Total newb trying to sort things out

[Porschefan]

Hi Geekhackers,

I'm amazed to have stumbled across a place with such a huge amount of information/opinions/esoterica on the subject of keyboards.    I've been typing since I was about 14 WAY back in the days when electric machines were just starting to penetrate the mass market.   I've always been an OK touch typist--probably better than most people, but definitely sub-100 WPM even on a good day.    I've never had any real reason or interest in getting faster and I've never been a gamer and for whatever reason have been happily typing along on cheap keyboards--mostly Dell's since those are the computers I generally buy.  I somehow ran across some info on mechanical-switch type board and I started doing some research and, well, here I am.    I almost bought an Aivia Osmium (http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Osmium-Mechanical-Keyboard-GK-OSMIUM/dp/B008U6SRYW) because I thought it looked kind of cool and Cherry MX Red's seemed to be a good place to start.

Then I started noticing (strange timing!) that the inside of my right wrist was starting to get irritated while typing and I thought maybe it was time to investigate the "ergonomic" keyboard offerings out there.    Somehow that led me here and I've been scarfing up data as best I can.    I definitely want to try mechanical and I'm interested in the ergonomics, so it seems that my choices are pretty much limited to either the "Truly Ergonomic" keyboard or one of the Kinesis Advantage models.   There are probably some others that I don't know about.

Reading on this board I've also seen that speed typing has its aficionados also that has some appeal to me.   I went to a speed typing site and tried a test and came out with a miserable 63 WPM, so that tweaked my competitive juices--especially when I see some hitting 200 + WPM!    I'm wondering if the ergonomic keyboards are ever used by fast typists?   I have no idea, but it would seem to to me that they might be slower?   

I don't mind paying for a high-quality keyboard like the TE or the Kinesis, but I also don't feel like forking over $2-300 each just to try a bunch of boards, especially when I'm at the bottom of the learning curve.

Any advice or pointers on the questions of ergo vs. normal KB's for speed and ditto for the TE vs. the Kinesis Advantage vs. ?

[Wildcard]

There are some great threads on this subject. One important thing to note is how you're positioned when you type. A lot of people use a desk with a dropped keyboard tray or use an aftermarket tray to improve their hand position when typing. You want to make sure that you're only using a wrist rest as a landing spot when you're not typing and not the other way around. Also taking timed breaks during long typing sessions helps. This will provide the best ROI then spending a few hundred on a board alone.

[precarious]

http://data.typeracer.com/pit/profile?user=cmalmquist
http://data.typeracer.com/pit/profile?user=precariousgray

filco with mx browns, occasionally a dolch, with mx blues of course.  i prefer cherry pbt to abs doubleshots for speed and accuracy.

i would like to get a topre board at some point as well as something stiffer with tactility, such as grays, however.

[rowdy]

Welcome to Geekhack!

There is an entire section here on ergonomics: http://geekhack.org/index.php?board=125.0

A few people have reported wrist or finger problems, and various solutions are discussed in ergonomics.

Hopefully you can find a solution that works for you