Just recently started learning about mechanical keyboards. Without caring about competitive gaming, are there reasons to get HE or TMR setups?
Thanks!
This is coming from someone who hasn’t physically played around with HE/TMR that much but I would say if you aren’t looking for the absolute best competitive advantage in games, there’s not much of a reason to get it. The one reason I could maybe see is the ability to map different keys/actions at different actuation heights, could be useful if it’s something you can teach yourself to use efficiently.
1 Like
Okay. I don’t think I would use that either. I’m just a little hesitant because HE seems like newer technology, and TMR seems like even newer technology. I don’t want to get an irrelevant board.
Thanks.
It’s “newer” in the sense that it has been developed again enough recently for the purposes of gaming but if you actually look at the history of keyboards and switches. Magnetic switches were used even way back in the day of vintage keyboards (that is another rabbit hole in itself but just thought i’d throw it out there).
But again nothing wrong with getting a normal MX switch keyboard, all that matters is that YOU like your board whether or not that means getting an HE keyboard.
3 Likes
I might have missed a step. Do these he and tmr boards restrict switch use? I was having fun learning about different silent switches. It sounds like these boards can’t use a wide variety of switches?
1 Like
Yes. I haven’t dived in deeply, but as I understand it, both HE and and TMR boards use the same “magnetic” switches. How the PCB senses the magnet will vary between the two techs, but rather than being electrical contact switches with terminals sticking out of the bottom housing to interface with the PCB, the slider has an embedded magnet that the PCB can sense via one of the two techniques.
Several of the benefits of magnetic switches work better with a linear switch type, so most of them are linear. I think there are beginning to be more silenced magnetics these days, but the ecosystem is not nearly as diverse.
3 Likes
Do these boards even restrict the key choice per board???
The keychron q3 he board I was leaning toward looks like it has a specific double rail switch design, and there are only three switches to choose from?
Maybe I am missing something here again. Is the idea that they are customizable with software, so you don’t really need switch options? I would like to make a silent board. I think I am used to a tactile switch. Are these options an HE or TMR board can’t provide?
Yes HE/TMR boards can only use HE/TMR switches, not regular MX switches as MX switches do not physically have a magnet in them meaning they would not work. The same applies the other way around, can’t use HE switches on a regular MX PCB. For the most part you should be able to use any HE switch you find out there with any HE keyboard like the Keychron Q3 HE, but just check the description to see if it says otherwise.
By “key choice” I’m assuming you mean what keys/actions are bound to what and if the board says it supports QMK/VIA or they have their own software, you should be able to change whatever you want.
The software customization has nothing to do with how the switch feels as a mechanical device, just when and how it actuates. If you have a switch that you like in the abstract (e.g. with the keyboard disconnected), but you’re annoyed that it actuates too soon because you type like a monster, or you think it takes too long to actuate because you don’t like bottoming out, you can change that, but you can’t change the fundamental feel without modding. Software can also do some other stuff, but it’s always about the switches’ interface with the device, not the user’s experience with the plastic and springs of the switches themselves.
They will be silenced or have tactility in roughly the same way that MX switches are, rubber dampers or differently shaped internal bits. I believe there are a few silenced magnetic switches, and a few tactiles, but I’m not sure if there is a silenced tactile yet. Most people want tactiles and clickies to have a fixed relationship to actuation (and those who don’t bottom out while typing prefer them to be as close as possible), so several of the benefits of HE/TMR are blunted if you don’t use linears. In use, the most common analogy for magnetic switches is probably the analog trigger on the back of your (or your kids’) video game controllers.
“Double rail",” IIRC, is an internal design element of the switches (for avoiding keycap wobble) and shouldn’t prevent you from using other ones. And, just to avoid any potential confusion, TMR/HE boards are generally all completely compatible with standard MX stem keycaps.