Opinion post by

Calvin Wankhede

For years now, I’ve rotated between three different mechanical keyboards at my desk. They all feel different and have their own idiosyncrasies, which is great when you need a specific layout or feature for a task at hand. But even though I’ve fallen deep into the mechanical keyboard rabbit hole, buying a gaming keyboard never really crossed my mind. That finally changed a few months ago, when I swapped out my custom-built keyboard for the Razer Huntsman Elite — a jarring change that I did not expect to like, even as a gamer.

Like many, I’ve always been skeptical of the “gaming keyboard” descriptor. Keyboards only output a binary signal — a key is either pressed down or not. By contrast, a gaming mouse needs fancy electronics to track subtle hand movements accurately. Most people can tell the difference between standard and gaming mice, but the same isn’t true for keyboards.