Greetings from NJ. I used to use a saitek "gaming" keyboard once that was a hand-me-down and I thought that was pretty sweet. I also used to play console video games. I'm also 32 years old, and sadly, I made it pretty far in school as a left handed index finger pecker. My right hand probably clocked 300 apm while my left index finger would saunter in for a lame bottom half to "heart and soul." I estimate I had it up to 30 wpm, but that's like getting really good at typing "gg," sure it's a skill set, but not one to be proud of. I decided I wanted to teach myself how to type, and with my starcraft addiction (n.die_jaedong fighting!), I started to research mechanical keyboards. Sort of on an impulse, I bought a dasKeyboard with completely blank black keys, and I put an ancient ps/2 keyboard in my car to practice typing left handed during traffic. Starcraft is fun to type :)
So now my typing is up around 80 wpm after about a year and a half living with a das, and I even know just about where all the non-alphanumeric symbols live. Something I figured out a bit too late, was that this monstrous keypad attached to the right side of this das is terrible for gaming and ergonomics. I have done a great deal of research, and am a new enthusiast. I am waiting for my blank white PBT 87 set to arrive from china and my cheap black zerg logo (wtb: 12 dollar mkc relief zerg) to arrive from geek_feng. I am now in the market for a 75% race, or will probably impulse buy a keycool 84 later. I took a long time to decide on brown switches for my das, and I love them. I have a set of o-rings, and as soon as my key-caps and puller arrive, I plan on making a few cool black/white designs on my das just for funzies. I plan on taking some pics to put in my signature or something.
I would love to know more about this market but it seems weird already. I will be scouring these forums for information, but I have narrowed down my next purchase pretty well. I would like to go with blue switches, just to mix it up and try to typing favorite, (when I'm grandmaster I'll get some reds :), and I realy like the 75% keyboards. I love the look of the 60s and would love to type on them, but the ease of using f1-10 on the keycooler looks ridiculous for gaming. Even better on the layout of the kbt race, but it seems like it's not in stock anywhere with either white, blue, or purple backlighting.
So yea, eventually I'll have some pics to share of the keyboard I end up getting and I know I'll get "nerd chills" every time I see it :)
I'm not asking for anyone to pm me for help, as I will be looking around plenty on my own, but if anyone has any advice or information, I am a late-blooming geek. I was cool in high-school, so lame right?
glhf gg