geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Techhobbiest on Wed, 28 May 2014, 20:54:18
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Hi,
Going to buy a keyboard tonight. I have been looking and debating with myself for months now :-\...at this rate I will never make a decision so, it all ends within 24 hours...with your suggestions. I am going to buy the most recommended keyboard by 24 hours of this post.
The only Keyboard spec's I ask that you keep your rec's within are
--- Must be quiet I work in an office
--- Must be at least TKL and greater than 40%
--- Must be readily available through some dealer/person
THANK YOU in advance for your help all of your replies are greatly appreciated, I will try to stay out of the posts to keep it uncluttered--- sometimes its best to leave your decisions to the pro's! :thumb:
*please no troll posts I don't make enough money to do this twice lol
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Poker II with browns, blues, or blacks.
EDIT: Meant reds not blues.
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Cooler Master Quick Fire Rapid with red or brown.
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Ergodox live @ massdrop... hands down the ultimate keyboard.
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My highest recommendation goes to the Topre TypeHeaven. Over the last 3-4 years I've purchased a crapton of keyboards - very few of which lasted over 48 hours before hitting the Classifieds; The TypeHeaven has been in my possession for around 6 months. I loved it enough to buy another for home!
+ Quiet for the Office (where I use one of mine)
+ Hardwired: reliability insurance policy. Granted, in an office setting you may not disconnect a detachable cable hardly ever - it's still nice knowing that hardwired will never fail.
+ No MX switches: reliability means no chattering over the lifetime.
+ Looks like a plain ass keyboard - won't catch any unwanted attention.
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QFR browns/reds.
If money isn't an issue, Filco with reds.
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QFR with browns.
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QFR if you're on a budget (this board is often on sale for 60 USD)
Filco if you want to spend more
Poker 2 if you want a 60
Ducky Shine III if you like backlighting
Realforce 87u if rubber dome is your thing. Comes in 45g and 55g flavor.
Unicomp/Model M if you want a tank of a board with buckling springs and gave up on being quiet at the office.
Reds or clears for MX switches. I have a hard time recommending browns. Ideally you'd have a modded switch.
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HHKB. Saving yourself money really by buying the best keyboard first ;).
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Matias mini quiet.
http://matias.ca/miniquietpro/pc/
There is no such thing as a mech that's quieter.
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As this is a kind of poll, I'll go for:
* QFR if you don't want backlighting
* Ducky Shine if you do
MX blacks FTW! Strong and silent (mostly).
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Hey guys! Thanks for all the great feedback so far... Would like to add a couple of things..1st is that price for this purchase is not a huge consideration, I believe in the theory that cheap things cost twice as much. However, I do not price discriminate a good product is a good product which I am sure all of the rec'd boards are...
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Are topre switches too loud for office use?
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Get a wireless rubber dome keyboard that looks neat to you. Also check out reviews on Amazon.
Topre are about the same volume as a regular rubber dome switch.
The only switches that might be "too loud" for office use are buckling spring/MX Blue/MX Green.
Though at one time buckling spring was the normal keyboard sound in the office.
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Get a wireless rubber dome keyboard that looks neat to you. Also check out reviews on Amazon.
Topre are about the same volume as a regular rubber dome switch.
The only switches that might be "too loud" for office use are buckling spring/MX Blue/MX Green.
Though at one time buckling spring was the normal keyboard sound in the office.
why do you rec. a rubber dome kb?
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Matias mini quiet.
http://matias.ca/miniquietpro/pc/
There is no such thing as a mech that's quieter.
I completely concur with him and you can find one here:
http://www.mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=523
These are extremely quiet. And are a joy to type on. They are also very conservative and stylish for the workplace setting.
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Get a wireless rubber dome keyboard that looks neat to you. Also check out reviews on Amazon.
Topre are about the same volume as a regular rubber dome switch.
The only switches that might be "too loud" for office use are buckling spring/MX Blue/MX Green.
Though at one time buckling spring was the normal keyboard sound in the office.
why do you rec. a rubber dome kb?
I will give 'the speech' and just imagine Ben Stein is the one saying it: blah blah blah, 'this is a keyboard enthusiast website, and therefore the bias should be toward all things keyboard, and not necessarily thread crapping on rubberdomes blah blah blah.'
I happen to completely disagree with the statement above, but I have been lurking and posting here enough to know it by heart...
:p
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Get a wireless rubber dome keyboard that looks neat to you. Also check out reviews on Amazon.
Topre are about the same volume as a regular rubber dome switch.
The only switches that might be "too loud" for office use are buckling spring/MX Blue/MX Green.
Though at one time buckling spring was the normal keyboard sound in the office.
why do you rec. a rubber dome kb?
I will give 'the speech' and just imagine Ben Stein is the one saying it: blah blah blah, 'this is a keyboard enthusiast website, and therefore the bias should be toward all things keyboard, and not necessarily thread crapping on rubberdomes blah blah blah.'
I happen to completely disagree with the statement above, but I have been lurking and posting here enough to know it by heart...
:p
Lol :)) -- I do agree with being open towards all types of keyboards though. Staying with rubber dome was something that had just not crossed my mind so other than for price, I was really curious if there was a benefit... However, I can see how this thread could quickly change if we venture down that path. :-X
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If you're up for taking a (small) risk, try the brand new Keyed Up Labs ES-87 with Cherry MX Clears. It's a less common, but widely loved switch that's quiet but has a huge tactile bump. Elitekeyboards.com is taking preorders at $119, for shipment by June 3.
If you go this route, please post a review of it, since I'm sure there is a lot of interest in this new keyboard company. They claim to be all about the quality.
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Hey guys! Thanks for all the great feedback so far... Would like to add a couple of things..1st is that price for this purchase is not a huge consideration, I believe in the theory that cheap things cost twice as much. However, I do not price discriminate a good product is a good product which I am sure all of the rec'd boards are...
&
Are topre switches too loud for office use?
Topre switches are not too loud, and you can get a type S (silenced) Topre board which would be even quieter.
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It’s really all down to personal preference. Of the keyboards suggested so far, I personally like Matias quiet switches much better than Topre or Cherry MX clear switches. But plenty of other folks like the MX clears best, or like the Topres best.
I would suggest you try to borrow a few different keyboards to test for a while and figure out what your preferences are.
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It’s really all down to personal preference. Of the keyboards suggested so far, I personally like Matias quiet switches much better than Topre or Cherry MX clear switches. But plenty of other folks like the MX clears best, or like the Topres best.
I would suggest you try to borrow a few different keyboards to test for a while and figure out what your preferences are.
Except OP indicated an intention to purchase something within 24 hours of starting this thread :p
Most of the keyboards mentioned, if it turns out you (OP) really don't like them, you should be able to resell them here (once you participate in the community, gather up 20 posts and let 2 months pass, whatever the rules are now), should be able to sell them here for almost wht you paid, and thus not lose out much but gain the experience of trying several switches.
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Except OP indicated an intention to purchase something within 24 hours of starting this thread :p
Well, fair enough. But what does “looking and debating” for months mean, specifically? Reading strangers’ reviews online is about 50% useless when it comes to something like keyswitch preferences. The only way to find out what you like is to try a bunch of stuff, physically.
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Except OP indicated an intention to purchase something within 24 hours of starting this thread :p
Well, fair enough. But what does “looking and debating” for months mean, specifically? Reading strangers’ reviews online is about 50% useless when it comes to something like keyswitch preferences. The only way to find out what you like is to try a bunch of stuff, physically.
Until you try a few different switches, most people won't realise that there is so much difference between some switches, and only subtle (but sometimes critical) differences between other switch types.
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I vote for the Filco Majestouch 2 with anything but the MX Blue switches. I'd pick Blacks. Also a Ducky TKL board. Shine 2 or 3. Again, in anything but MX Blues. If you want to keep it "professional", keep the LEDs off.
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I would wait.
One thing I noticed is that for some reason keyboard availability bunchs. Sometimes you can find any keyboard out there. Other times everyplace you look, they are out of stock of half the keyboards. Right now it seems like they are near the bottom of the out oi stock phase.
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Get a wireless rubber dome keyboard that looks neat to you. Also check out reviews on Amazon.
Topre are about the same volume as a regular rubber dome switch.
The only switches that might be "too loud" for office use are buckling spring/MX Blue/MX Green.
Though at one time buckling spring was the normal keyboard sound in the office.
why do you rec. a rubber dome kb?
I will give 'the speech' and just imagine Ben Stein is the one saying it: blah blah blah, 'this is a keyboard enthusiast website, and therefore the bias should be toward all things keyboard, and not necessarily thread crapping on rubberdomes blah blah blah.'
I happen to completely disagree with the statement above, but I have been lurking and posting here enough to know it by heart...
:p
Lol :)) -- I do agree with being open towards all types of keyboards though. Staying with rubber dome was something that had just not crossed my mind so other than for price, I was really curious if there was a benefit... However, I can see how this thread could quickly change if we venture down that path. :-X
There are some good rubber dome keyboards out there. The only drawback to the better ones is that you can't swap keycaps on them to customize them or wash them more easily. The plus is that there are a ton of them in many styles and configurations. Rubber domes may also be a technically better switch because they do what a switch should do:
1. Actuate near the top of the key press
2. Provide enough resistance to prevent accidental key presses
3. Decrease in force after key press
4. Have reduced force at the bottom of the travel for holding keys down more easily
5. Have a cushioned bottoming out
The 3 million vs. 50 million keystroke durability is bogus. I've never had a key go bad on me on a rubber dome keyboard, even after using one for 15+ years of intense gaming. On the other hand, I've had multiple mechanical keyboards fail, usually developing controller board problems. There's nothing bad about rubber domes other than the badly stabilized ones binding when pressed off-center or wobbling. The squishy feeling at the bottom actually reduces finger/wrist strain and is usually very similar to that on Topre keys. See if you can try the keyboard out first because rubber dome keyboards are much more diverse than mechanical keyboards in terms of key positioning.
The keyboard that will be best for you is the one you'll have the most fun with. I like Topre, rubber dome scissor switches (the longer throw ones), vintage MX Black (very smooth), and Cherry ML (they're fun to press, but they do bind when you press them off-center).
If you're dead-set on getting something everyone here would approve of, I would wait for Cooler Master to come out with their Topre keyboards that accept Cherry MX keycaps and get it in 55g uniform weighting.