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.