Opinion on giving away a keyboard as a gift.

[Jixr]

Hey guys, we have a secret santa gift thing in my family for christmas, and this year I plulled my brother in law.

He knows of my mechanical keyboards, and he has kinda talked about me buying/making one for him.

I have two extras, a qfr with lubed reds, caps and paint
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51929.msg1148344#new

and a mionix zibal 60 ( swapped from blacks to lubed reds )

Currently, he has a laptop, and works on a computer all day ( i'm not sure exactly what he does, something about medical insurance things ) I'm 99% sure he has his own desk in his own office area ( not a receptionist or anything like that )

Here is my delema.

Without telling him that I have him and what i'm getting him, I want to get him a mechanical keyboard.
I have two sitting around collecting dust since i've moved to blacks. I personally love my red QFR, but don't see myself going back to it from blacks, and my new pbt caps are so much nicer than my white abs blanks that are on it. I don't like the zibal, and if I don't give it to him i'll probably sell it off, too big and bulky for my taste.




I would love to give him a fully custom one, but was thinking of giving him the zibal since its not flashy, has a num pad, and has legened caps. I feel like that might be better for his work enviorment if he decides to use it there.

But on the other hand, i have my red qfr just sitting around, while looks nice, I couln't go without a num pad at work. and I don't know how comfortable he is with blank caps ( though I would include a stock set of caps and a non-painted case. )


I'm already way over the gift cost limit, and can't really afford to buy caps and fix up the zibal. ( its already a $150 keyboard ) paint and capping it would run me another $50

I feel like a mechanical keyboard is pretty personal, and I want to give him one that best would fit his needs, and yet still keep it a surprise.

Random (yes, i'm going to wrap each individual key for the keyboard )
Though either way I go i'll probably get WASD to engrave his name on the spacebar for him.

Thoughts, ideas, opinions?

[Linkbane]

Why not just let him play around with your keyboards? Remember, he also might like Blues or Browns.

[rowdy]

Does he use his laptop at work?  If so, he is already accustomed to a keyboard without numpad, so the QFR would be better.

Also if he carries his laptop around, the QFR would be somewhat easier to carry around than a fullsize board.

[whiteduck]

i would go with the one with tenkey if it is for work.  if he is in the health insurance business he likely uses it a lot to enter census information.  Since it is a gift he will probably appreciate one that is less flashy so he doesn't get any crap @ work from it.

[Puddsy]

Always something with a tenkey when giving a gift. Most people don't like change.

[w3djyt]

Work = tenkey. Absolutely.

[rowdy]

Work = tenkey. Absolutely.

I use TKL at work

[Jixr]

yeah, I'm not even 100% sure he can bring in outside computer items into work ( which would be likely since he deals with programs and coding with health insurance and that is personal information )

I could always get him something else, but I know it would be something he would like, and I don't like buying a generic whatever off the shelf, i like to make my gifts a bit special if I can.

I do suppose I can paint up the stock case and get him an engraved space bar for not that much more than I've put into it.

Though I can see how the zibal would be nice, since it has 2 usb pass throughs, headphone and mic jacks, and even with mx reds, something about the case design makes it quieter than my qfr with reds.

though the zibal is dumb and does not use a standard left windows key, so that might throw him off. ( its repaced by the Fn key for the media and backlighting keys )

I've already put lubed reds in the zibal, and I do suppose I can do some more cheap mods to it. I just want him to know that i've put serous time and work and making it one of a kind just for him custom.

But on the other hand, i'm going to be building him a gaming computer soon, and he could use either on the gaming machine.
I say he would use it at work because currently they live in my parents old house out in the boonies with no internet and so until they move he won't really be doing any online gaming or anything like that.

[genkidama]

I would also go with the one with the numpad as for work he will use the numpad a lot I bet as someone already pointed that out. And a non-flashy one is better for a first mech, I guess after that he'll probably go for something more flashy/stylish and stuff.
As for the switches, I think Browns would fit him best but Reds should also do fine as they are not that heavy as the MX Blacks ^^ for me they were too heavy.

Why don't you ask him subtly how he can work on a laptop without a numpad and if he only uses the Number row above the letters. Or something like that, without revealing too much.

This is really a nice idea! Maybe I'll do this as a birthday present for my dad next year.

[whiteduck]

yeah, I'm not even 100% sure he can bring in outside computer items into work ( which would be likely since he deals with programs and coding with health insurance and thats personal information )

I could always get him something else, but I know it would be something he would like, and I don't like buying a generic whatever off the shelf, i like to make my gifts a bit special if I can.

i cant speak for all health insurance companies but i work for a health insurance company and there are no issues with bringing in your own keyboard or mouse etc.  tons of people have vertical mouses or ergonomic keyboards they have asked for from the company.  Your keyboard has nothing to do with PHI unless you have built in software storing keystrokes or something weird.

[Jixr]

Note: its between those two keyboards because they are extras I have laying around. I don't have the money to go out and buy another $100 board ( if I could I would just buy and build him a CoolerMaster XT )

The limit is $50 and the QFR has about $120+ in it and the Zibal I bought used to harvest the blacks out of.

But with the QFR I have 4 extra sets of caps so I can give him an extra set and an extra top case if he ever needs the legends or wants to be more subtle.

I could straight up ask him, which is probably the best option, but I really want to surprise him as its something he would not expect at all.
( and putting the qfr in the stock box, opening it up to reveal a fully custom one seems like a great idea to me )

[Jixr]

also, I don't feel like I would get any more than $50 for my qfr with caps and everything, so I'd either give it away or put in on my display shelf.

[tuxsavvy]

Personally I would be willing to veer towards mionix keyboard. Sure it will be a pain to set it up again just to send it away as a gift but consider these points for a moment:

• You said you don't like the mionix that much. Yes it is a custom board which could be sold for more money but that is a totally different point.
• Unless you know your brother-in-law's typing habits (if lucky, you could probably see what keyboard he uses and see if there's any incriminating (ahem) marks on the numpad area. A white ABS keycaps would go shiny and yellow, a black one will go shiny as well. Those are your clues as to whether or not your brother-in-law uses the numpad. If he does use numpad, that instantly rules out QFR because I don't think there would be that many that would prefer to go without numpads initially if they are not comfortable. His laptop might also give clues, numpads are featured on "multimedia" or usually laptops with larger screens. If your brother-in-law went for those sorts of laptops that is also a tell tale sign that giving him a QFR might be a bad choice altogether.
• Zionix being a full sized keyboard even though the "win" key seems small and what not is probably a much lesser hassle to deal with apart from the lack of a numpad if one is not used to it. I must stress again, there are people that are uncomfortable switching from full sized to TKL just because their subsequent board (especially if given as a gift) is a mechanical keyboard but lacks dedicated numpad.
• It is somewhat imo a much safer option to give away the Zionix because apart from the small "win" key, it virtually looks like a regular full sized keyboard. QFR without a doubt is flashy but would hold no water the moment your brother-in-law finds out that it lacks numpad which maybe something that he wants and will have to ultimately buy a numpad separately or sell the keyboard for a mech. board with numpad.
• Being your brother-in-law's first mech. keyboard. I would suggest a full sized regardless. Always start something big (no not those IBM beam spring keyboards type of big) and then work down especially if you are not the one that is on the receiving end. If you have no clue what your brother-in-law uses then it is somewhat safe to presume that a full sized keyboard is the best to go. Chances are your brother-in-law may like compact keyboards (which you probably wouldn't know) but that is really up to him to decide. In other words, he might even sell the QFR just because he ultimately may want a 60%-70% board because of his laptop design has forced him to make use of the Fn key. That combined with the points above I believe it would be a safe option to give him Zionix.

Just my 0.02.

[Jixr]

yeah, the zibal is backlit too ( though the backlighting sucks, even on the brightest setting you can't see it in a dark room )

and if he sold it he would get a kick in the balls.


The zibal uses green backlighting, and looks good stock, but I would really like to make it more custom ( painting being a specialty of mine )

Swapping and lubing the reds was alot of work, but on the outside it still looks stock as a rock. just trying to think of something I can do to make it look a bit more custom on the outside.

[tuxsavvy]

yeah, the zibal is backlit too ( though the backlighting sucks, even on the brightest setting you can't see it in a dark room )

and if he sold it he would get a kick in the balls.


The zibal uses green backlighting, and looks good stock, but I would really like to make it more custom ( painting being a specialty of mine )

Swapping and lubing the reds was alot of work, but on the outside it still looks stock as a rock. just trying to think of something I can do to make it look a bit more custom on the outside.

Didn't know zibal had backlight. I'd probably disable it or something just in case your brother-in-law might not like the backlight. Unless he mentioned that he likes backlight and maybe even the colour he likes.

The selling factor was just something to think of, he might not sell it but may put it elsewhere if/when he gets an "ideal" one I suppose. So it'll probably end up being shelved, who knows.

I would personally see what colour he likes first, you wouldn't want to give someone something in a different colour that they may not like.

[Jixr]

yeah the zibal has a green/yellow backlighting, 3 brightness modes, and 3 lighting moeds ( full, wasd, or off )

I'll never use it myself since it does not have a left windows key, and i'm in OSX 99% of the time and use the comand key quite often, so I wont mind giving it away at all.
( though i could probably sell it for more than what I got it for, paid pennys for it )

though if i do decide on giving him the zibal i'll be sure to give him a custom engraved spacebar as well for it.

[tuxsavvy]

I took a more closer look at the photos this time round, yellow/green on black. The green doesn't exactly look like a proper dark green. 

From the photos I see on the web, there is a key in between Ctrl and Alt on the left side. Is that a key? if so I thought that was the windows key.

Not a bad idea on the engraving. It'll definitely add some personal touches to it.

[Jixr]

yeah the led color is kinda ugly...and yes that left windows key is actually a function button, ( which is why i don't use it )