So, the other day I was messing around with my keyboard, and it got me thinking about those butterfly switches that Apple used to put in their MacBooks. Remember those? For a few years, they were all the rage, until they weren’t. I decided to take a closer look and see what the deal was.
I started by taking apart an old keyboard I had lying around. It wasn’t an Apple one, but it gave me a good idea of how the regular membrane keyboards work. It was pretty simple, just some rubber domes and a plastic membrane. I thought, “This is fine, but it is not very interesting.”
Next, I got my hands on a mechanical keyboard. Man, that was a different beast altogether! I pulled off a keycap and saw the switch underneath. It was so cool, with all those moving parts. I pressed down on it, and it felt so satisfying. Then I start learning that the mechanical keyboards are more durable than those membrane ones. They can last for years and years, even with heavy use. And you can customize them too! You can swap out the switches, the keycaps, everything. It’s like building your own little keyboard world.
Experiment Time!
I ordered a few butterfly switches online, just to see how they compared.
- When they arrived, I carefully disassembled one. It was so tiny and delicate!
- I noticed right away how different it was from the mechanical switches. It had this little hinge mechanism, like a tiny butterfly.
- I played around with it for a while, pressing it and seeing how it moved. It was definitely unique.
Then, I tried to put the butterfly switch into my mechanical keyboard. That was a challenge, let me tell you! They’re not really designed to be swapped out like that. But after a lot of fiddling, I finally managed to get it in there. I connected the keyboard to my computer and typed a few words.
It felt… weird. It was definitely shallower than the mechanical switches, and it didn’t have that same satisfying click. But it did work! I guess that’s why Apple thought they were a good idea for a while. They were trying to make the laptops thinner, and these switches were definitely low-profile.
After messing around for a few hours, I put my mechanical switches back in. I realized that I am a fan of mechanical keyboard after all. They’re just more fun to use, and they last longer. But it was still cool to experiment with the butterfly switches and see how they worked. It’s always fun to learn something new, even if it’s just about a keyboard!