4 ms·

I occasionally think about getting a mechanical keyboard, because I'd like a nice keyboard. But I have no interest in it as a hobby, and the whole topic has a s

by morsch 4y ago

I occasionally think about getting a mechanical keyboard, because I'd like a nice keyboard. But I have no interest in it as a hobby, and the whole topic has a similar vibe as the audiophile community. I feel like the chance of getting punked is pretty high.

LeetHacks 4y ago
Plenty cheap boards out there with Cherry MX mechanical switches. A first board doesn't have to cost more than $100, maybe even towards $70 dollar range. Buy secondhand and you can go even lower. Go for Cherry MX Switches. Want clicky (and loud) take blue. Want tactile go brown. Want no bump at all when typing go red. I would find a cheap second hand board and see if you can appreciate the experience. It probably will not have lubed switches or may have a scratchy bump or hollow sound or whatever the hobbyist tell themselves to justify a new board. You probably will already be amazed by the quality improvement and won't care.
- f1refly 4y ago
  > Want no bump at all when typing go red. No, black. Red has an extra high activation point and much lighter springs (marketed to gamers for quicker reactions) that often misfires when the user rests his hand on the board and doesn't take special care not to press anything. Black is the standard office class linear one of the bunch with the weight matching brown and blue.
  - Loocid 4y ago
    Personally I'm fine with the occasional misfire to keep the nice light, floating typing experience that reds give. Blacks just feel a bit too heavy to me. It's all personal preference of course.
ace2358 4y ago
At least with audio it’s really easy to skip the audiophile stuff and still get excellent advice and recommendations as audio work is a huge field with lots of professionals in it and heaps of companies that have been in the industry for 50 years. Computer Keyboards… not so much :(
CTDOCodebases 4y ago
It’s more like fashion than anything else. There are differences and trends but a lot of it comes down to personal taste. There’s plenty of options now particularly at the lower end of the market the issue here is QC though. Two people can buy the same board but the fit and finish might differ wildly.
switchers 4y ago
I think it depends on how deep you want to go initially. It's very easy to buy a pretty good mechanical keyboard off the shelf, and that's as far as many people need to go. Determine the switches you want, find some decently reviewed keyboards you like the look of, buy it (from a reputable online store). If you immediately want to spend hundreds on a custom setup and are paying someone you've never met to do it for you, before receiving any kind of product, that's where it can get dicey.
laserlight 4y ago
As someone who embraced mechanical keyboards, I’m sorry that people get this impression, which is totally deserved. People who use custom keyboards as a signaling mechanism degrade their perceived benefit. For me, programmability of the keyboard is the most important factor; then, ergonomics.
wolrah 4y ago
> But I have no interest in it as a hobby, and the whole topic has a similar vibe as the audiophile community. While the custom keyboard community does tend to get in to pointlessly overcomplicated cables similarly to audiophiles, unlike the audiophile crowd no one really tries to claim they actually do anything beyond looking good. IMO the keyboard community does a pretty decent job separating the subjective from the objective. People will go deep in to rabbit holes about their preferred feel and sound, but they acknowledge that once you've gone past the entry level basically everything other than ergonomics is pure personal preference and even ergonomics has a lot of personal aspects to it based on your own physical needs, setup, and use case. You won't find anyone trying to claim that their magical USB cable makes the bits go faster, unlike the audiophile world where $500 ethernet cables are a thing.
Macha 4y ago
It's surprising to me, as it feels like a development from the last 5 years where the hobbyist community has totally eclipsed the prosumer community. I had to replace a failed keyboard last year and went looking for advice - when I last did it it was basically a question of "do you want clicky or not switches? Das is a pretty reliable brand but Razer has some stuff with RGB if you like that" Now it's all "Oh don't buy an off-the-shelf one, wait for this dude's next massdrop order or buy a kit and put it together yourself" And I just don't have time for that. This is one area where I'm pretty happy just looking for a recommendation for something I can just buy and use.
- mckirk 4y ago
  I'd just get a Keychron in whatever format you prefer, maybe together with a set of keycaps you like. Still fairly cheap compared to going full custom, but definitely respectable performance. I'd always go for hot-swappable switches though, since my last keyboard (a Ducky) developed key chattering issues after a while, and I'd want to fix that if it happened again.
GuB-42 4y ago
You don't need to be part of the "community" to use a mechanical keyboard, it doesn't have to be a hobby, normally mechanical keyboards don't need maintenance and last longer than rubber domes. As for choosing the right one, the best is to try them out at the store if you can. Find the one that looks and feels the best, buy it, plug it in, done, drop-in replacement. You can't really go wrong, these are just keyboards. I'd say the only feature you may look for that is not obvious is NKRO (N-key rollover), or the ability to press any number of keys at the same time. If you are paying $100 or more for a keyboard, it is something you want. Most keyboards in this price range have it. 6KRO means you can press any 6 keys at the same time, it is not quite NKRO, but unless you have special needs, it is just as good, 2KRO (2 keys) is the one to avoid. It is sometimes called "anti ghosting" but some manufacturers cheat, so, not a reliable indication. There are other features like hardware remapping, RGB lighting,... but if you need these, you will know beforehand. Small caveat though. Many mechanical keyboards, especially in big box stores have clicky switches, clicky switches may be perfectly fine for you, but chances are that people next to you won't like them as much. Please be considerate of your surroundings when using a loud keyboard (are we back into audiophile territory ;))
- auganov 4y ago
  > You don't need to be part of the "community" to use a mechanical keyboard, it doesn't have to be a hobby, normally mechanical keyboards don't need maintenance and last longer than rubber domes. I never considered a mechanical keyboard before seeing comments fawning over them. I was already a fast typist and had some strong preferences about keyboard layouts, bindings, ergonomics etc. There was never a huge community around this so I was quite intrigued when I discovered these people who cared so much about their keyboards. Somehow all these years I must have missed out on mechanical keyboards. I tried a few and even the "light" switches are SOOO much more tedious to type on than (decent) modern laptop-style keyboards. Searched around and most in that community seem to take the position that indeed they don't help with typing speeds, or are in fact slower to type on, but they're more "comfortable" (which doesn't make much sense to me). I want a keyboard that's good for typing/using. I don't care if it's "mechanical". Sure, people have their preferences, but this mantra of "mechanical" somehow being inherently advantageous all else be damned originated with that community. When I see people pushing mechanical keyboards I always suspect they've been heavily influenced by them.
breckenedge 4y ago
Yes, there are some popular communities that emphasize form rather than function. Avoid those. I suggest https://old.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/ https://old.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/

by morsch 4y ago

LeetHacks 4y ago

Plenty cheap boards out there with Cherry MX mechanical switches. A first board doesn't have to cost more than $100, maybe even towards $70 dollar range. Buy secondhand and you can go even lower. Go for Cherry MX Switches. Want clicky (and loud) take blue. Want tactile go brown. Want no bump at all when typing go red. I would find a cheap second hand board and see if you can appreciate the experience. It probably will not have lubed switches or may have a scratchy bump or hollow sound or whatever the hobbyist tell themselves to justify a new board. You probably will already be amazed by the quality improvement and won't care.

f1refly 4y ago
> Want no bump at all when typing go red. No, black. Red has an extra high activation point and much lighter springs (marketed to gamers for quicker reactions) that often misfires when the user rests his hand on the board and doesn't take special care not to press anything. Black is the standard office class linear one of the bunch with the weight matching brown and blue.
- Loocid 4y ago
  Personally I'm fine with the occasional misfire to keep the nice light, floating typing experience that reds give. Blacks just feel a bit too heavy to me. It's all personal preference of course.

ace2358 4y ago

At least with audio it’s really easy to skip the audiophile stuff and still get excellent advice and recommendations as audio work is a huge field with lots of professionals in it and heaps of companies that have been in the industry for 50 years. Computer Keyboards… not so much :(

CTDOCodebases 4y ago

It’s more like fashion than anything else. There are differences and trends but a lot of it comes down to personal taste. There’s plenty of options now particularly at the lower end of the market the issue here is QC though. Two people can buy the same board but the fit and finish might differ wildly.

switchers 4y ago

I think it depends on how deep you want to go initially. It's very easy to buy a pretty good mechanical keyboard off the shelf, and that's as far as many people need to go. Determine the switches you want, find some decently reviewed keyboards you like the look of, buy it (from a reputable online store). If you immediately want to spend hundreds on a custom setup and are paying someone you've never met to do it for you, before receiving any kind of product, that's where it can get dicey.

laserlight 4y ago

As someone who embraced mechanical keyboards, I’m sorry that people get this impression, which is totally deserved. People who use custom keyboards as a signaling mechanism degrade their perceived benefit. For me, programmability of the keyboard is the most important factor; then, ergonomics.

wolrah 4y ago

> But I have no interest in it as a hobby, and the whole topic has a similar vibe as the audiophile community. While the custom keyboard community does tend to get in to pointlessly overcomplicated cables similarly to audiophiles, unlike the audiophile crowd no one really tries to claim they actually do anything beyond looking good. IMO the keyboard community does a pretty decent job separating the subjective from the objective. People will go deep in to rabbit holes about their preferred feel and sound, but they acknowledge that once you've gone past the entry level basically everything other than ergonomics is pure personal preference and even ergonomics has a lot of personal aspects to it based on your own physical needs, setup, and use case. You won't find anyone trying to claim that their magical USB cable makes the bits go faster, unlike the audiophile world where $500 ethernet cables are a thing.

Macha 4y ago

It's surprising to me, as it feels like a development from the last 5 years where the hobbyist community has totally eclipsed the prosumer community. I had to replace a failed keyboard last year and went looking for advice - when I last did it it was basically a question of "do you want clicky or not switches? Das is a pretty reliable brand but Razer has some stuff with RGB if you like that" Now it's all "Oh don't buy an off-the-shelf one, wait for this dude's next massdrop order or buy a kit and put it together yourself" And I just don't have time for that. This is one area where I'm pretty happy just looking for a recommendation for something I can just buy and use.

mckirk 4y ago
I'd just get a Keychron in whatever format you prefer, maybe together with a set of keycaps you like. Still fairly cheap compared to going full custom, but definitely respectable performance. I'd always go for hot-swappable switches though, since my last keyboard (a Ducky) developed key chattering issues after a while, and I'd want to fix that if it happened again.

GuB-42 4y ago

You don't need to be part of the "community" to use a mechanical keyboard, it doesn't have to be a hobby, normally mechanical keyboards don't need maintenance and last longer than rubber domes. As for choosing the right one, the best is to try them out at the store if you can. Find the one that looks and feels the best, buy it, plug it in, done, drop-in replacement. You can't really go wrong, these are just keyboards. I'd say the only feature you may look for that is not obvious is NKRO (N-key rollover), or the ability to press any number of keys at the same time. If you are paying $100 or more for a keyboard, it is something you want. Most keyboards in this price range have it. 6KRO means you can press any 6 keys at the same time, it is not quite NKRO, but unless you have special needs, it is just as good, 2KRO (2 keys) is the one to avoid. It is sometimes called "anti ghosting" but some manufacturers cheat, so, not a reliable indication. There are other features like hardware remapping, RGB lighting,... but if you need these, you will know beforehand. Small caveat though. Many mechanical keyboards, especially in big box stores have clicky switches, clicky switches may be perfectly fine for you, but chances are that people next to you won't like them as much. Please be considerate of your surroundings when using a loud keyboard (are we back into audiophile territory ;))

auganov 4y ago
> You don't need to be part of the "community" to use a mechanical keyboard, it doesn't have to be a hobby, normally mechanical keyboards don't need maintenance and last longer than rubber domes. I never considered a mechanical keyboard before seeing comments fawning over them. I was already a fast typist and had some strong preferences about keyboard layouts, bindings, ergonomics etc. There was never a huge community around this so I was quite intrigued when I discovered these people who cared so much about their keyboards. Somehow all these years I must have missed out on mechanical keyboards. I tried a few and even the "light" switches are SOOO much more tedious to type on than (decent) modern laptop-style keyboards. Searched around and most in that community seem to take the position that indeed they don't help with typing speeds, or are in fact slower to type on, but they're more "comfortable" (which doesn't make much sense to me). I want a keyboard that's good for typing/using. I don't care if it's "mechanical". Sure, people have their preferences, but this mantra of "mechanical" somehow being inherently advantageous all else be damned originated with that community. When I see people pushing mechanical keyboards I always suspect they've been heavily influenced by them.

breckenedge 4y ago

Yes, there are some popular communities that emphasize form rather than function. Avoid those. I suggest https://old.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/ https://old.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/