Why Do People Correlate Keyboard Weight With Keyboard Quality?

Learning and discussion
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Serious qustion: why do people correlate a keyboard’s weight with its quality?

For the unitiated, there is a notion in the keyboard hobby that heavier keyboards feel more premium. I understand that there may be other reasons to target heavier keyboards - mainly as heavier and more dense keyboards can correlate with deeper type sounds (depending on other factors) - but the part that is very unintuitive to me is the part where people seek heavier keyboards for the inherent sake of heavier keyboards.

For me, I’d rather have a lighter keyboard so the idea of paying more for a product that will be more difficult to handle is very counterintuitive. “Well that’s just your preference, pal” - yes, this absolutely is. I am also in no way critiquing people’s preference for heavier keyboards as I fully support any preference that’s not detrimental to others. I am writing this post with the hopes of understanding this preference, regardless of whether I ultimately relate to it or not.

The reason this question itches me is because I can’t think of another non-consumable product where weight is valued. For example:

  • Would you pay more for a heavier laptop? It doesn’t compute any faster or slower or have longer or shorter batter life; it’s just heavier… maybe because we put a block of brass or copper in there?
  • How about a computer mouse? Interestingly, I believe most mice manufacturers have moved to make their mice lighter and weigh less! Do people in this hobby prefer heavier mice?
  • Or maybe a watch? If Apple’s next line of Apple Watches came out with a premium version that is 5 pounds heavier but with no additional features, how much would you pay up for it?

OK, OK, all of my examples so far are for products that you have to move or carry, and you’re usually not carrying keyboards… but then what about printers, computer monitors, or desktop computers? Do people also seek heavier printers, monitors and desktops because they feel more premium? Why don’t we see PVD waifus on the bottom of printers? Untapped market perhaps?

I just want to affirm that I am very much asking this as a literal question. I fully support people seeking heavier keyboards - I just wish I knew why.

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For me, it’s about use-case. If I want a portable keyboard, I’d like it to be pretty light (if not featherweight). If I want one that lives on the desk, I might prefer it have enough weight to stay firmly planted in-place.

I have a bunch of keyboards, and weights range all over the place. So does the quality - and I wouldn’t say they correlate all that strongly. I have some pretty cheaply-made ones that are heavy - one is even a junky plastic one with literal lead weights in it. I also have one extremely well-made keyboard that also happens to be my heaviest, but it’s the machining and finishing quality that make it good.

That said, I think weight can give the impression of quality in a surface-level sort of way. With keyboards specifically, older and more durable boards tend to be much heavier than the cheap pack-ins that come with PCs, for example. Classic comparison would be an IBM Model M with a steel plate vs the typical Dell dome board in the school library.

It’s also true that some reviewers enjoy a heavy keyboard, and place value on that aspect. I think metal also comes across as more “fancy” than plastic all other things being equal - but of course, they rarely are. My plastic Classic TKL comes across as more thoughtfully made than my aluminum AL-71 to me - but it might not to someone brand new to custom keyboards. Weight can be impressive if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for.

At the end of the day I don’t think most enthusiasts make a direct correlation between weight and quality - but I do think many do appreciate weight as one of many aspects.

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