geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Los Angeles on Wed, 06 January 2021, 10:17:27
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Can somebody drop links to the best Hot Swappable PCB's on the market right now, and thats available to ship to Europe.
By best I mean compatability, sustainability and design.
Thank you.
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Hotswap means fixed layout so no compatibility, it is what it is. By mentioning Europe I guess you're looking for ISO layout (fat enter, small left shift)? Would 'best' to you need RGB? Do you want a numberpad and/or dedicated arrow keys?
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Compatible? Hot swap is locked in.
Sustainable? Ummm.... It's a computer part, not much has long term sustainability.
Design is personal preference.
Nk65 you can buy replacement pcbs and it's considered to have a decent PCB.
GMMK doesn't offer just a pcb but the barebones is cheaper than many pcbs and darn nice for the money. Just think of it as a really nice disposable keyboard.
Yes, I have one of each so you may say biased but I practice what i preach, I bought them for those exact reasons. I don't believe in long term hot swap, they will never be the next model M no matter how well built (while maintaining hot swap) so I refuse to spend a fortune on them. Those two options also cover most size formats, which you should have mentioned (along with any specific layout options).
There's not much that's "sustainable" because things change. higher end stuff is usually 1 time group buys. Hineybush could be an option but those are usually limited supply and group buy and no guarantees anything in the future will be compatible. Drop has had some issues but it's hit and miss on availability and cost is higher than those mentioned and there's no replacement parts. There's a few Chinese companies but you need to worry about incompatible revisions, quality control, looooong ship times and in many cases sold out. To say nothing of availability due to the pandemic.