Should your keyboard reflect your comp?

[Snow_Fox]

I know there are a lot of people out there who really put effort into building a decent comp.. (I am quite proud of my rig actually)..

And I find it funny there is a tendency to skip on the part we touch the most on our computers. Not saying it requires an epic computer to justify a mech keyboard.. However, it also raises the question can cheap keyboards really do expensive rigs justice?

I know I was originally happy with this 10$ logitech.. which is even cheaper than the msrp of the fans on my computer..

However, I have also noticed over the 4 or 5  months I've had it, the longer I use it the less happy I am with it.

So.. is it safe to say that you shouldn't spend a lot of money on your comp and not allot a fair portion to your keyboard?

I mean.. everyone knows you don't get a cheap psu in an expensive rig, or a crappy mobo with high end gpu and cpu..

So is it safe to say that a decent keyboard should be another thing that gets put into any pc builders budget?

Or do you think its safe to say that the world of high end keyboards is still one that is a bit more out there?

I'm not saying it is "weird" by any means.. but, one that you might have a little more trouble justifying to even comp enthusiast?

Seeing as I don't have my mech in yet, I will give my own personal response after I've had the chance to actually evaluate it. However, I can say that i've had this 10$ keyboard for quite some time.. its been ok for what I've needed it for.. but, considering how much I'm on the computer, and how much I've put into researching/paying for/and building it.. I would like a better interface for my machine.. one that is more than "working".. something that I actually enjoy using..

[Phaedrus2129]

A mechanical keyboard

And an IPS monitor

And a high-end optical mouse

And a comfortable office chair

And a silent case and full water cooling

And a PCIe SSD so that everything is instantaneous




It's all a matter of priorities and budget.

[Nadger]

Its like a car modder, if you got this nice ass car but you have some ghetto hubcaps or something on it...it stands out and ruins the whole thing.

Its all or nothing.

And as far as money goes, people spend money on what they do with their free time.

I spend most my free time on my computer or sleeping, so i splurge on computer stuff and my mattress/chair/bed.

[PRISONER 24601]

I always go for quality over performance. I like a reliable computer and I hate to lose data. With a new build, my focus is almost always

1. a good RAID array
2. quality power supply
3. a well-regarded motherboard
4. copper heatsinks and ball-bearing fans

after that I pick my RAM, vid card, etc

Of course a mechanical keyboard, IPS panel, and classy aluminum chassis go without saying

Yeah, I think half of the user experience comes from what you see, touch, feel, and hear. Quality input devices and monitors are a must-have- and a nice chair/desk combo doesn't hurt either.

[Nadger]

Man now im curious how many of us here have IPS panels.

Phae mentioned he has one
I have a 26" one as well
Prisoner has one.

Must be some link between luxurious keyboards and monitors~

[Manyak]

A mechanical keyboard

And an IPS monitor

And a high-end optical mouse

And a comfortable office chair

And a silent case and full water cooling

And a PCIe SSD so that everything is instantaneous




It's all a matter of priorities and budget.

And one or two secondary monitors.

And a large desk with lots of room to work with.

[Manyak]

Man now im curious how many of us here have IPS panels.

Phae mentioned he has one
I have a 26" one as well
Prisoner has one.

Must be some link between luxurious keyboards and monitors~

I have two 30" ones, a 3008WFP and a U3011.

I just got the U3011 this week, and I think I'm gonna sell the 3008WFP. I have it as my secondary monitor right now, and I'm not really getting anything out of using it instead of the 19" TN panel I had.

[PRISONER 24601]

doesn't have to be IPS... Anything better than TN film will do for me. I think some of the better monitors are PVA anyway. I'm not really a monitor guy, I really only care about brightness levels and true whites/blacks. I like a white screen that looks like paper.

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

Budget, budget.... budget.....



My pc rig theme color is black.

http://mognet.no-ip.info/2010/09/44


The only colorful part about my rig is the anime sticker on the side of my casing.

The ducky keyboard is also black so should look nice :}


My rig project was years in the works until i finally got around to replacing all the components with something above decent. Sadly it's hard to keep up to date with tech as theres always something better every few months. For now i'm done updating components until maybe 5-6 years from now. So am saving up currently. My rig may not be ridiculously highend but it's something i find comfortable with :} So no SLI; or 30'' multi monitor setups for me for example :}

Already my Nvidia 285GTX isn't considered highend anymore. All the latest graphics cards have tesselation. However i don't see it being that useful until maybe 5 + more years when you can get some decent frame rates with tesselation enabled :X

Also my motherboard is missing USB3; SATA3 6gbps; EFI. But stuff i can live without since hdds hardly are able to benefit anyway from SATA3 atm. I also don't use many USB3 devices either to benefit from it.



Anyway i listed my hardware upgrade priorities from most important down to least over the years:

CPU (something bang for bucks and can overclock) >
Motherboard (with the performance and features i need) >
Monitor (1920x1200 resolution and minimum 24'' wide screen; H-IPS or better only) >
graphics card (i lean more towards Nvidia these days. Need something beefy to support my big sized monitor if i want playable Frame rates) >
Router >
Mouse and mousepad (Logitech G500 because i love the design) >
Soundcard >
Speakers or headphones (quality stereo Hifis make music and movies enjoyable) >
RAM (ddr3 6gb minimum i'd say if your using Windows 7 64bit)  >
PSU (750 watts minimum) >
hard drives (1 should definitely be SSD 160GB for OS; and 2 others would have 2TBs each) >
PC Casing (aluminium. I like Lian Li because it's simple, elegant and practical) >
Cooling (water cooling as they are safer than before. Air cooling if on a budget) >
External storage (2 x QNAP NAS. One for active server/streamer; other as backup) >
Monitor Calibrator (i got this to calibrate my monitor for color accuracy for more natural tones of color) >
Mouse Bungee >
keyboard (mechanical)



So why keyboard last ? Because to me; all the other stuff was more important before i finally came around to getting a decent keyboard. For rich people, they are able to get everything in one shot; but for me i had to prioritize upgrades along the years.

All that is left now is to change components as new tech come out; maybe every other 5-6 years :X


Once i get my ducky i'll post a pic :}

[dlalwo]

Anyway i listed my hardware upgrade priorities from most important down to least over the years:

[Snow_Fox]

Actually..

I'm sort embarrassed to admit this but, I spent like 260$ on a non IPS..

I've always been one to seriously research my purchases.. however, when it came to monitors the general consensus was (on multiple websites) Was to just go in store and look at em first hand.

Ended up buying a Samsung B2330.

And for what it is worth.. I don't entirely feel like I got screwed. I've never gotten to see an IPS up close and personal.

However, I could have gotten a monitor like 60$ cheaper which would have been similar.. However, the samsung stood out to me.. In part because it met the criteria I was looking for more than any of the others..  It had the most ports (which if I ever needed an adapter would mean one of two things.. waiting 3 days for something to ship from newegg.. or paying 30$ at best buy or radioshack..) It also meant if it died within 30 days or was plagued with a bunch of dead pixels.. I wouldn't have to pay shipping and handling to return it..

However, I really am wondering why I never heard of IPS until like 2 days ago..

Oh well.. I got the best deal I could find.

My rig is sorta basic.

Although its at stock settings now my CPU is quad core and stable at 4 ghz when I OC with the water cooler (store bought corsair h50 nothing too fancy).

And crossfire 6870 would be the highlight of my build.

I have 23" monitor and a laser gaming mouse.

So I'm very happy with my rig.

Although, I can't wait on my mech keyboard.

@Moogle.. don't worry too much about how "high end" your build is.. mine is mid range and people look at me funny if I tell them how much I paid for it..  Then I try to explain to them how if I would have bought it from a store it would have cost 200$-500$ more.. they really look at me weird.. My brother is running an older Comp as well.. he just upgraded by adding 2 more gigs of ram recently and upgraded his vid card a while back... The truth is you don't need to upgrade as much as you want to.. He lasted a good 2 or 3 years with the 8800 before upgrading.. aside from that he started with 2 gigs of ram and now has 4.. his machine is right at 3 years old..

And call me snobby but, I think its kinda classy to actually have higher end things like a keyboard.

Don't get me wrong I am not saying that any of this should take priority over other things in life. If you have kids and can't afford to spend money on a keyboard thats perfectly understandable.. I mean we all have bills to pay.

However, on the flipside..  If you can afford to get the nice mouse and the nice keyboard, its not like these particular things have to be upgraded regularly, so it doesn't hurt to get something on the higher end which will have to really be upgraded or replaced even less often.

I can't wait for my keyboard....

I want to keep my entire family up at night... "CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLCIK"

The wait always kills me for this stuff I should probably get psychiatric help.. I'm a little to obsessed with my components.. Given the choice between my comp or my parents I really think I'd choose my comp >.>;

[Nadger]

I have nothing more to contribute to this conversation, but i felt the need to share this:

[ricercar]

Does my keyboard reflect the computer? Only the space bar.

[Senor_Cartmenez]

Does my keyboard reflect the computer? Only the space bar.

nicely phrased

[db_Iodine]

Show Image

"Welcome back to work, Tom!"

Once I tried my first IPS monitors at work, I just couldn't justify using a crappy TN-panel at home.

Kind of the same thing happened to me with keyboards; I got to try a Topre and was wondering how it felt so different to type with, and ended up here.

[Lanx]

color blind person like myself doesn't care for ips really, i do care about how my body is positioned at my computer so my chair/keyboardmount/monitor mount x2 costs more than my 3.6 oc/quad w/ 8gigs and raid ssd.
like many have said depends on what you want to prioritize.
i hate waiting word to startup in 5secs so i get a ssd raid and it starts up in 1sec. Just like here, ppl hate typing on a "mushy" keyboard so they get mechs.

[ch_123]

The computing world could do with more Industrial Grey cases

[Phaedrus2129]

Man now im curious how many of us here have IPS panels.

Phae mentioned he has one
I have a 26" one as well
Prisoner has one.

Must be some link between luxurious keyboards and monitors~

Actually I don't, I have a couple TN panels, one of which (the Samsung) is out of commission due to bad capacitors.

[itlnstln]

The aesthetic in me says "yes," but sometimes I enjoy breaking out the G80-3000 which ****s it all up.

[Snow_Fox]

color blind person like myself doesn't care for ips really, i do care about how my body is positioned at my computer so my chair/keyboardmount/monitor mount x2 costs more than my 3.6 oc/quad w/ 8gigs and raid ssd.
like many have said depends on what you want to prioritize.
i hate waiting word to startup in 5secs so i get a ssd raid and it starts up in 1sec. Just like here, ppl hate typing on a "mushy" keyboard so they get mechs.

Oh good..

Seeing as I'm colorblind as well, nothing of value is lost..

Although if were were to divide it up.. My chair/keyboard/monitor runs almost on par with my rig itself..

[theferenc]

I have 2 IPS panels, a unicomp and a HHKB for keyboards, was thinking about a CST trackball, and my desk and chair both cost more than my "rig". I definitely spend more money on things I directly interact with than I do on the hardware inside my tower.

Then again, I tend to go reliability and low power draw over performance for most of my purchases.

[kite]

I have two 30" ones, a 3008WFP and a U3011.

I just got the U3011 this week, and I think I'm gonna sell the 3008WFP. I have it as my secondary monitor right now, and I'm not really getting anything out of using it instead of the 19" TN panel I had.

lol
i can relate to that, i had two 3007WFP and it was just too much ^^
I barely used the space on the second except for winamp, icq or whatever

[8_INCH_FLOPPY]

The type of keyboard you use should have little to do with how much you spent on your computer.  That is to say, whether you spent $15 or $1500 on your computer, you should always make sure to get a decent keyboard. The main reason I would sooner spend money on a keyboard than a computer is that the most expensive top of the line computer system is going to be obsolete in 6 months and you are going to build another one(I don't, but that's what I've been told by the people who have the money to do this).  If you get a good keyboard, it could last for 20 years, and you get to enjoy it all of that time.

[JBert]

1. a good RAID array

I hope you only use it for striping / mirroring and not for a false sense of data security.

The disks in your array would then be better used as external hard disks and rotated used for desktop and off-site backup.

[CodeChef]

Wow, that is flamboyantly gay. *sigh* Ricers.

[Snow_Fox]

@ripster.

Can you really blame someone for wanting a keyboard that suits their style?

To be honest, if I hadn't seen a backlighted keyboard on a dell a while back, I probably would be right there with you making fun of em.

However, (my opinion only) the keyboard actually looked pretty classy..

I mean.. I don't know about anyone else.. but, my computer is where I spend most of my time.. So I would prefer to have something that I feel is aesthetically pleasing to me there..

I am only speaking for myself.. but, i don't want to pay $100+ and get what looks like an antique type writer..

[shrap]

After 10 years, I've realized that for my uses, 99% of all computer stuff is the same - except for input devices like the keyboard and pointing device. None of it really matters, except for people with too much time and money on their hands.

[Snow_Fox]

After 10 years, I've realized that for my uses, 99% of all computer stuff is the same - except for input devices like the keyboard and pointing device. None of it really matters, except for people with too much time and money on their hands.

Ouch.

Don't you have any hobbies?

[EverythingIBM]

@ripster.

Can you really blame someone for wanting a keyboard that suits their style?

To be honest, if I hadn't seen a backlighted keyboard on a dell a while back, I probably would be right there with you making fun of em.

However, (my opinion only) the keyboard actually looked pretty classy..

I mean.. I don't know about anyone else.. but, my computer is where I spend most of my time.. So I would prefer to have something that I feel is aesthetically pleasing to me there..

I am only speaking for myself.. but, i don't want to pay $100+ and get what looks like an antique type writer..

A nice handy Model M can be obtained for dirt cheap ($5 to $20): or in some cases, free. And logitech DOES sell rubber domes over $100 with fancy lighting: so the argument that old solid keyboards are more money is mythology.

Generally the IBM typewriters came in a lot of flavours and colors (I wish my model M had cool blue keys like that):


It wasn't until the PC 5150 did everything become "beige". Typically people think beige means old, not necessarily, it was just a brief trend.

[theferenc]

And personally, I rather *like* the look of the Model M. It's classy.

Then again, I'm in computer science, old hardware is something of a hobby, and my office mates are jealous of my Unicomp, if that tells you anything.

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

After 10 years, I've realized that for my uses, 99% of all computer stuff is the same - except for input devices like the keyboard and pointing device. None of it really matters, except for people with too much time and money on their hands.

well i disagree.

Computer performance for parts are not the same at all.

Ever since i got my Intel Gen 2 160gb SSD; i noticed that my pc was more speedy. Even games installed onto the SSD load faster.

So better hardware does make a difference. You just got to figure out which components are the bottlenecks and upgrade according.


A better cpu also helps reduce encoding time.

[shrap]

Ouch.

Don't you have any hobbies?

Exactly, I have tons of hobbies and not enough time for those hobbies. Things like golf, running, programming, etc. Researching and buying computer stuff to get that last 10% performance boost won't make your life considerably better.

I've assembled computers before. It's time consuming. At the end, you still have a computer that's going to be obsolete in a few years.  And there are lots of things more important than performance. The software you run on it is more important than the brand of RAM you have.

well i disagree.

Computer performance for parts are not the same at all.

Ever since i got my Intel Gen 2 160gb SSD; i noticed that my pc was more speedy. Even games installed onto the SSD load faster.

So better hardware does make a difference. You just got to figure out which components are the bottlenecks and upgrade according.


A better cpu also helps reduce encoding time.

I don't play games, nor do I encode video or stuff. For my purposes, performance flat out doesn't matter. The only thing I care about nowadays is uptime and data retention.

[patrickgeekhack]

I don't play games, nor do I encode video or stuff. For my purposes, performance flat out doesn't matter. The only thing I care about nowadays is uptime and data retention.

Everyone's situation is different. Some people need (or want) the top of the line. Others are perfectly happy with an entry-level computer. However, regardless of how expensive your computer is, a good keyboard makes a huge difference. One still needs a keyboard to interact with the computer.

[shrap]

That was my point. The difference between a cheap membrane keyboard and any mechanical keyboard is drastic. The difference between a normal hard drive and an SSD is so much smaller that it shouldn't be considered in the same discussion.

[aynjell]

A mechanical keyboard

And an IPS monitor

And a high-end optical mouse

And a comfortable office chair

And a silent case and full water cooling

And a PCIe SSD so that everything is instantaneous




It's all a matter of priorities and budget.

And a mouse bungee. You've almost described my rig, but unfortunately it's not silent at all.

2 24" M-PVA panels I got for 180$ each.
Das Keyboard Pro
crappy office chair
ATCS 840 with all internal water cooling
crucial M225 SSD (128GB)

I'm getting there.

That was my point. The difference between a cheap membrane keyboard and any mechanical keyboard is drastic. The difference between a normal hard drive and an SSD is so much smaller that it shouldn't be considered in the same discussion.

In my case, I found even yesteryear's SSD's to be a noticeable improvement over a pair of velociraptors in RAID 0. So say what you will but I'm arguing with you.

[killy]

I'm not a rich person at all, so I sort of compromise on everything. A true enthusiast also thinks with his wallet, not just his heart!

Mostly everything was bought on sale: P182, S-Flex fans, PCP 600W. All quiet, not expensive. E7200 / P35 mobo, 4850. Bought a Vertex 60gb for $140 as a boot drive, best upgrade per $ ever. 1 tb WD black, around 70-80. Samsung 931bw, not bad but getting long in the tooth. I'm a fan of silence and small footprint, so I will definitely go with a mini-ITX for my next refresh.

With all games besides Valve's being console ports, a 4850 is more than enough for many games out today. Still, the one game that has recently got me thinking about upgrading to Bulldozer or Sandy Bridge was Civ 5. That game is quite a CPU hog.

I have a big cloth pad, kinzu, and a keytronic.

All in all, quite decent.

I did have a lapse of judgement when I spent a fair sum on audiophile (god, never again) equipment, but it keeps me happy ... from time to time.

[ynih]

I agree with Killy...I had a momentary lapse back in '07 when I decided it's all IPS or nothing. I promptly went out and purchased 4 Dell IPS 20" 4:3 monitors. After trying to get used to 4 monitors from a dual monitor setup, I realized how much more un-productive I was.  In the end, I gave each of those monitors away to a member of my immediate family and ended up with a Dell 24" (U2410)....couldn't be happier.

I'm also not one to buy the best of the best when it comes out during the first 3-6 months. I always wait and purchase the 2nd best ... like I picked up a solid, top of the line X48 board for $100 (NIB) from a closeout sale.  I know w/ technology, newer should be better...but as shrap mentioned earlier, most of the things I do on a daily basis does not need top of the line hardware.  For the photography processing power, I have another rig to deal with that, but for the 24/7 rig, only the keyboard, monitor, mouse, and chair matter to me.

[Lanx]

buying botb(best of the best) or waiting really only coincides with video card/mobo/proc/ram/ssd/hd/monitors

everything else is a constant price.

save for super crazy black friday or just an awesome deal
cases
cooling
soundcards
raid cards
mice
mice pads
keyboards (even mechs, ever see a new topre for less than 200? been out for what 15 years?)
office chairs
speakers

these price points almost never change really, and at times, just doesn't make sense to "wait for better".

Actually the opposite could hold true, it might be more detrimental, you could wait for a year b4 you buy a good office chair, while your spinal column degrades and can never be fixed. You could develop RSI because you couldn't find a good mice that fit your hand or your table was aligned incorrectly.

[aynjell]

I'm not a rich person at all, so I sort of compromise on everything. A true enthusiast also thinks with his wallet, not just his heart!

Mostly everything was bought on sale: P182, S-Flex fans, PCP 600W. All quiet, not expensive. E7200 / P35 mobo, 4850. Bought a Vertex 60gb for $140 as a boot drive, best upgrade per $ ever. 1 tb WD black, around 70-80. Samsung 931bw, not bad but getting long in the tooth. I'm a fan of silence and small footprint, so I will definitely go with a mini-ITX for my next refresh.

With all games besides Valve's being console ports, a 4850 is more than enough for many games out today. Still, the one game that has recently got me thinking about upgrading to Bulldozer or Sandy Bridge was Civ 5. That game is quite a CPU hog.

I have a big cloth pad, kinzu, and a keytronic.

All in all, quite decent.

I did have a lapse of judgement when I spent a fair sum on audiophile (god, never again) equipment, but it keeps me happy ... from time to time.

Same here, notice the M-PVA part. I got these monitors about 3 months back. M-pva was the IPS of about 2-3 years ago. The monitors I have now went for 800+ when they were relavent. I got them on geeks for 180$ each. For a 24 inch monitor, that's a good deal new. For a 24 inch M-PVA panel, that's a good deal for parts.


I tend not to compromise much on headphones, though I do look for the family of cans most appropriate to my needs. My most recent headphone purchase where I actaully bought from a need was my SRH840. Took a bit of getting used to but they are now some of my best sounding cans. At the time it was closed cans or no music and all I had was MDR-V6, which ironically is what I've used almost all week this week. They aren't bad so realistically I'm not sure why I bought the SRH840's, though they have gotten more use in total than my v6's I'd wager.

What I can say is... yes that **** gets expensive fast. HOWEVER, I love the search of audio. For me it's very much like scotch tasting... which even under ideal circumstances can cost quite a bit more in the long run.

[dec.net]

Well, I'm the sort of person whose rig develops, and quite quickly sometimes. I like to try out new things and configurations, and cry a bit when it fails and all my data is lost, swearing to never touch a computer again.... for half a day or so. The general experience of using the computer became more and more important than the actual performance to me over the years, but I'm not into esthetics so much (as proven by my partly disassembled used-to-be-grey monitors sitting on desk above a white keyboard and black mouse above a black tower) as I am into touch-and-feel and sounds.
 
So I guess i'm rather glad to have found geekhack, where the inspiration to buy six-and-a-half mechanical keyboards in slightly over a month came pretty natural.

Chris

[killy]

That was my point. The difference between a cheap membrane keyboard and any mechanical keyboard is drastic. The difference between a normal hard drive and an SSD is so much smaller that it shouldn't be considered in the same discussion.

I disagree. Dollar for dollar a SSD is by far the best upgrade for your PC, period. It can actually speed up your PC by a factor of ten because access times are indeed ten times faster or more. For ~100, there simply isn't another upgrade you can give your PC that will actually give it the 'new PC' feel.

[db_Iodine]

I disagree. Dollar for dollar a SSD is by far the best upgrade for your PC, period. It can actually speed up your PC by a factor of ten because access times are indeed ten times faster or more. For ~100, there simply isn't another upgrade you can give your PC that will actually give it the 'new PC' feel.

It's not going to speed up loading times in games much, but it certainly speeds up loading times of programs and especially reduces the time of OS start up. I just think a computer with the OS installed on a regular hard disk feels sluggish compared to a computer with SSD. Definitely worth the price they're at these days.

[keyboardlover]

+1 for SSD. I have one in my W500 and it makes a WORLD of difference.

[aynjell]

It's not going to speed up loading times in games much, but it certainly speeds up loading times of programs and especially reduces the time of OS start up. I just think a computer with the OS installed on a regular hard disk feels sluggish compared to a computer with SSD. Definitely worth the price they're at these days.

I have 1 128GB SSD. The few games that I play often enough to be on that drive are faster for it, but not by much. The real star is stuff like opening firefox, or office. It's all instant. When you got a 3.8ghz quad core and an SSD matched up, stuff just happens when you click on stuff. Anything slower than instant soon becomes unacceptable.

[phillip]

I kind of want an SSD...but in response to the original topic title, yeah, you should have a decent keyboard to go along with a decent machine, but i understand compromises have to be made.  I always get annoyed seeing somebody with a decent machine, nice monitor or monitors, a quality keyboard, but ****ty speakers...but if sound quality is a low priority for them, then that's just how it is.

[gun_sl1nger]

Well I disagree on the SSD vs HDD Comparison. If you compare an SSD to a multiple terabyte HDD (just one not RAID 0 which is not even true RAID) the only thing you lose any performance on is burst speed. The data density on a 2 TB drive is insanely tight so your access and throughput should be very fast (so fast you would be hard pressed to notice the difference).

But I agree on the keyboard point. If you buy high end kit (which already costs a fair bit of cash) you owe it to yourself to have decent input peripherals. However, most people who buy the latest CPU/GPU combo are generally gamers who disregard a keyboards true worth as an input device being more interested in it as an accessory, ie the G15/G19. I have owned a G15 (orange) one, I bought second hand, and got rid of it a couple of months later because really the key switches felt terrible. The monitor was next to useless (why check ammo count on a piss ant keyboard LCD when I have a 30" monitor in front of me)? The macro keys never used.

The problem is education. People think the G15/Razer Lycosa/M$ x4/x5/xx etc ARE good keyboards. Which is why it's so good to see Razer putting a proper mechanical switch keyboard on the market and advertising the switch type as a 'professional gamers' ultimate choice. It means more people will be interested In the devices we have been enjoying for years. Perhaps even bringing the price down.

It may be a caveat for Razer though considering the MTBF of mechanical switches. Not so many return sales when equipment wears out!

[keyb_gr]

It may be a caveat for Razer though considering the MTBF of mechanical switches. Not so many return sales when equipment wears out!

That's always a "risk" when you've got a good product (or a bad one that breaks very fast - the sweet spot for the manufacturer is somewhere in between). Still, if something lasts longer, that'll also keep its resource footprint down. There is no worse waste of energy and resources than a (needlessly) throwaway product, including junk right from the factory. Besides, good products tend to be recommended, so word of mouth may be sufficient in terms of "marketing".

It would be interesting to see the resource footprint of something like a mechanical 'board over its lifespan, compared to an equivalent heap of cheap membrane boards that a prolific writer might go through in the same time. I'm not sure the mechanical would come out on top, but that's mainly because they tend to be discarded long before there really is anything wrong with them (excepting controller failure or unfortunate accidents). I think keyswitch or keycap replacement or PCB repair are mainly confined to enthusiast circles... so far.

[aynjell]

Well I disagree on the SSD vs HDD Comparison. If you compare an SSD to a multiple terabyte HDD (just one not RAID 0 which is not even true RAID) the only thing you lose any performance on is burst speed. The data density on a 2 TB drive is insanely tight so your access and throughput should be very fast (so fast you would be hard pressed to notice the difference).

But I agree on the keyboard point. If you buy high end kit (which already costs a fair bit of cash) you owe it to yourself to have decent input peripherals. However, most people who buy the latest CPU/GPU combo are generally gamers who disregard a keyboards true worth as an input device being more interested in it as an accessory, ie the G15/G19. I have owned a G15 (orange) one, I bought second hand, and got rid of it a couple of months later because really the key switches felt terrible. The monitor was next to useless (why check ammo count on a piss ant keyboard LCD when I have a 30" monitor in front of me)? The macro keys never used.

The problem is education. People think the G15/Razer Lycosa/M$ x4/x5/xx etc ARE good keyboards. Which is why it's so good to see Razer putting a proper mechanical switch keyboard on the market and advertising the switch type as a 'professional gamers' ultimate choice. It means more people will be interested In the devices we have been enjoying for years. Perhaps even bringing the price down.

It may be a caveat for Razer though considering the MTBF of mechanical switches. Not so many return sales when equipment wears out!

The KRO on the keyboard is ass, so they pretty much screwed it up. Thankfully it's no worse than any of the other keyboards they make.

[Lanx]

Well I disagree on the SSD vs HDD Comparison. If you compare an SSD to a multiple terabyte HDD (just one not RAID 0 which is not even true RAID) the only thing you lose any performance on is burst speed. The data density on a 2 TB drive is insanely tight so your access and throughput should be very fast (so fast you would be hard pressed to notice the difference).

You have never used a ssd? that's pretty much the only assumption I could make, and i'm talking about current gen ssd's at least 2009 ssd's from indilix (ocz vertex) or intel or even better 2010/2011 ssds. Because if you did, you wouldn't make this statement because you'd see that the different between having a ssd as a boot drive and having the highest packed density 3platter 2tb or even raid0 15k raptors is night and day.

i've always wanted fast hard drives since 97, from buying scsi drives when they were only cool on mac and getting stupid adapter 2940's and expensive 68pin drives to finding out i could mod a ati66 card to a ati66 raid0 (i think it was rocket raid or something) and raiding my first 2 13g maxtors, i've always gotten the fastest boot drives (within reason of a few hundred bucks) dense platter this, raptor that, none of them compared to when i popped in my first vertex2 30g drive, it was the first time i was amazed at my hard drive in 12 years of since paying 1$ per meg for a 500meg drive. Then i raided that sucker for even more impressive speeds.

yea for maybe film creation/web data server whatever, HD's as the main drives makes sense, but right now with ssd's as emerging technologies there should be no reason not to have one as a 64/128g boot drive.

[elef]

Adding another vote to "SSD is the best thing that ever happened".

They are in a different galaxy compared to platter drives. Everything happens instantly, and when you go back to platter drives after a good SSD, you feel like you're going back to a different era of computing.  

Of course this only applies to good SSDs, which mostly means Intel, or something with either the barefoot controller or the newest-and-best SandForce controllers, which is what I have.

If you think all SSDs have on platter drives is random access (which is a huge deal in itself), here's a tidbit: my computer copies a 150MB video file so fast that I can't make out the progress bar in Total CMD. The progress window just flashes open and it's gone before you could see what's in it. A 350 MB file is copied in about 2 seconds. When booting up, the BIOS takes up more time than the OS boot, applications launch instantly, the Win7 system search is instant, folders with 2000 files open instantly in the file manager etc.

It's just a better technology, by a country mile. I do hope and expect that all computers will come with a decent SSD as an OS drive within a year or two. A platter drive could be added for extra storage.
Laptops should use the tiny caseless SSD form factor used in the MB Air or that other credit card-size SSD form factor introduced by Intel (I think). These are so small you can shove them in anywhere and have an empty 2.5" drive bay left for a platter drive. Ship the computer with a 128GB ssd and an empty 2.5" bay and those who want storage can add it.