Okay, so I’ve been wanting a new keyboard for a while, and I finally decided to go for it. I’d heard about “hot swap” keyboards and how you can easily change the switches, so that sounded perfect for me. I’m not a super techy person, but I like customizing things, you know?
First, I did some digging. I looked at a bunch of different keyboards online, read some reviews, watched a few videos. It was a little overwhelming, to be honest! There are so many options. I finally settled on one that looked good, had decent reviews, and wasn’t crazy expensive.
Then I had to choose the switches. This was another rabbit hole! There are so many types – clicky, tactile, linear… it’s wild. I ended up going with some tactile switches because I like feeling a little bump when I type, but I don’t want the super loud clicks.
So, the keyboard and switches arrived! I was pretty excited. Unboxing everything was fun. The keyboard itself felt solid and well-made. The switches came in a little box, all neatly organized.
Now for the actual swapping. Honestly, it was easier than I expected. The keyboard came with a little tool – a switch puller – that you use to, well, pull the switches out. You just kind of wiggle it in there and gently pull, and the switch pops out. The hardest part was making sure the switch was lined up correctly, but I realized a trick of matching the pins first, then pushing.
Then you just pop the new switch in. You have to make sure the pins on the bottom of the switch line up with the holes on the keyboard, but it’s pretty straightforward. You just push it in until it clicks into place.
I repeated this process for every single key. It took a little while, maybe an hour or so, but it was kind of relaxing, in a weird way. Like building with LEGOs or something.
After getting comfortable and learning from some mistakes. I wanted to see if all the switches work. I did the spacebar switch first and tested a few times. Then worked through the letter keys, and so on. I also learned to keep the old switches just in case.
Once I was done, I plugged the keyboard in and… it worked! Typing on it felt so much better than my old keyboard. The tactile switches were exactly what I wanted. Success!
So, yeah, that’s my hot swap keyboard adventure. It was a fun little project, and now I have a keyboard that feels perfect for me. If you’re thinking about trying it, I say go for it! It’s not as scary as it might seem.