Mechanical Keyboards - after 1 day of use, I'm NEVER going back to the mush!

8 Jul 2020

After being recommended them by Liz, I finally convinced accounts to buy me one.

I picked up a Corsair K70 (because of the low profile keys and top reviews). It is absolutely a world of difference compared to the mushy MS Ergo 4000 keyboards I've been using for an age.

So pretty! (I turn off all the lights as it's not Christmas)

I wish I'd bought one years ago. It's like playing on a proper piano instead of a cheap Casio keyboard.

Now all I have to do is get used to something 3 inches less wide. Sigh angry7

The other good thing about them is if they go wrong, you can simply get new keys. Much better for the environment.

And they help prevent you from getting RSI.

I highly recommend anyone who spends a good amount of time at their keyboard, to pick one up. You owe it to your fingers and hands!

8 Jul 2020

I absolutely love my mechanical keyboard. Not cheap, but so worth the money. Anyone who does a lot of typing should definitely consider getting one.

The Corsair brand keyboards come with Cherry MX switches (underneath the keys) which are available in a few different types. Some are silent and smooth, some are springy, and my personal favourite are the blue ones which are clicky. It makes it sound like you're typing on an old fashioned typewriter and the more substantial audible and tactile feedback is just dreamy.

I think nowadays these keyboards are primarily designed for gamers, so they offer all these different key types with different operating forces and actuation points to customise the product to the user, but all this really means is that you can find a keyboard which you personally feel is super nice to use. Also, they last for a really long time.

https://www.hyperxgaming.com/unitedstates/en/keyboards/switches

I eventually removed the wrist-rest off the front of mine and bought a 3M gel rest which is squishy and lovely for extended periods at the keyboard.

Hope you enjoy your new keyboard as much as I do mine, Nicola!

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@Lizerotica

8 Jul 2020

I acquired one as part of an ergonomic refresh of my office a couple years ago and love it. Found Seeker Jr's old one from his hardcore gaming days in the basement a few weeks ago (was actually digging up an old keyboard tray for my home office desk) and will use it at home once this one moves back to the office.

However, my dream keyboard is now long gone. I was wandering the mall near my place in Hamilton, Ontario (my first job was there) somewhere around 1990 or 91 and the mall computer store had some surplus IBM PC keyboards on sale. Mechanical switches and a case that could probably stop a bullet. It was the old AT (or PS/1) style plug, though, so disappeared once PS/2 became established. The computer it was attached to was an AT clone running DOS 5 (later upgraded to 6) with no Windows, so the keyboard was my only input.

8 Sep 2020

I still believe the finest keyboard ever made was the Northgate Omnikey.

Now these are often obscure today, but in the early 1990's, these were the "Cadillac of Keyboards". Steel frame, Alps switches, the computers that company sold were forgettable, but their keyboards were epic.

And they are still highly sought after, and are still easy to find. But even 30 years old, many still work like champs. But expect to pay over $100, even for a 30 year old computer. They are just that good.

But if looking, be very careful. Many will try to pass off other standard Northgate keyboards as "Omnikeys", and at least a dew companies have tried to sell "Omnikeys", but they are nothing like the original. Sadly, mine died in a fire 20 years ago, and I still miss it. And swear I will get another.

8 Sep 2020

Quote by Mushroom0311
I still believe the finest keyboard ever made was the Northgate Omnikey.

Heh. I remember the console keyboard on the old IBM System/36, I think it was. Also bulletproof and it seemed like IBM tried desperately hard to mimic the feel of the Selectric "golfball" keyboard: it had a weighted solenoid in the case that knocked with each keypress, I guess to mimic the shake of the Selectric carriage moving. happy8

About a year ago I picked up a Logitech G610 to dip my toe into the mechanical waters before committing to anything super hardcore.

It seems to improve accuracy and throughput over, say, Lenovo thinkpad keyboards, but I dunno that it makes all that much of a difference. But I'm not a touch-typer.

One thing I never want to lose is backlighting. The G610 is white only and about 4 levels of brightness. Such an improvement. Lets me work in darker environments which I prefer for writing.

8 Sep 2020

Oooooh!

I know nothing about good quality keyboards, but I have been swearing angrily at my current crappy one for years. Makes fast typing nearly impossible, but I buy cheap ones because I am VERY hard on a keyboard. Thanks for the info everyone. This looks like an early 2021 present for myself!

8 Sep 2020

On mechanical keyboards …

Quote by Nicola
I wish I'd bought one years ago. It's like playing on a proper piano instead of a cheap Casio keyboard. …

I highly recommend anyone who spends a good amount of time at their keyboard to pick one up. You owe it to your fingers and hands!

and …

Quote by Liz
the more substantial audible and tactile feedback is just dreamy.

This so much.

In Ye Olden Days, I learned how to touch type (only) on manual typewriters (with paper guides and handled carriage returns).

“Paper guides”? “Carriage returns”? What kind of moon language are you talking, Caramel ? </s>

Back then, you really had to strike the keys. If you went too fast, your key type bars would mash together and you had to pry them apart with your fingers. And you weren’t ever supposed to look at what you were typing (the paper, not a monitor) or your hands (the typewriter keys, not a keyboard).

I don’t miss the mechanical problems of manual (or even electric) typewriters, but the tactile and audible experience of old-fashioned typing is what I’m accustomed to.

This is why I prefer mechanical keyboards over modern ones. If you grew up using modern keyboards, I guess it doesn’t matter.

For fuddy-duddies like myself, however, I want the feel of really typing.

I have an Alienware mechanical keyboard at home.

I’m on Team Nicola and Liz.

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10 Sep 2020

Quote by nicola
I wish I'd bought one years ago. It's like playing on a proper piano instead of a cheap Casio keyboard.

I am a professional pianist and piano teacher - and heartily agree. I insist my students practise on a "proper" acoustic piano, because it's the only way to build muscle strength. Electronic keyboards - including so-called "weighted keyboards" - just don't push back enough.

In the olden days, typists never got RSI, because they were always building muscle strength as they worked. RSI only started to become a big issue with the advent of electric typewriters, and then word processors.

I have an old manual typewriter in the antechamber to where I teach piano - so that my students can limber their fingers by typing before they come in for their piano lesson. It builds their muscles - and they love it.

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10 Sep 2020

Quote by GrushaVashnadze

I am a professional pianist and piano teacher - and heartily agree. I insist my students practise on a "proper" acoustic piano, because it's the only way to build muscle strength. Electronic keyboards - including so-called "weighted keyboards" - just don't push back enough.

In the olden days, typists never got RSI, because they were always building muscle strength as they worked. RSI only started to become a big issue with the advent of electric typewriters, and then word processors.

I have an old manual typewriter in the antechamber to where I teach piano - so that my students can limber their fingers by typing before they come in for their piano lesson. It builds their muscles - and they love it.

I have no experience with these mechanical keyboards, but the thought of it does not appeal to me at all TBH confused1

RSI, in my experience, was mostly related to a lot of mouse work, far less with keyboards. I build websites, and at my first job we initially used MS Frontpage (the horror!) for mainly static websites. This was at the start of this century. Without content management systems there was a lot of copy/pasting going on from Word documents that the customers provided into HTML documents. To get rid of the Word markup you needed what Frontpage called "Paste Special", which was not available as a key combination. So big parts of the day were right clicking and selecting this option from the context menu. Many colleagues had RSI complaints, some even had to stop doing computer related work at all.
When we started to develop our own CMS though and writing code became the main part of our work, as clients could now manage the content themselves, RSI mostly disappeared.

I have a thin Apple keyboard that I actually like. I've never had typing lessons though, so while I type with about 8 fingers I guess I move my hands around a lot more than someone who types in a more 'proper' way.

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