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These things are fantastic (I used to own a Unicomp), though of the "modern" mechanical keyboards, which is the best? The Reddit r/MechanicalKeyboards buying gu

by markbao 12y ago

These things are fantastic (I used to own a Unicomp), though of the "modern" mechanical keyboards, which is the best? The Reddit r/MechanicalKeyboards buying guide[0] lists a lot of stuff, but I'm curious what HN likes. [0] http://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/buying_guide http://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/buying_guid...

tomsthumb 12y ago
Kinesis Advantage (split grid) keyboards. Alternatively, anything with cherry MX blue or MX brown switches, preferably without the 10 key/keypad section. Accountants are probably the only people who should actually have a 10-key built into their keyboards.
- tomjakubowski 12y ago
  > Accountants are probably the only people who should actually have a 10-key built into their keyboards. Those who still play MUDs with a client might like to have them too, although whether they should be playing MUDs in 2014 is another question.
  - robert_tweed 12y ago
    You can get standalone numeric keypads. How else could accountants and MUD players survive with a laptop? For this reason I don't understand why it remains the norm for PC desktop keyboards to include them, despite their use being the exception.
    - michaelbuddy 12y ago
      you can even get mechanical 10keys too. I like having a 10 key for working in 3D (Blender). If one is savvy enough in autohotkey or other keyboard customization, you could map the 10key to useful functions and label the keys with stickers or if standard keycaps, get some custom caps made.
- markbao 12y ago
  Awesome. I've been meaning to pick up a Kinesis Advantage—the combination of MX Brown switches plus ergonomic keyboard is great. I had the Freestyle2 which was less than great. I've been typing on Apple chicklet keyboards for years and while they're actually not that bad, they're not ergonomically sound at all.
  - graublau 12y ago
    I think the chiclet keys are an ergonomic silver-bullet - RSI probably comes from years of us typing on deep keys in high keyboards.
    - tomsthumb 12y ago
      Chiclets are actually worse on your fingers because they shock-load your fingers when they bottom out. Mechanical keyboards are much easier on your fingers because you can feel when the key is activated, and sometimes hear it. This lets you know that you can stop pressing before the key bottoms out and there's much less force put through your fingers.
      - markbao 12y ago
        Never thought of that—that explains a lot of the fatigue I get from typing on them for long periods of time. I know that certain Cherry MX keys do the same. Which ones don't bottom out too harshly?
  - tomsthumb 12y ago
    Yeah, the grids are much nicer. I can use the normal numbers now almost as fast as many of my friends can use a 10 key, and I never forget where symbols are for programming since everything is lined up quite nicely.
- na85 12y ago
  >Accountants are probably the only people who should actually have a 10-key built into their keyboards. I use mine a lot for flight sims. I'm sure MMO players don't mind having extra keystrokes.
  - tomsthumb 12y ago
    Sure, but I would think those are both pretty small minorities relatively speaking, and these people surely feel and understand the need for a keypad. There's also separate 10-key pads that you can use so that your mouse is in a sane place except when you need to punch in a lot of numbers.
- jfb 12y ago
  I love my Kinesises (Kinesis? Kinesis-s?) but I wish that there was more experimentation in keyboards; I always wonder about chording keyboards, for instance; or a better HID interface than what we get with generic USB drivers. It's just not quite irritating enough to get me out of the ruts of path dependence, I guess.
gchpaco 12y ago
I buy mine from Unicomp, and have been pretty satisfied. Although admittedly I've only ever bought two, and both of them have survived years of use.
robert_tweed 12y ago
I mostly use laptops and the terrible keyboards on almost all modern PC laptops (especially the cursor keys, which are often barely usable) is one of the factors that made me switch to Apple. On my desktop I have a slight variant of this: http://gaming.coolermaster.com/en/products/keyboards/quickfirerapid/ http://gaming.coolermaster.com/en/products/keyboards/quickfi... While it is pitched as a gaming keyboard, it doesn't have any of the oddities that monicker tends to imply. It comes with a set of red WASD keys, but they are optional. As far as I know, it's the smallest full-size keyboard with proper Cherry MX keys. No layout stupidity either: all the keys are where they should be (pg-up, pg-down, home, end, etc.); only the unnecessary numeric keypad is left off so that desk space is not wasted. Perfect. The only problem is they can be difficult to find, so I had to make do with Cherry MX Brown keys (non-tactile, non-clicky) rather than Blue (clicky), which I would have preferred.
devindotcom 12y ago
I personally have been using a Steelseries 7G for a looong time now and it still feels great. Full size, n-key, no macros, and a replacement for the left Windows key that goes to a couple limited global media controls. Though now that new Das Keyboard model (V4?) is tempting me...
shitgoose 12y ago
Razer Blackwidow. Loud keyboard.

by markbao 12y ago

tomsthumb 12y ago

Kinesis Advantage (split grid) keyboards. Alternatively, anything with cherry MX blue or MX brown switches, preferably without the 10 key/keypad section. Accountants are probably the only people who should actually have a 10-key built into their keyboards.

tomjakubowski 12y ago
> Accountants are probably the only people who should actually have a 10-key built into their keyboards. Those who still play MUDs with a client might like to have them too, although whether they should be playing MUDs in 2014 is another question.
- robert_tweed 12y ago
  You can get standalone numeric keypads. How else could accountants and MUD players survive with a laptop? For this reason I don't understand why it remains the norm for PC desktop keyboards to include them, despite their use being the exception.
  - michaelbuddy 12y ago
    you can even get mechanical 10keys too. I like having a 10 key for working in 3D (Blender). If one is savvy enough in autohotkey or other keyboard customization, you could map the 10key to useful functions and label the keys with stickers or if standard keycaps, get some custom caps made.
markbao 12y ago
Awesome. I've been meaning to pick up a Kinesis Advantage—the combination of MX Brown switches plus ergonomic keyboard is great. I had the Freestyle2 which was less than great. I've been typing on Apple chicklet keyboards for years and while they're actually not that bad, they're not ergonomically sound at all.
- graublau 12y ago
  I think the chiclet keys are an ergonomic silver-bullet - RSI probably comes from years of us typing on deep keys in high keyboards.
  - tomsthumb 12y ago
    Chiclets are actually worse on your fingers because they shock-load your fingers when they bottom out. Mechanical keyboards are much easier on your fingers because you can feel when the key is activated, and sometimes hear it. This lets you know that you can stop pressing before the key bottoms out and there's much less force put through your fingers.
    - markbao 12y ago
      Never thought of that—that explains a lot of the fatigue I get from typing on them for long periods of time. I know that certain Cherry MX keys do the same. Which ones don't bottom out too harshly?
- tomsthumb 12y ago
  Yeah, the grids are much nicer. I can use the normal numbers now almost as fast as many of my friends can use a 10 key, and I never forget where symbols are for programming since everything is lined up quite nicely.
na85 12y ago
>Accountants are probably the only people who should actually have a 10-key built into their keyboards. I use mine a lot for flight sims. I'm sure MMO players don't mind having extra keystrokes.
- tomsthumb 12y ago
  Sure, but I would think those are both pretty small minorities relatively speaking, and these people surely feel and understand the need for a keypad. There's also separate 10-key pads that you can use so that your mouse is in a sane place except when you need to punch in a lot of numbers.
jfb 12y ago
I love my Kinesises (Kinesis? Kinesis-s?) but I wish that there was more experimentation in keyboards; I always wonder about chording keyboards, for instance; or a better HID interface than what we get with generic USB drivers. It's just not quite irritating enough to get me out of the ruts of path dependence, I guess.

gchpaco 12y ago

I buy mine from Unicomp, and have been pretty satisfied. Although admittedly I've only ever bought two, and both of them have survived years of use.

robert_tweed 12y ago

I mostly use laptops and the terrible keyboards on almost all modern PC laptops (especially the cursor keys, which are often barely usable) is one of the factors that made me switch to Apple. On my desktop I have a slight variant of this: http://gaming.coolermaster.com/en/products/keyboards/quickfirerapid/ http://gaming.coolermaster.com/en/products/keyboards/quickfi... While it is pitched as a gaming keyboard, it doesn't have any of the oddities that monicker tends to imply. It comes with a set of red WASD keys, but they are optional. As far as I know, it's the smallest full-size keyboard with proper Cherry MX keys. No layout stupidity either: all the keys are where they should be (pg-up, pg-down, home, end, etc.); only the unnecessary numeric keypad is left off so that desk space is not wasted. Perfect. The only problem is they can be difficult to find, so I had to make do with Cherry MX Brown keys (non-tactile, non-clicky) rather than Blue (clicky), which I would have preferred.

devindotcom 12y ago

I personally have been using a Steelseries 7G for a looong time now and it still feels great. Full size, n-key, no macros, and a replacement for the left Windows key that goes to a couple limited global media controls. Though now that new Das Keyboard model (V4?) is tempting me...

shitgoose 12y ago

Razer Blackwidow. Loud keyboard.