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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: mashingkeys on Mon, 17 January 2011, 09:51:11

Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: mashingkeys on Mon, 17 January 2011, 09:51:11
Hey guys,

So I'm not exactly sure of how this whole mechanical keyboard fetish developed, but after reading up on them and seeing some of the prices, I had to go try them out for myself.

After a bit of typing on a siig and razer's blackwidow, I was in love.  Only problem is - neither of those keyboards seem to be very well-liked here.

The big complaints I see about razer are it's..

1. strangely placed F keys
2. glossy surface
3. giant size

..as for the siig - the huge enter key / tiny backspace kills it for me.

But the razer is also $70 shipped from amazon right now, and I have a $20 gift card sitting around for them, which makes for an attractive deal.

The other keyboard I've been looking into are the Rosewill RK-9000, but knowing that people paid $75 for that a few weeks ago bothers me a little.

Also, ducky boards and a few of the tenkeyless ones are looking very nice as well (mainly because no print keys just look a lot nicer) but they carry a $140-ish tag so they're out for now.  I also use my numpad quite a bit so I'm not sure if I'd be able to adapt well to the alternative layouts.

I guess my budget is somewhere around $50-80, I would prefer mx blues, and a little style wouldn't hurt anyone.  I've already been turned off on the ione and adesso boards by doing some research here, but suggestions / opinions are welcome and appreciated! :D thanks
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: itlnstln on Mon, 17 January 2011, 09:52:28
Start here -> http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=START+HERE+--+The+Geekhack+Mechanical+Keyboard+Guide+-+Includes+Glossary+and+Links (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=START+HERE+--+The+Geekhack+Mechanical+Keyboard+Guide+-+Includes+Glossary+and+Links)

Welcome to Geekhack!
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: bugfix on Mon, 17 January 2011, 11:27:51
Quote from: mashingkeys;279841

I guess my budget is somewhere around $50-80, I would prefer mx blues, and a little style wouldn't hurt anyone.


I've posted this a lot since I was "converted" but perhaps you should also consider the Unicomp Customizer or Spacesaver.

Granted, they're not exactly stylish, but I prefer them over Blues for typing (not for gaming though).
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: bugfix on Mon, 17 January 2011, 11:47:18
Quote from: ripster;279899
If you go by what the German Geekhackers like you'd never buy anything.


Wait, what?
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: piotrek on Mon, 17 January 2011, 14:52:13
Don't measure us Germans by your Ripster standards : D we're pretty much ****ed here anyways when it comes to keyboard selection and especially since we pay about 2-3 times the amount for keyboards than you lucky Americans ;<
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: elef on Mon, 17 January 2011, 15:19:20
I'll take that bet.

Germans can get the Cherry G80-3000 and other new and used Cherry keyboards cheap in their favoured layout (about 50-55 euros shipped for the G80-3000), and that's probably it when it comes to good deals... Which is a hell of a lot more than we Hungarians get. I'm stuck ordering stuff from Germany and the UK, and the best I can hope for in terms of key legends is blank, because the number of mechanical keyboards currently in production with the Hungarian layout printed on them is 0.
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: db_Iodine on Mon, 17 January 2011, 15:29:45
Quote from: ripster;279983
Not for the Razer BlackWidow I'd bet.


Razer BlackWidow Ultimate is about €150 EUR ($198 USD) here. Dirt cheap, isn't it?
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: runeazn on Mon, 17 January 2011, 15:32:55
sup and use the wiki and get one that looks interesting :P
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: piotrek on Tue, 18 January 2011, 06:35:03
Quote from: elef;279996
I'll take that bet.

Germans can get the Cherry G80-3000 and other new and used Cherry keyboards cheap in their favoured layout (about 50-55 euros shipped for the G80-3000), and that's probably it when it comes to good deals... Which is a hell of a lot more than we Hungarians get. I'm stuck ordering stuff from Germany and the UK, and the best I can hope for in terms of key legends is blank, because the number of mechanical keyboards currently in production with the Hungarian layout printed on them is 0.

E-Peen comparison about who has the worse life when it comes to buying keyboards, IT'S ON!!! That aside, I feel you, but my I ask why you would want to use a Hungarian Layout? Just get comfortable with a standard one e voila. Is it really that different from the f.e. German qwertz?

@Ripster: 100€ on Amazon, 150€ for the Ultimate version. Any questions? ;P
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: Senor_Cartmenez on Tue, 18 January 2011, 07:17:49
Quote from: ripster;279899
If you go by what the German Geekhackers like you'd never buy anything.   And like women, you can always sell the keyboard afterwards if you don't like it.

It's not bout what we like. It's bout what we can get. It's not that we "like" the Ger-Layout. It's just what we use and are used to and kinda need. And there just isn't that much stuff in Ger-Layout. If sie Germans would buy what they liked, I bet they would buy a bunch of Deck Legends :D

Kinda need the Ger-Layout for that though :(

/Edit

@OP
sounds like another happy Filco customer ;)
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: keyboardlover on Tue, 18 January 2011, 07:34:55
Ha! Everyone knows Germans only like black cherries.

(http://bmwmoto.free.fr/lebowski/3_nihilists_large.jpg)

Edit: Dang! Ok I'll steal someone else's bandwidth :D
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: Senor_Cartmenez on Tue, 18 January 2011, 07:43:07
epic pic \KL :D

this what u were goin for?

(http://blog.rezkonv.de/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/schwarzwalderkirsch9sm.jpg)
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: elef on Tue, 18 January 2011, 09:53:01
Quote from: piotrek;280294
may I ask why you would want to use a Hungarian Layout? Just get comfortable with a standard one e voila. Is it really that different from the f.e. German qwertz?

1. Because I'm Hungarian and I mostly type in Hungarian
2. Hu is a standard

Hu and De are both ISO layouts like pretty much all European languages, so the physical layout is the same.
Switching to DE is not an option, we have a different alphabet, bu of course I can touch type fine on DE boards. Special symbols (´˙`˛°˘^ˇ~)(=/%!+) are a pain tho, I need labels for those.
Right now I use a blank kb with I labeled with stickers, and I'll do the same with a German board I have on order.
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: piotrek on Tue, 18 January 2011, 11:45:51
Oh, I took a look at the layout, very ugly for you man :/. At least you don't have to search for a french layout haha, those seem to be the most ****ed up.
WHY do french people always have to feel so "different"? Many times it seems as if they are confusing different with what's retarded in reality, especially when it comes to their language.
I mean SWAP Q AND A ON YOUR KEYBOARD LAYOUT?? REALLY?

äöüöäöäöäüöäüö, why do I even need those? I hope that sooner or later there will be some kind of norm allowing to use keyboardlayouts a little more flexible and not let every country place their special chars randomly.
Rather later I guess.
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: bugfix on Tue, 18 January 2011, 11:48:44
Quote from: piotrek;280437
äöüöäöäöäüöäüö, why do I even need those?


Because replacing them with ae oe and ue looks retarded.
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 18 January 2011, 12:03:18
Piotrek is just a beacon of positive light.
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: piotrek on Tue, 18 January 2011, 12:06:46
No need to stay positive when you're surrounded with people who run smiling into a buzzsaw, that's my style of adaption.
I like it that way instead of spending 300 posts a day with trolling one-liners :)
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 18 January 2011, 12:08:48
It's 301, but who's counting?
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: piotrek on Tue, 18 January 2011, 12:53:12
This forum makes TheFlatEarthSociety look normal : D
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: keyboardlover on Tue, 18 January 2011, 13:06:14
Quote from: ripster;280471
300!
Show Image
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5125/5366560868_17f6c3af05_z.jpg)

We will blot out the sun with our...spam!
Title: New, former lurker, looking for first Mech
Post by: elef on Tue, 18 January 2011, 13:36:25
Quote from: piotrek;280437

WHY do french people always have to feel so "different"?
I mean SWAP Q AND A ON YOUR KEYBOARD LAYOUT?? REALLY?


I have to agree with that one. Maybe it makes sense, maybe A is a rare letter in French and they use Q a lot... but realistically, A can't be rare enough to justify placing it in such an awkward location. IIRC you need to use a modifier to type a period (.) but ; and : get their own key. It's just a dumb layout.

The Hungarian is simply a qwertz with the extra letters tacked on.