Your regular keyboard may suffice for sending emails or writing essays, but if you’re serious about gaming, choosing the right keyboard is completely essential. Dedicated gaming keyboards are engineered to serve a long life and offer qualities no run-of-the-mill keyboard can.
If you’re new to the realm of gaming keyboards, it can be very easy to become overwhelmed by all the different designs and features on the market. From anti-ghosting and n-key rollover to macros and mechanical switches, there’s a lot to learn. Here are some of the main qualities you’ll want to look for when buying a dedicated keyboard.
Build Quality
If you’re spending hours gaming at your computer, you’ll need a keyboard that’s built to withstand that kind of usage. Most gaming keyboards are built with durability and longevity in mind. Most regular keyboards use PVC plastic; plastics like ABS and POM offer much higher durability and are more resistant to natural oils and repeated stress.
High-end options will usually also feature mechanical switches, which are far more durable and responsive than standard membrane switches. A metal backplate helps to eliminate any flex in the keyboard. As a result, the risk of bending or breaking is greatly reduced, and the components inside are kept safe and functional.
Key Rollover or Anti-ghosting
Key rollover is basically a measure of how many keypresses your keyboard is able to register at once. Most regular keyboards have 1 or 2 key rollovers or KRO. Any more than that number of presses and the keyboard won’t register the additional keystrokes. This issue is widely referred to as ‘ghosting’.
A quality gaming keyboard should come with a minimum of 6 KRO. This facilitates the registration of enough simultaneous keystrokes for fast-paced gamers to perform efficiently. The ultimate KRO standard is known as N-key rollover or NKRO, this grants the best gaming keyboards the ability to register every single keystroke, regardless of the number. Ensuring that you will never miss that critical shot.
Macro Keys & Software Customization
Macros are basically a command or chain of commands that require the pressing of a combination of keys. Macro keys are one of the most useful features of gaming keyboards, they are dedicated unassigned keys that can be programmed to execute said combinations or sequences with one press of the key.
Most gaming keyboards will also allow you to re-program or re-assign the function of any key you like. This could be an entire sequence of keystrokes and even mouse clicks in some cases, saving you valuable time and streamlining your gaming performance. This is usually done through dedicated software that tends to be provided with the keyboard or available via download.
Gaming keyboards are becoming increasingly complex and customizable these days, the options mentioned in this article are only the foundations for perfecting your gaming experience.
There are a plethora of other options and features that you can discover once you begin assessing the options available on the market, follow these basic guidelines then explore as much as you can before choosing the right keyboard for you.
