Wired, wireless, thin and light mechanical keyboard recommendation

While more typical membrane keyboards like Apple's popular Magic-branded devices are fine, there's a large segment of people who prefer mechanical keyboards for their greater tactile feel and durability. There's also a sizable community of enthusiasts who love to tinker and customize keyboards to get their favorite look and feel, which means keyboards can also be a fun hobby as well as simple PC accessories.

For this list of recommendations we prioritize keyboards that offer hot-swapping, so you can easily replace the keycaps when something goes wrong or when you want a new set of keycaps. Most of the keyboards below are 75% layouts.

While any keyboard will do for gaming, this guide focuses on typing and general office work, so input lag and responsiveness aren't the main deciding factors.

The V1 is an entry-level wired keyboard, and at $100, it's one of the best deals in this guide, but the typing feel is almost as good as keyboards twice the price, and the build quality is solid and looks great Not bad either, its 75% layout offers nice compactness without sacrificing too many important keys.

The V1 is packed with features you would normally find on an audiophile keyboard. It offers hot-swappable switches with RGB backlighting, and its switches feel nice and functional. It's fully customizable, and the shell can remap each key using the VIA software on the QMK. The V1 is equipped with durable dual-shot PBT keycaps with MAC and WINDOWS legends, and the switch on the back of the keyboard can be switched quickly.

Keychon's Q-series keyboards offer expensive running boards on off-the-shelf models. They're a bit pricey, but the solid aluminum construction, great typing feel, and customizability mean they're quite a bit more expensive than keyboards. . But not the first option most people should consider.

The Q-Series' all-aluminum casing and gasket-mounted design make it stronger than plastic keyboards. By effectively suspending the keyboard and PCB between the gaskets, they flex a bit when using the keyboard. As a result, the keyboard has a deeper key travel and a richer typing sound. It is also more customizable than V1.

For a wireless keyboard, the Epomaker th80 is really good, feels great to type on, supports bluetooth connections to up to three different devices, and includes a 2.4GHZ wireless usb if you don't want to mess with bluetooth pairing. It has separate Mac-specific keycaps on the middle frame, and allows you to switch between Apple and Android with a simple shortcut.

Like the V1 and Q1, the TH80 is also a 75% keyboard with hot-swap switches and a volume knob. It has a plastic case and steel switch plates, and while it doesn't feel as premium as the Q-series keyboards, it has nice PBT keycaps, smooth stabilizers, and a great typing feel.

The TH80 layout can be remapped, but it's not as robust as Keychron's boards using the VIA program, but allows remapping of every key (except the function keys) using alternate keys or macros.

The TH80 has per-key RGB lighting, but keeping the backlight on in wireless mode drains battery power quickly.

If you want a wireless keyboard with a number pad. The AK966 has most of the keys of a full size keyboard although its layout squeezes them together to reduce bulk this larger layout also offers a 10000mah battery the AK966 has a good and crisp typing feel smooth and doesn't give out rattling sound. ajazz's keyboard uses a plastic shell but feels better than the above two plastics. The keycaps of the AK966 are PBT, and the pattern is nice and clear. While there is no printed auxiliary function on the keycap, it also has a volume knob.

While it includes Mac keycaps in the box and has key combinations that allow you to switch between window and mac layouts, Ajazz's software for customizing the Ak966's layout, configuring lighting or recording macros is only available on windows .

If you're looking for the tactile feel of a mechanical keyboard, but prefer a low-profile design that resembles a traditional laptop keyboard, you have plenty of options. The NuPhyAir75 feels great to type on, and can connect via Bluetooth or 2.4Ghz USB to pair the keyboard with linear Gateron Red low-profile switches, but it also offers feel and click options.

Unlike the Logitech Mx Mini, it offers hot-swapping, which of course isn't as important in thin keyboards as there aren't as many thin keycap options, but it's still a nice feature.

This keyboard separates your hands and makes typing more comfortable on your shoulders. It doesn't have a hot-swap switch unless you're willing to fiddle with it and just use the brown or muted red that comes with it. And its layout is closer to a traditional keyboard than many ergonomics, which means less learning curve after purchase. At the same time the configurator software provides a large number of options to highly customize the layout of the keyboard, which means that the keyboard can be customized according to the needs.