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Title: The best keyboards for 2025

Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2025 09:00:36 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessorie...

A good keyboard can make all the difference for your work setup. If you
primarily work on a laptop, switching from the built-in keyboard to a wired
or wireless keyboard can be more comfortable and ergonomic while adding
functionality like extra keys and shortcuts into the mix. If your daily
driver is a desktop, a keyboard will be an essential accessory that can
elevate your rig whether you're using it to work a 9-to-5 with it or play AAA
games in your free time.

But the world of keyboards is vast, and we at Engadget have tried out dozens
over the years including gaming keyboards, ergonomic keyboards, mechanical
keyboards and more. If you're just starting to think about the best keyboard
for you, or you're ready to upgrade from an aging peripheral, we gathered all
of our top picks for the best keyboards you can get right here.

Best keyboards for 2025

What to look for in a keyboard Design Size

The first thing youΓÇÖll want to consider when it comes to your next
keyboardΓÇÖs design is size. There are a number of different keyboard layouts
to choose from, but the most common are full-sized, tenkeyless and those
smaller than tenkeyless.

Full-sized keyboards, or 100 percent, include a function row at the top and a
complete number pad with arrow keys on the right side, along with all of the
rest of the alphanumeric keys youΓÇÖd expect. Tenkeyless, or 80 percent,
removes the number pad but keeps the arrow keys and the function row,
reducing the overall width measurement of the board by a decent amount.
Compact keyboards keep things ultra simple by including only the alphanumeric
keys and modifiers like Alt, Shift, Ctrl and others and they come in
different sizes like 60 percent, 65 percent and more. These are the most
popular sizes out there, but you can find plenty of other designs that
include different mixes of keys along with the standard letters and numbers
all should have.

Aside from size, there are two other big categories that you could use to
define a keyboard: ergonomic and mechanical. Ergonomic keyboards are designed
with, you guessed it, better ergonomics in mind, taking into account where
you should position your fingers, hands and forearms to maintain proper
posture. Separately, mechanical keyboards use mechanical switches (of which
there are many types) that differ greatly from the membrane or scissor-switch
keyboards youΓÇÖll find dominating most wired and wireless options widely
available today. We have guides to the best ergonomic keyboards and best
mechanical keyboards, but weΓÇÖll summarize what you need to know about both
here.

Ergonomic keyboards

If you deal with discomfort from working at a computer all day, ergonomic
keyboards can help. These specially designed boards re-orient the keys,
allowing you to hold your elbows farther apart and maintain a straighter line
from your forearms to hands. Some people find this subtle change more
comfortable.

Ergonomic keyboards typically fall into two categories: Alice and split
keyboards. The former is a single unit with an A-shaped gap in the center of
the keys. Split models come in two separate pieces which you can arrange as
you like on your desk. Additional ergonomic features like tenting and
negative tilt can make typing feel even more comfortable, and are often
available on both Alice and split boards. Tenting raises the middle of the
keys up so your hands take on more of a ΓÇ£handshakeΓÇ¥ position. Negative
tilting lowers the top of the keyboard to keep your wrists angled downward
instead of back towards your forearms.

The way the keys are arranged on the keyboard may make typing easier as well.
Traditionally, keyboards are staggered, with one row of letters slightly
offset from the row beneath it. Columnar keyboards arrange the keys in a grid
of rows and columns. This style takes a little getting used to, but some
people find it allows them to type faster. You can also make the keys of some
keyboards do more than just produce letters. Programmable boards let you map
shortcuts and other functions, which may keep you from reaching for the mouse
quite so often, saving you time and possibly strain as well.

Mechanical keyboards

Mechanical keyboards have blown up in popularity as more people have been
thrust into creating their own workspaces at home. ItΓÇÖs easy to see why:
Compared to a traditional membrane keyboard, a good mechanical board is more
durable, more satisfying to press and, most importantly, infinitely more
customizable. The best of them usually come with a price premium, but even
some cheaper models let you ΓÇ£hot-swapΓÇ¥ between keycaps, switches and
other materials, letting you tinker with different typing sensations and
sound profiles until you find a combination that best expresses your
preferences.

Do you want each press to feel deep and full or fast and light? Do you need
them to sound loud and clacky or almost totally muffled? Do you prefer your
keycaps to look subdued and professional, stuffed with RGB lights or written
in an Elvish language from The Lord of the Rings for some reason? With the
right new keyboard, itΓÇÖs all up to you ΓÇö the only things really holding
you back are your imagination and your wallet.

We have a dedicated buying guide that digs deeper into the key aspects to
consider when buying a mechanical keyboard, so we encourage you to look at
that for a full rundown. To keep things high-level, the most influential part
of your purchase is your keyboardΓÇÖs switch type. These little mechanisms
slot underneath the keycaps and generally have the biggest effect on how your
keyboard feels and sounds as you type away.

You can broadly separate mechanical switches into three buckets: linear,
tactile and clicky. Linear switches feel smooth all the way down; theyΓÇÖre
often popular with gamers since they tend to be light and fast to actuate.
Tactile switches create a tangible ΓÇ£bumpΓÇ¥ sensation partway through a
press; many people who spend all day typing prefer them because they clearly
confirm each press without (always) being all that loud. Clicky switches are
functionally similar to tactiles but make an audible ΓÇ£clickΓÇ¥ sound to
match the bump; your coworkers may hate them, but others love the full-
throated sense of feedback they provide. To be clear, just because two
switches fall within the same bucket doesnΓÇÖt mean they feel or sound
exactly the same. The only way to figure out which switch works best for you
is to do your research and, preferably, try some out for yourself.

Other keyboards have a mechanical-style feel but are built on different
mechanisms entirely. The hot new trend in gaming-focused keyboards, for
example, is Hall effect switches, which use tiny magnets to register
keystrokes and let you customize the sensitivity of each press. Optical
switches, meanwhile, offer similar functionality by replacing the physical
contact point of a typical mechanical switch with a beam of infrared light.
More recently, weΓÇÖve seen a couple keyboards launch with inductive
switches, which can work like magnetic switches but use inductive coils in
the keyboardΓÇÖs printed circuit board (PCB) to cater to all switches
collectively and donΓÇÖt require a sensor for each individual switch. We
touch on a couple of magnetic-switch keyboards in our picks below, but for a
fuller breakdown of this sort of tech, we recommend you check out our
dedicated buying guide to the best gaming keyboards.

Connectivity

YouΓÇÖve got two options here: wired or wireless. Wired keyboards typically
have an attached cable that plugs into a USB-A or USB-C port on your computer
(or docking station), although some come with cables that can be removed.
Wireless mechanical keyboards connect to your machine either via Bluetooth or
a wireless receiver dongle. ThereΓÇÖs always the chance of some latency with
wireless keyboards, so keep that in mind if youΓÇÖre picking one up to use
primarily with a gaming PC. Of course, youΓÇÖll only have to worry about
battery life with Bluetooth keyboards.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessorie...
120000018.html?src=rss

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