An essential peripheral whenever you’re using your computer, there is a wide variety to pick from. Whether it is gaming mechanical keyboards or something standard, there’s still a variety of switches, keycaps, and sizes that vary between them. So we are looking to test these out and then be able to provide you with some of our best recommendations through a variety of buying guides.
To achieve that and be able to recommend some of the best products, we want to provide you with honest and tested options. This will offer the basis for our recommendations for the various pages, so here’s how our keyboard review process is conducted, with an outline of how we score them.
Design and features
Once the keyboard is in, we send it to our creative team. They create and capture the photography and videos, giving them the first look and bringing out the visuals we include on our pages. That also consists of the visual and audio aspects of testing out the keyboards and letting you hear them to make sure the sound is one you can enjoy.
After that, our reviewers can get hands-on and begin their process. They can examine what comes in the box and see how well the keyboards are designed. They can also examine the layout and style they choose, mainly what keys are featured on the board, as some may still add a few extras.
Then, we see what else is included in the box and the keyboard’s design. For example, a keycap puller to make customization easier, mainly if they include a few replacement options, or even small additions like adjustable feet to change the typing angle, are all factors to consider in these reviews.
Performance
After unboxing and getting out all the appropriate features, we set it up, plug it into our computers, and install any associated software. This gives us control of the device, as you can usually set the colors and macros or change any key activations. We evaluate how well-designed and easy it is to use.
After that, we put in hours of typing experience, writing up our usual work, and trying out gaming here and there. This gives us a good scope of the keyboard’s capabilities and how it feels and performs in various tasks. Along with trying out Monkeytype to see how up to speed we can get right off the bat and if you can use it from the get-go.
This gives us plenty of time to listen to how well the keyboard sounds and how good it is to type. The quality and construction of a keyboard affect its quality, so make sure it is worth your time and effort.
Pricing
Another factor is how much you’ll be paying for the keyboard. This is important to consider, as you want to get a good value option considering all its features and specs. That way, we can compare similar priced or specced products to see if the value is there for the variety of keyboards.
Scoring
After our testing and hands-on experience with the keyboards, we have to score them and rank them against the other options. Here is a breakdown of roughly how each area affects the final score.
Design and feature (40%)
The specs, build quality, and keyboard features are rather important. They give you a good understanding of what to expect and how well it should perform depending on what is featured inside. But it would be best if you also wanted to enjoy the board’s look so you can have it on your desk without issues.
Performance (40%)
How the keyboard sounds and performs is essential when you use it so often, so it must have a good sound. But you also want an excellent polling rate and actuation point to get a good performance out of it, especially in gaming where milliseconds count; you want it to be reactive and quick.
Price (20%)
Price is a factor; you always want to get a good value. You don’t want to overpay for bad quality and a keyboard lacking features the competition might.
