What do you type on?

My Keycaps are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.

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That’s an impressive collection, here’s a video I captured of @Stephen taking out his keyboard collection for the thread

another one

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We have a couple of these in the Zurich office but I gave up after realizing they came with an operations manual … :laughing:

Split keyboards are the best, you should give them a shot.

I tried them once, felt weird and went back in my low-tech cave. :smiley:

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They don’t play well with my 2-finger typing system :wink:

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Wow. Its so good to see this thread. @Stephen I think I had spotted the ergodox in NYC office. I guess that was yours.

I am a MX Blue and MX White fan, But i fall into the odd taboo area where a person likes “Low Profile” switches and keycaps. Over the years, I have converted to Kailh Chocolate White and Blue switches for my keyboards. They provide a satisfying click and also a faint but noticeable tactile bump. As if things weren’t difficult already, I also like things to be wireless. Judge me!

For my current daily driver i have a keyboard which is more or less a Frankenstein’s monster. I needed something low profile and wireless. So an year or so ago, on one of my trips to NYC, i bought 2 Keychron K1’s . I knew that I would hate them, but hear me out.

Keychrons have a bluetooth board that can be switched between Mac and Windows profiles. It comes with low profile clicky switches by a company named “Fraly”. These switches are garbage and result in too many false/ghost key presses. You spend more time with the backspace with these. I think in the newer versions they are using Gateron’s.

With Keychron K1’s board and chassis. and a desolder of all the switches. I swapped them with kailh Chocolate White’s. Wasnt a straight forward swap, had to make minor modifications. But the time spent was worth it.

Putting everything back together. I have a bluetooth keyboard that I can carry in my backpack. Not a huge RGB fan, mine just has a white backlight.

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For the ones who want a sub $40 keyboard, which isnt mechanical, but is wireless!

Your best option is to go for a HP Elite V2, It has Scissor Switches which are low profile and are a delight to type on. You still have the rubber dome, but the scissor switch gives an amazing tactile feedback. A keyboard which is slim and silent. Its chassis has a little bit of flex, but nothing too distracting.

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Gonna need some photos of this monster

Girlfriend recently converted to a mechanical keyboard after years on a chiclet-style keyboard. It’s the Vortex Race 3 with Cherry MX Brown switches and it’s about 2x as clicky as my keyboard. To say I’m proud would be an understatement.

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cool one @anthony

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I am a keyboard snob, although I try to be gracious about it and keep quiet around other people.

There is no doubt in my mind that the quality of the keyboard has a direct relationship to the quality of the writing. That, of course, is subjective and may well be unsupportable, but it is a truth for me.

My main keyboards are an old Das Keyboard that sounds like how a war tank sounds as it thunders over the horizon. I like it loud and I am sure it would get me censored in an office, but I work alone.

I also use a modern KeyChron K3 Slim. This is one of a long line of models made primarily for gamers. There is just about nothing that you can’t change on them; the keys, colours, and unfortunately, the backlighting. I say unfortunate because my keyboard has something like a dozen lighting setups, colours, and light level changes. Some settings make it seem like I am trying to write at a rock concert, and I am sure they are a danger to someone with epilepsy. Fortunately, there is an old-guy steady light setting that has an adjustable light level.

As someone else mentioned, backlighting is just so useful and comfortable that I am going to make sure that whatever keyboard, or laptop, I get next has it. However, there are other quite affordable mechanical keyboards out there.

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:laughing: I’ve always been tempted to buy a keyboard like that, something with Cherry MX Blues or buckling springs. Any idea how well Zoom’s noise cancellation works on the clangy keyboards?

Some keyboards are that much clangy that even a deaf person would hear them, so to speak. Zoom noise cancellation wouldn’t be helpful in this regard you would have to buy a fine quality keyboard.

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I’m thinking of getting a ZSA Moonlander to replace my aging Microsoft Natural keyboard.

Anyone tried it? I’ve heard good things about its predecessor, the ErgoDox EZ.

I also have no idea about switches. Looking for something that feels like a keyboard (think the opposite of the new MacBook keyboards) but is relatively quiet. So if anyone has some tips, I’m all ears.

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I briefly used a split keyboard (Matias Ergo Pro). I feel it made my typing better by encouraging each of my hands to stick to their side of the keyboard and was a bit less fatiguing. May eventually go back to it.

“The good switch” is kind of like “the good mouse sensitivity setting”; most switches “feel like a keyboard” but you’ll get a different [literal] impression from each one.

I mentioned some switches I’ve used in my previous post; Hako True is my favorite, but not everyone likes it.

You can read libraries online that people have written about the properties of switches and switch design, or get a switch sample pack, press them a bunch of times, and pick the one you like best. Like this one, or this one.

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Actually while we’re on the subject of switches here are my subjective opinions:

Cherry MX Brown: Solid switch, feels nice, like the tactile feedback, will sound/feel clicky when non-mechanical keyboards are your reference point. These are kind of loud, not ultra-loud, but significantly louder than most keyboards.

Kailh Brown: Okay but my $50 keyboard broke after a year. Lots of companies make Cherry MX knock-offs and Kailh is one of them, another is Gateron.

Alps/Matias Alps-Style switches: Old Mac keyboards from the OS 6/7 era are GOAT. Just the right balance of tactile feedback while being relatively quiet (much less loud than Browns). Alps switches sadly aren’t made anymore but Matias makes a good Alps-style switch and even has an extra quiet version.

Topre: I’m typing on a Topre key switch right now, not really worth the money to me. Just has too much of a rubber-dome feel (it is half rubber dome) with a tactile bump. Some people consider this to be the “best of both worlds” switch but to me it’s just lacking, not a particularly snappy feel like the old Dell keyboards, and not tactile/clicky enough like a mechanical keyboard. But it is pretty quiet.

Some people will also say that to make a keyboard quiet you just need to put rubber o-rings on the key cap stems, this has not been very effective in my experience.

Also to add to Stephen’s links there’s a subreddit with an excellent guide for everything you did (and didn’t) want to know about mechanical keyboards: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/index

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I can finally add to this thread. Yesterday I bought a KeyChron K3 slim as well, blue keys, very clicky, would probably annoy everyone if I brought it to the office to use.

@SamirTalwar I’ve also had my eyes on the Moonlander, it’s beautiful.

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Post pics

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