Needing help choosing a new keyboard.

[AaronReacher]

Hello,

I'm in need of a bit of help. I am not that experienced with keyboards and keyboard switches.

I do know that when I felt some switches this week at a store, I had this amazing feel with these silver colored switches. Furthermore, I believe they are called Silver speed switches.
Now, I am trying to find a mechanical keyboard that has those switches already, or if that I can only buy the switches separately and have to replace those switches with a new keyboard by using a solder gun.

I would love to get some recommendations for a full factor keyboard that already has silver speed switches, and if not a keyboard recommendation that is just all out amazing to use. 

I currently have a few years old Corsair K68 cherry.

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

The word/feature you are looking for is "hotswap sockets", most if not all custom boards (even budget ones nowadays) come with them. Even a few gaming brands started using them now.

Hotswap sockets mean that the switches aren't soldered in, but seated in sockets and can be easily replaced by the user. So even if you get a board with switches you don't like that much after a while, it is easy and much cheaper to just replace all the switches than buying a whole new keyboard.

 

In terms of switches, what you are describing sounds like linear switches with a short actuation distance, usually called silver for the color of the stem. Several companies make those. However, the color and naming scheme is not universal and switch manufacturers had to start weird to nonsensical naming schemes for lack of colors. Some examples:

 

Gateron G Pro 3.0 silver: https://www.gateron.co/products/gateron-g-pro-3-0-switch-set?variant=40479583043673 (page is for all variants, scroll down a bit for the silver spec sheat)

Gateron Norh Pole 2.0 box silver: https://www.gateron.co/products/gateron-north-pole-switch-set?variant=40050428280921

Kailh speed switches, all types of switches with early actuation points: https://www.kailh.net/products/kailh-speed-switch-set

 

In terms of keyboards to go with, for full-size my go-to recommendation is still Keychron, since only very few other companies offer true full-size keyboards (many do slightly smaller or compressed layouts, they still require new muscle memory though).

 

Keychron nowadays has a confusingly diverse set of keyboard lines, simply because they apparently don't discontinue the older legacy lines. I'd recommend to have a look at:

• V6 MAX https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-v6-max-qmk-via-wireless-custom-mechanical-keyboard Appears to be the spiritual successor to the K10 and V6 line. The V6 is still killer in terms of value though.
• Q6 MAX https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-q6-max-qmk-via-wireless-custom-mechanical-keyboard Which is just a straight upgrade over the Q Pro and Q series, for very little extra money.

Other full-size boards are from Monsgeek (https://www.monsgeek.com/product/m5/ only available as a kit though) or boards from Nuphy (no real full-size though). I believe the latest boards from Ducky also offer hotswap nowadays.

 

 

[Doobeedoo]

No point soldering when you can get hotswap keyboard to easily replace. Or barebones board. 

Depends what size you want now. Full, tkl, smaller. Some examples with Cherry MX Speed Silver switches option, Corsair K70, Mountain Everest (if it can ship to your place), Ducky One series. Some other brands can have similar speed style switch, comparable total travel and actuation.