Rapid trigger, per-key actuation depth, analog axis output — Hall-effect keyboards deliver all three, but only if the firmware matches the hardware. Here is what to look for, what to pay, and who should skip the category entirely.
The polling-rate hype is loud and easy to wave off — 8K, 32K, numbers chasing each other up the spec sheet. The quieter story is that the magnetic-switch tier has stopped being a Wooting-shaped niche and has settled into the $100–$230 prebuilt slot the scene actually buys from. The volume has moved, not just the marketing.
A Hall-effect switch is not a faster MX switch. It is a different sensing lineage — a magnet in the stem, a sensor on the PCB, and an analog voltage where contact closure used to be. The features the marketing pages lead with all unwind from that one architectural fact.