Any serious PC gamer should have a gaming keyboard as part of their setup. But even if you don’t play many games, a gaming keyboard can be a useful, productive accessory for all sorts of work.
The Media Keys Are a Godsend
Of all the features that a gaming keyboard comes with, this is the one that I cannot live without. A good gaming keyboard will have a set of media keys, typically in the top right-hand corner. You can use these to control your current media, whether you’re using Spotify, Netflix, or even VLC.
You don’t even need to have the window active on your desktop; as long as it’s running, the keys will shut it off. This is great when you need to take a quick break from your computer or if you’re about to jump into a video call. But even when you’re just typing, flicking a volume roller on your keyboard is much better than trying to remember which function key will do the job.
You Can Automate Tasks Using Macro Keys
One of the oft-touted benefits of AI is that it can help you automate tasks, but users of gaming keyboards have been doing this for years using macro keys. Many gaming keyboards are equipped with extra keys that don’t do anything when you first plug the deck in. But, using the keyboard’s software, you’re able to set them to do lots of different things.
Instead of having tomemorize alt codes, you can set these macro keys up to insert special characters that don’t have their own physical keys. These might be em dashes, currency symbols, ellipses, or many more; I find them useful for making sure “Pokémon” always has that accented ‘e’.
Love posting animated gifs or emojis? you may set up macro keys for these characters too. You can also use them as shortcuts for actions like pulling up a particular window, or even in place of media controls if your keyboard doesn’t have any.
And of course, they’re great for any repetitive task. Find yourself writing a lot of similar emails? Instead of cut-and-pasting, you can make the repeated text accessible with one press, thanks to the macro keys.
Heavy-Handed Typists Need a Durable Deck
Gaming keyboards are just built tougher. Many of them even have a metal case, so you couldn’t crack one in half, even if you tried. Sure, this makes them a bit heavier, but you’re probably not taking your keyboard on the go anyway.
The keys themselves are also designed for heavy typing and are unlikely to become unresponsive at any point, so you can hammer out emails or code without being gentle. That’s great when you’re extra stressed at work.
If they ever stop working,you may fix them pretty easily. To clean a key, just pop it off and remove the crumbs and other gunk underneath, then pop it back on.
