How do you measure DPI sensitivity on a trackpoint?
The Solutor, which clones of the Olivetti Envision keyboard would you suggest me looking at? Conversely, which ones would you advice me to discard right away? How does this keyboard feel for touch typing?
The Solutor, this ThinkPad laptop-style keyboard looks very interesting, but how does it feel typing on it?
Also, is the trackpoint a good pointing device to use on a 1920x1080 monitor? One has "variable speed" available with the swift move of your arm with any conventional mice, but how does this trackpoint pointing device work under such conditions?
I love those Thinkpad USB keyboards. Trackpoints are amazing, I don't even use a mouse anymore.
All the reviews online list a "DOuble CAps" issue with the shift key, but I haven't had any problems with mine at all.
Thank you for all your advice, guys! :smile:
For what I'm gathering on here it seems that you're suggesting me to invest on a laptop keyboard instead of a rubber dome keyboard? May I ask why? Please, notice that the last time I used a laptop was more than a decade ago so I kind of forgot how they feel like.
Bonheur, something different than a smaller keyboard.. why not use a more sensitive mouse? At work I have a 3840x1200 desktop and at home 2560x1024 and it's really NEVER a problem how big my keyboard is :)
I find your answer lightweight.
How about.......Show Image(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5015/5558642149_29b48c683c_z.jpg)
The search term "HHKB Killer" should bring it up.
I agree with the more sensitive mouse thing. You can get a tenkeyless, but if that's the reason you want one then you don't really need a pointing device on the keyboard.
If you get a trackball get one with high enough DPI. The Kensingtons seem to have really lame DPI.
As for my current mouse, it takes about 3 inches of horizontal movement and about 2 inches of vertical movement to get the cursor to move from one corner to the diagonally opposed corner with my current resolution of 1920x1080.
As for the "claw grip", I guess this is what I'm currently using since the Logitech M500 (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/mice-pointers/mice/devices/5743) is smaller than my hand (a size 10 in gloves). My wrist is resting on the table most of the time. But I may have to change the spot where my wrist rests once after moving the cursor a long distance so my fingers don't need to be uncomfortably stretched.
Thank you for all your advice, guys! :smile:
A tablet is something I would really want to try at some point. I somehow feel I would get better acquainted with them than with trackballs--yet drawing is not my thing. I read several tutorials where they explained to me all the functions of a tablet, like they can be used for double clicking, they have a right button, etc. But is there a tutorial or video somewhere that explains how useful a tablet could be for general Windows usage? Like how to scroll a website with them, move around an Excel spreadsheet, select and drag several files into a folder, etc. The experience of a tablet user. That'd be a great read. But in the case of a tablet, I'd really want to have it as close as possible to my trunk hence a small [full-sized keys] keyboard.
I will look into the high-dpi gaming mice--like the Razer Abyssus (http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID.169414800/categoryId.41636500)--the next time I need to buy a mouse. Yet I kind of enjoy the forwards and backwards buttons on my Logitech M500 mouse (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/mice-pointers/mice/devices/5743) as well as the free-spin scroll wheel feature and the horizontal scroll. The middle button on the M500 isn't that great, but I can live with that. How long will it take for office mice to have high-dpi laser sensors?
As for the Filco Majestouch tenkeyless keyboard w/ black switches (http://www.amazon.com/Majestouch-Tenkeyless-Linear-Action-Keyboard/dp/B001BR4NLS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1303833873&sr=8-2&tag=5336432816-20), it looks like what I had in mind in the first place. How does it feel like not having a numeric keypad physically attatched to the keyboard? As for the switches, how do I know which ones I want? Do the red ones (Filco Majestouch w/ red switches) (http://www.amazon.com/Filco-Majestouch-2-NKR-ASCII-Switch/dp/B004OX4HWG/ref=pd_cp_e_1) or the black ones somehow compare to the feeling I get with my current keyboard (http://www.logitech.com/en-za/for-business/products/keyboards/devices/585%20)--as)? Just to have something to compare them to. As for the EK dampers, could you please give me a link where to find more information about them? As I must confess that I have absolutely no idea what they are. Are they something I need to install on my keyboard myself?
[Cherry MX switches and other vendors]
The EK Soft-Landing Pads (http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,slpads), should I get the black or the grey ones?
For what I'm reading in the forum, I guess the Cherry MX Red switches are the most silent and easier to type on, am I right?
Are the Cherry MX Red switches better for my needs than the Topres switches? Are there any other similar switches from other brands? I'm lost, I know nothing about keyboard switches.
[Sawing off my keyboard]
CraZivn, I'd preffer no to saw off my current keyboard, LOL. I was considering getting one of those compact Chinese keyboards (http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=6926689976) if they're of good quality.
[Tablets]
I'm going to ask this guy to let me try his tablet. It sounds like a nice alternative to a mouse. But at $400 I'm so not getting one. A computer is not my primary productive tool.
What could I expect from one of those moderately priced Wacom Bamboo tablets for $99 (http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Bamboo-Touch-Small-Tablet/dp/B002OOWC3S/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1303904780&sr=8-4)?
[Taobao.com]
Is Taobao.com a good place to buy a keyboard at the best price? If so, could you guys please give me a few links of keyboards I may be interested in from that website? I do not speak Putong Hua, but I can give a link to my friend and ask her to buy it for me. After a quick search, I seem to have found what I believe are Steelseries, Filco, etc. keyboards, small Apple-lookalike keyboards, USB numeric keypads, etc. I just don't know which ones are of good quality.
For the absolute most silent keyboard, reds with the grey dampers would probably be your best bet.
Actually, my Dell rubber dome keyboard that I have sitting next to me and my MS Ergo 4K are both louder than my dampened slider Dell AT101W. Same with my Macbook Pro keyboard. The noise comes from the bottoming out, which on a dampened board is minimized. And a linear board is otherwise basically silent. So not sure how much quieter you can get than that...
Would be nice to have a mod that would make the upstroke quiter on a MX switch, even if it had to be opened I think it would be worth the trouble
@ The Solutor
Clearly you've never used a AEKII or one with those dampened sliders. The dampened part is literally rubber. That's why I traded him my rubber sliders, because I didn't like how silent it was, or the reminiscent feel of domes. Its also black alps, so only tactile. Tis quite quiet.
Not possible. If you did it, it would just become a linear switch. Look at the cherry switches wiki. The way they make the bump and/or the click is the same way it does stuff in the other direction.
I'm just doing some personal statistics.
Being an IT technician since '96 or so, and being an IT hobbyist since '82 I had under my hands an huge amount of PC and obviously keyboards, so I consider those statistics a bit more valid than the average user's ones, that's all.
I don't mind to start a war between mechs and rubbers, also because my favorite keyboard is still the chiclet like one present on the thinkpad edge, and on tp x100e, x120e, which are both silent and tactile.
I think you misunderstood. The upstroke noise we are talking about is the noise even linear cherries do when reaching the very end of the travel during the upstroke. Hitting whatever "stop" is inside the switch makes quite a bit of noise, especially if you release the key by sliding your finger off of it.
Surprisingly, the Samsung N510 11.6" netbook has a GREAT scissor keyboard (to me better than macbooks).
Well, sure, but I happen to have two of the most popular non-chicklet style keyboards sitting next to me, and they happen to be quite noisy, especially by rubber dome standards. The MS Ergo is actually louder than my HHKB, as well as my Dell. And those AEKII rubber dampers really silence the hell out of an ALPS switch, especially if you remove the click leaf. Without the click leaf, they are essentially a linear switch, and I would assume somewhere between black and red in terms of feel. And almost entirely silent.
Never touched the N510, but you reminded me the N150 I had for some time.
Its KB was great, and its KB was the main reason for choosing it, instead of any usual acer, asus, and lookalike.
There is also a minority of rubber domes that are noisy (and usually noisy on a rubber dome mean also poor built and not pleasant to type on), but they are a minority, an exception.
Not true. RT7D5JTW Dell Quietkeys and Keytronics are some of the best rubber domes out there and they're very noisy boards.
@ The Solutor
Clearly you've never used a AEKII or one with those dampened sliders. The dampened part is literally rubber. That's why I traded him my rubber sliders, because I didn't like how silent it was, or the reminiscent feel of domes. Its also black alps, so only tactile. Tis quite quiet.
Not possible. If you did it, it would just become a linear switch. Look at the cherry switches wiki. The way they make the bump and/or the click is the same way it does stuff in the other direction.