Switch: Gateron White

Ah, this one I do know about. The Gateron White, also called the Translucent White or Clear switch, is an extremely lightweight linear switch. I personally never subscribed to the Gateron Clear naming scheme used by some, especially knowing how Gateron likes to have mechanical switches that are based off the Cherry MX version. Granted, the MX White and MX Clear are both tactile switches, but the latter is more common, and there is a newer MX Nature White RGB switch that is linear. Regardless, this is an argument for the sake of it only, so let's move on.


The Gateron White goes back to the more traditional stem design with no walls around and uses a white stem, which supports my claims on the name. Okay, we will move on for good now! There's not much else to say here really as it has the same overall design as the other Gateron switches we just saw.


Disassembly is also showing a similar trend here, with the bottom housing and metal leaf the same and the stem and spring the only tangible difference. How light of a switch this is also becomes very obvious when handling the spring itself.


Installation and removal of the Gateron White mechanical switch follows the same steps as before. As for keycaps, I went back to the default purple and blue keycaps except for the vanity Esc keycap using the Akko logo.


Input Club calls this the Gateron Translucent White and again provides an additional point of comparison. Gateron rates this switch to have a 2.0 mm actuation at all of 35 gf force, and a 4.0 mm total travel at ~50 gf peak force. We once again see some issues with consistency and quality control. Both my switches and those Input Club tested came in even shorter than these already low numbers. Average actuation was 1.8 mm (1.7 mm for Input Club) at just 31 gf (27 gf for Input Club), and the tested switches were lower with peak travel and bottoming-out force as well. This is another trigger-happy switch—in this case primarily because you might as well just breath down on it for actuation even though the rated actuation distance is 2.0 mm.


Here is what this specific combination sounds like, and while this is completely subjective, I will also note that these are the quietest of the four tested switches. I did end up bottoming out given the ridiculously low force of the spring in these, so you can hear the ping of the case as well. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with linear switches.