Gasket mount is a keyboard mounting style where pieces of rubber are placed between the plate and the top frame and between the plate and the bottom frame, essentially sandwiching the plate between these pieces of rubber.

Gasket Mount

A gasket mount uses gasket material between the plate and keyboard housing on both top and bottom sides. This gives the board a slightly more cushioned feel since the plate isn’t in direct contact with the other metal components of the keyboard.

Marvo KG972 Gasket Mount Design

Inserted between the plate and the PCB board, the Sandwich Gasket silicone pad eliminates the traditional design’s drawback of lacking support on the main typing area and cushions the shock under every keystroke. The silicone pad maximizes the mounting feature of the gasket design, which is to create a softer typing feeling and raindrop-like typing sounds. The unwanted noise can be reduced without changing the tactile feel. The switch mechanism is not affected by the cushions, meaning the stability of the keys is not compromised.

How Does a Gasket Mount Feel?

We can describe the feel of a gasket mounted keyboard as soft and cushioned due to the usage of rubber for holding the keyboard plate.

It’s hard to explain the exact difference in feel with mere words, but you can think of it as keys having less resistance when you press them as the board pushes into the rubber instead of applying counter-resistance to your presses. Naturally, this also causes gasket-mounted keyboards to produce less noise, especially if you bottom your keys out often.

Of course, this is not to say that gasket-mounted keyboards are objectively better than others despite being only found in high-end keyboards, as some people feel like there is too much flex when gasket mount keyboard are used, taking away from the feel of the keyboard switches.

The main reason behind gasket mounts being expensive is the complexity of their production due to how different they operate compared to other mounting styles. While it’s natural to think expensive is better, preference is the key to making a good choice between mounting styles.

Just as with everything else, it’s best to give gasket mount keyboard a try and
see for yourself if you like them instead of going with them simply because they are trending now.