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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Randallrocks on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:11:13

Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:11:13
Hi everyone! I'm typing on a Dell rubber dome and am looking for an upgrade (yes, I have read the wiki). My budget is $70 USD and I'd like a Cherry MX Brown keyboard.

I'm visiting China in a month... do you all think the ML-87 would be a worthy investment?

Thanks in advance.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Titmouse on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:23:39
What about a Choc Mini? From what I read here, people seem to like the overall build quality.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:27:16
Prc.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Titmouse on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:32:01
Quote from: ripster;360706
How much is a Chocolate Mini in mainland China.

Are we talking ROC or PRC?

IIRC, about $60-70 equivalent.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:34:33
Blues are 60USD, Browns are 70, not including shipping.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Titmouse on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:36:10
Ah, regular shipping within China is just a couple dollars. EMS is about $3-4.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:39:15
Quote from: Titmouse;360715
Ah, regular shipping within China is just a couple dollars. EMS is about $3-4.

...what!? Aren't these keyboards in the 10-15 pound range though? o_o
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Titmouse on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:41:04
Where did you hear that? The full-size Filco is about 2.5 lb. The Choc Mini is probably under 2 lb.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:41:45
Quote from: Titmouse;360723
Where did you hear that? The full-size Filco is about 2.5 lb. The Choc Mini is probably under 2 lb.

 
I must be sorely misinformed then.... alright then. Choc mini it is?

edit: found one for 379 RMB: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9171268206
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Titmouse on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:46:30
I have no personal experience with the Choc Mini, but people seem to think this is of better quality than most other Chinese boards. The only thing I can see is that you may not like the layout. On the other hand, it's not too far from the conventional layout. Where are you going in China? Any chance to go to one of the big electronics retail places to try one in person?
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Tue, 14 June 2011, 14:47:11
Quote from: Titmouse;360725
I have no personal experience with the Choc Mini, but people seem to think this is of better quality than most other Chinese boards. The only thing I can see is that you may not like the layout. On the other hand, it's not too far from the conventional layout. Where are you going in China? Any chance to go to one of the big electronics retail places to try one in person?

guangzhou for 4 weeks, hong kong for 1 week
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Titmouse on Tue, 14 June 2011, 15:01:08
I don't know my way around southern China. But the wiki says there is a big electronics market in Shenzhen (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Geekhack+WorldWide+Shopping+Links), which is just outside of Hongkong. You should be able to find plenty of toys that you want there. Actually, this store (http://item.360hqb.com/37097.html#shopDetail) says they have a storefront on the fifth floor of the SEG market. Good luck.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: noodles256 on Tue, 14 June 2011, 15:27:55
Quote from: ripster;360748
I luv the Geekhack wiki.

I'm printing it out and binding it
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: noodles256 on Tue, 14 June 2011, 15:41:34
this isn't a kiddie book, ain't no pics getting in
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Tue, 14 June 2011, 15:53:25
Thanks everyone. :)

Just one last question: fssbzz's review mentions the keyboard is not Mac compatible. Does anyone have any information on GNU/Linux compatibility?
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Lester on Tue, 14 June 2011, 16:00:05
Quote from: ripster;360702
Well, it seems to me that PLUMs are in China and Leopolds in Japan are the good deals right now.  So assuming you've read the reviews and know what you're getting those are the good deals.  AFAIK Duckys aren't as cheap.

Ducky's are quite cheap, especially with cheap shipping from PCHome.

PCHome Ducky shipping (up to 5 kg, a keyboard is 1-2 kg) US: 10$, EU: 20$.
Leopold shipping (FC500R, the fullsize one) US: ? EU: 5400JPY - 67.33$ - 46.60EU
Leopold shipping (FC200RT, the tenkeyless one) US ? EU 4800JPY - 59.41$ - 41.42EU

Ducky 1087 price PCHome: 1990TWD - 69.10$ - 47.83EU
Ducky 9008G2 price PCHome (abs): 3190TWD - 110.79$ - 76.68EU

Leopold FC500R price: 8980JPY - 111.97$ - 77.50EU
Leopold FC200RT price: 7980JPY - 99.50$ - 68.87EU

Total cost to EU (keyboard + shipping):
Ducky 1087: 89.10$
Ducky 9008G2: 130.79$
Leopold FC500R: 179,30$
Leopold FC200RT: 158,91$

The Ducky 9008G2 & Leopold are in the same price range, but due to the expensive shipping from japan and the cheap shipping from taiwan ducky's are (atleast for me in Europe) a lot cheaper then leopolds.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: burnt_norton on Wed, 15 June 2011, 11:29:17
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?17257-Is-Noppoo-Choc-Mini-compatible-with-Linux.

Yes.  My real worry would be if you use BSD at all, as FreeBSD is what's under the hood over at OSX.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: The Solutor on Wed, 15 June 2011, 11:35:50
Quote from: burnt_norton;361167
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?17257-Is-Noppoo-Choc-Mini-compatible-with-Linux.

Yes.  My real worry would be if you use BSD at all, as FreeBSD is what's under the hood over at OSX.

 
OSX uses a completely different kernel than the BSD one
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: burnt_norton on Wed, 15 June 2011, 12:03:11
I am sure the kernel has been extensively modified (I've never seen it so I wouldn't know), but they seem to keep things similar enough to "borrow" from the open source community.  I always get a chuckle when I configure my printers and see Common Unix Printing System with an Apple copyright.  But this is a little off topic.  

My answer to any hardware compatibility question with Linux is "yes, but maybe not your Linux."
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: The Solutor on Wed, 15 June 2011, 12:09:15
Quote from: burnt_norton;361198
I am sure the kernel has been extensively modified

 

Not extensively modified, a completely different kernel, based mainly on the MACH kernel, with some addition taken from the 4.3BSD one.

This was done by XNU before being acquired by apple.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: theopratama on Sat, 18 June 2011, 08:36:10
are u like brown switch ??

hmm .. if you like blue , Blackwidow from razer is good .. or TT Meka for Black switch ...
Spend your money .. BUY FILCO !!! It's awesome ! :music:

sorry my english is very suck .. :(
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Fri, 24 June 2011, 17:25:05
Leaving for China in 2 weeks... turns out the Choc Mini price has risen by $10, making it out of my budget. :(

Is the build quality in the ML-87 really that much worse? I don't need NKRO, and the cancel Windows key looks pretty sweet.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Fri, 24 June 2011, 21:58:04
Bump.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Tue, 19 July 2011, 06:20:10
Update: Got to try out blacks/browns/blues/clears at one of the HK shops in the Shopping Wiki. Imo, in terms of feel, clears>blues>browns>blacks

Ordered an MX Brown Choc Mini... it's coming in 5 days. :)
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: scribble on Tue, 19 July 2011, 06:25:28
why'd you get a brown if you thought it was 3rd worse out of the 4? o_O
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Tue, 19 July 2011, 06:33:39
Quote from: scribble;383251
why'd you get a brown if you thought it was 3rd worse out of the 4? o_O

I can't find an affordable new clears keyboard and blues are too loud. :/

Browns still feel fantastic. Much, much lighter than my rubber domes.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: The Solutor on Tue, 19 July 2011, 07:05:53
Quote from: Randallrocks;383255
I can't find an affordable new clears keyboard


http://www.preisroboter.de/search.php?search=G80-3000LQCEU-0&min=&max=&x=0&y=0
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: Randallrocks on Tue, 19 July 2011, 10:32:04
Quote from: The Solutor;383265
http://www.preisroboter.de/search.php?search=G80-3000LQCEU-0&min=&max=&x=0&y=0

 
That's $80 + shipping to US, it's not tenkeyless and does not come with built in media keys. I would pay a premium for clears, but another $30 + less features just doesn't add up in my book.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: daerid on Tue, 19 July 2011, 10:34:27
Quote from: The Solutor;383265
http://www.preisroboter.de/search.php?search=G80-3000LQCEU-0&min=&max=&x=0&y=0

There an english version? I've been meaning to try out clears for a while.. wanna see what all the hubub's about.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: The Solutor on Tue, 19 July 2011, 12:34:19
Quote from: daerid;383341
There an english version?


You mean US version ? The one linked is the US version (eu=us+euro symbol).

The de version is 15€ cheaper.

Quote
wanna see what all the hubub's about.


Plain clears are nothing special, ergo clears are...
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: daerid on Tue, 19 July 2011, 13:05:23
The difference is only in the spring, right? Difference in spring weight doesn't really bother me.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: The Solutor on Tue, 19 July 2011, 13:19:58
Quote from: daerid;383406
The difference is only in the spring, right?


Theoretically yes, practically ergo clears are not just less stiff, are also more tactile.

Clears feels like a stiffer brown, Ergo Clears feels more like a silent blue.
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: daerid on Tue, 19 July 2011, 14:11:16
Is the tactile point as sharp? I don't really like the tactile feeling of blues :( A stiffer brown would be cool, but not a "snappy" one (if that makes sense)
Title: Looking for MX Brown keyboard for me
Post by: The Solutor on Tue, 19 July 2011, 14:17:39
Quote from: daerid;383442
Is the tactile point as sharp?


The perceived sharpness from blues is given partly by the bump, and partly by the white slider hitting the switch's bottom, the latter is missing.

Ergo clears are not so sharp, but the tactile point is definite, way different by the "unlubed linear" feeling from browns.