable bump partway through the keystroke that signals actuation. Cherry MX Brown is the classic example; enthusiasts often prefer sharper bumps like Holy Pandas or Boba U4Ts.

A switch that produces an audible click at actuation, usually paired with a tactile bump. Loud and divisive; Cherry MX Blue and Kailh Box Jade are common examples.

A switch that uses a magnet and a sensor instead of metal contacts. No physical wear, adjustable actuation depth, and supports rapid trigger. Found in Wooting, Razer Huntsman analog, and most modern competitive gaming boards.

A feature on hall-effect (and some optical) switches that re-actuates the key the instant you start releasing it, instead of waiting until you cross a fixed point. Lets you double-tap or strafe far faster than traditional mechanical switches.

Soft silicone or rubber gaskets sandwich the plate between the top and bottom of the case. The plate floats, giving a softer, bouncier typing feel and a fuller sound. The dominant style in custom and premium prebuilt boards today.

The PCB screws directly into posts in the bottom case. Cheap to manufacture, rigid and harsh-feeling, and prone to inconsistent sound across the board. Common in budget and older keyboards.

The plate screws to the top half of the case from above. Firm and stable typing feel with a focused, punchy sound. Popular in higher-end customs.

Tiny rubber o-rings cushion the plate at its mounting points. A simpler, cheaper cousin of gasket mount with a similarly soft feel.

A 104-key layout with function row, navigation cluster, and numpad. Maximum keys, maximum desk space.

Tenkeyless. Full-size minus the numpad, leaving ~87 keys. The most common "serious typist" size — keeps arrows and the F-row but frees desk space for the mouse.

TKL squished together: F-row and arrows are present but packed into a tight rectangular footprint with no gaps. Compact without losing any commonly-used keys.

Drops the F-row but keeps arrows and a few nav keys. The compact-board sweet spot — small enough to be portable, complete enough to type and game on without function layers.

Smallest mainstream layout. No F-row, no arrows, no nav cluster — everything not on the alphas lives on a function layer. Loved by minimalists; takes a learning curve.

The keyboard is in two physically separate halves you can place at shoulder width and angle independently. Reduces wrist deviation; ZSA Moonlander and Kinesis Advantage are well-known examples.

A harder, more textured plastic used for keycaps. Resists shine over time and gives a slightly drier, deeper sound. The default for enthusiast keycap sets.

A softer, smoother plastic used for keycaps. Allows brighter colors and crisper double-shot legends, but develops a greasy shine on heavily-used keys within months.

A keycap manufactured by molding two plastics together so the legend is a separate piece of plastic, not paint or dye. Legends never wear off.

A short, sculpted keycap profile (rows have different shapes). The de-facto enthusiast standard — low, comfortable, neutral sound. Note: physically interferes with north-facing switches on some boards.

A slightly taller sculpted profile, similar shape to Cherry but ~1mm higher. What most prebuilt and OEM-brand keyboards ship with. Safe, familiar feel.

Tall, spherical-topped, retro-styled keycaps. Distinctive look (think old IBM beam-spring vibes) and a deep "thocky" sound, but takes adjustment due to height.

The switch is mounted with its LED slot toward the top of the board (toward the number row). Lights up keycap legends brilliantly from above, but causes physical interference with Cherry-profile keycaps on the home row — they bottom out against the switch housing instead of the stem.

The switch is mounted with its LED toward the bottom of the board (toward the spacebar). RGB shines through less brightly on legends, but every keycap profile fits without interference. The safer choice for enthusiast keycap swaps.

Every individual switch has its own addressable RGB LED, so you can light keys independently (reactive effects, key highlighting, layer indicators). Standard on gaming boards; rarer on enthusiast customs.

The PCB has sockets that grip switch pins, so you can pull and replace switches by hand — no soldering. Lets you try different switches without committing. Now near-universal on enthusiast and mid-range boards.

Open-source keyboard firmware (QMK) and its graphical configurator (VIA). Lets you remap keys, build macros, and define multiple layers without recompiling. The de-facto programmability standard for enthusiast boards.

Wire-and-housing assemblies under wider keys (spacebar, shift, enter, backspace) that keep them level when pressed off-center. Bad stabs are the #1 source of rattle and ticking; lubing them is the most impactful mod a beginner can do.

Switches taken apart and hand-coated with a thin lubricant (Krytox 205g0 is the canonical pick) to remove scratchiness and quiet the sound. Tedious but transformative; the gateway mod into the hobby.

Thin plastic films inserted between a switch's top and bottom housing to tighten the fit and reduce wobble. Often paired with lubing for a deeper, more focused sound.

Adding foam (case foam, PCB foam, plate foam) to absorb the hollow, pingy sound of an empty case. Most modern prebuilts come with foam pre-installed.

A few strips of painter's tape or electrical tape applied to the back of the PCB. Cheap, reversible, and produces a poppier, fuller sound by changing how vibrations resonate inside the case. Famously coined by Taeha Types.