Buying a magnetic (Hall-effect) keyboard

The main selling point is Rapid Trigger. A normal switch has to rise back past a fixed reset point before it can fire again; with Rapid Trigger the key resets as soon as it starts moving up by a distance you set^[2]. In shooters where you tap movement keys to stop and strafe, that makes the character respond to small finger movements rather than full key presses. Competitive FPS players are the people who notice it most.

Adjustable actuation is useful more widely. You can set a shallow trigger for quick games and a deeper one for typing, where a hair-trigger leads to stray letters^[1]. Most boards let you save several profiles and switch between them.

For typing alone, a magnetic board brings little. The switches are all linear apart from a handful of tactile and clicky versions, and the choice is much narrower than with ordinary MX switches. If you mostly write documents and play the odd game, a standard hot-swap board gives you far more switches to pick from.

This is the catch most buyers miss. Many magnetic boards have sockets that look like MX hot-swap sockets, and magnetic switches use MX-style stems, so your keycaps will fit. The switches themselves are another matter. The board is tuned to a particular magnet strength and polarity, and a switch with the magnet the other way up simply won't read properly.

The makers are open about it if you read the small print. Akko says its Flash switch is N-pole down and does not work in some of its own HE boards, which need S-pole-down switches^[6]. Keychron's Gateron double-rail switch is listed for its Q HE and K HE boards only^[5]. Glorious's Fox HE is made for its own GMMK 3 HE boards^[7]. Some boards, including the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3, use switches that aren't sold separately and can't be swapped at all.

So before buying, check what the board will accept, both now and when you might want a change in a year. Our product pages list the supported switches where the maker names them, and the builder won't pair a magnetic board with a switch it hasn't been confirmed to read.

• Gateron Double-Rail Magnetic Switch: Keychron's HE boards only; the 110-pack is £41.99
• Wooting Lekker L60 V2: Wooting's own switch; also supported by the 60HE and 80HE
• Akko Flash Magnetic Switch: cheap and light, but check your board's polarity first

On a magnetic board the software is not optional. It's where you set actuation points, Rapid Trigger sensitivity and profiles, so it's worth knowing what you're signing up for. Wooting has its own app, Wootility. Keychron's HE boards run QMK firmware and are set up through Keychron's own configurator. Corsair, SteelSeries, Razer and Logitech each use their own desktop software.

Two practical questions are worth asking. First, does the board remember its settings when you plug it into a different computer, such as a work laptop where you can't install anything? Second, does the software run on your system? Desktop gaming suites are usually Windows-first, which matters if you're on a Mac or Linux.

Some boards add a feature where pressing two opposite keys gives priority to the one pressed last. Razer calls its version Snap Tap^[9]. Some competitive games and tournaments restrict this sort of input handling, so check before relying on it.

A lot of magnetic boards advertise 8,000 Hz polling, meaning the board reports to the computer every eighth of a millisecond rather than every millisecond. It's a real difference on paper, but much smaller than the gain from Rapid Trigger itself, and it can cost some CPU time. Treat it as a tie-breaker, not a reason to spend more.

Most magnetic boards are wired. Keychron is the main exception: its K2 HE, K4 HE, K10 HE, Q1 HE and Q6 HE all add Bluetooth and a 2.4 GHz dongle. If you want one board for gaming at a desk and typing on a laptop, that makes Keychron's range the obvious place to start.

These are the magnetic boards in our catalogue sold with a UK ISO layout, from cheapest to dearest, using UK list prices (we show current shop prices on each product page).

• Corsair CLIPPER PRO MINI 60: £89.99; a light wired 60% and one of the cheapest ways in, with 8,000 Hz polling
• Keychron K2 HE: about £137; wireless 75%, aluminium case, takes Keychron's double-rail switches
• Keychron K10 HE: £139.99; wireless full-size with a number pad
• Keychron K4 HE: £144.99; wireless 96%, a full-size layout in less space
• Logitech G PRO X TKL RAPID: £149.99; wired tenkeyless with Logitech's own switches
• Corsair K70 PRO TKL: £169.99; wired tenkeyless, actuation adjustable from 0.1 to 4 mm
• Corsair VANGUARD PRO 96: £209.99; wired 96% with a small screen and side macro keys
• Keychron Q1 HE: £229.99; heavy aluminium 75% with gasket mount and wireless
• Keychron Q6 HE: £239.99; the full-size aluminium version

The Clipper's price is from Corsair's UK page^[3], as is the K70 PRO TKL's actuation range^[4]. The K2 HE's UK price comes from launch coverage rather than Keychron's own shop, so treat it as approximate.

The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 is sold in the UK with UK legends^[8], but as far as we can tell the key shapes are the US ones, so check the Enter key before you buy if that matters to you.

Wooting is the brand that made Rapid Trigger popular, and its boards are sold with ISO layouts, but it lists prices in dollars and euros rather than pounds. The Wooting 80HE is $199.99 or €219.99 for the plastic-case version, with 8,000 Hz polling^[10], and the Wooting 60HE v2 is the current 60%. Budget for shipping and any import charges on top.

The Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Tenkeyless 8KHz isn't magnetic at all: it reads the key position with light rather than a magnet, but offers the same adjustable actuation and Rapid Trigger. Like most of the boards here, its switches aren't interchangeable with anything else.

If you're unsure, the cheapest wired board is a reasonable way to find out whether Rapid Trigger changes anything for you before paying for aluminium and wireless.