Author Topic: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...  (Read 4114 times)

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Offline schoeps

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Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« on: Tue, 02 June 2015, 14:55:20 »
Hello :)

So, I have a friend (Promise, I do...) and he's wanting to buy a mechanical keyboard but doesn't like:

1) the concave nature of most keycaps on the boards he's tried
2) the travel distance of the keys

He's coming from a laptop keyboard and wants a similar "flat" feel but with the joys of a mechanical switch...

Any suggestions on a) if there is a keyboard like this already or b) a keycap set he could get that would create a "flatter" feel would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!  :thumb:

Offline gridMENSCH

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 02 June 2015, 15:19:21 »
These exist:

http://keyshop.pimpmykeyboard.com/products/full-keysets/g20-blank-keycap-sets

They're blank but they're square and flat.

Offline absyrd

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #2 on: Tue, 02 June 2015, 15:32:53 »
I think your friend is going to have to just man-up and adjust. Once he gets used to the various keycaps available on a nice new mech board, he'll be happy he made the adjustment. If he wants shorter caps, I'd suggest he stay away from OEM profile and SA. DSA could be the best option for a "level" set, but I'd recommend cherry profile overall.

Or do what I do and just HHKB.
My wife I a also push her button . But now she have her button push by a different men. So I buy a keyboard a mechanicale, she a reliable like a Fiat.

Offline hwood34

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 03 June 2015, 12:20:43 »
The closest you'll get to a laptop chiclet board in a mech is cherry ML, which are also pretty cheap and easy to find on Ebay
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Offline asgeirtj

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #4 on: Wed, 03 June 2015, 13:28:52 »
I was in the same spot as your friend 2 years ago.  I tried everything to imitate chiclet, tried dsa and such.  Then I realized that mechs are a whole different paradigm and travel distance and shaped caps are better.    Now that only holds true to a certain extent though and personally I think mx travel distance is too far and has to be shortened by o-rings.  DSA or flat caps are bad because you have to reach longer with your fingers when you change rows, different heights for different rows help you with that.  And the shape of the keycap help you to hit the right key more often (and embrace your fingerpoints).  However I agree OEM is too tall and horrendous (and rattles), cherry profile is best and a good many people agree on that.
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Offline greath

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #5 on: Wed, 03 June 2015, 14:00:57 »
I was in the same spot as your friend 2 years ago.  I tried everything to imitate chiclet, tried dsa and such.  Then I realized that mechs are a whole different paradigm and travel distance and shaped caps are better.    Now that only holds true to a certain extent though and personally I think mx travel distance is too far and has to be shortened by o-rings.  DSA or flat caps are bad because you have to reach longer with your fingers when you change rows, different heights for different rows help you with that.  And the shape of the keycap help you to hit the right key more often (and embrace your fingerpoints).  However I agree OEM is too tall and horrendous (and rattles), cherry profile is best and a good many people agree on that.

With OEM I like 70A o-rings. Makes them fell more like cherry profile.

I'd still rather have cherry profile. OEM profile feels unstable in comparison.

Offline trees

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #6 on: Wed, 03 June 2015, 15:15:09 »
Or do what I do and just HHKB.

This is the best answer to any recommendation thread.
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Offline Oobly

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 04 June 2015, 01:55:53 »
The closest you'll get to a laptop chiclet board in a mech is cherry ML, which are also pretty cheap and easy to find on Ebay

ML's only really come into their own with lubing. Stock they feel nice if you hit them dead centre, but the closer key spacing and binding when hitting them off centre ruins the experience for me. Lubed they're awesome, but it's very hard to open up the switches when they're on the PCB, so it's quite a hassle to lube a whole board.

Easiest transition may well be a Realforce uniform (45 or 55g, depending on preferences) board, but it's an expensive way to jump into mechs and the combination of price AND longer key travel may be a bit much.

For an MX board, I would go with Clears with orings and Cherry profile keycaps. The Clears have the most similar tactility to scissor switches and the orings help with bottom out feel and a slight travel reduction, especially with Cherry profile caps as they have such a small clearance to the switch case when pressed. MX are nice if you like to customise your board, since there are so many boards and so many keycaps available for them, that's a big reason why I use MX switches. Not to mention how moddable the switches themselves are (trampoline mod, springs, latex mod, stickers, lube, etc) and they support LED backlighting.

P.S. - In the future, there will be a board available with Krytox lubed ML switches, doubleshot keycaps and better key spacing... ;) still got some development work to be done, but I'll try to get the first boards out before the end of the year :)
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Offline suicidal_orange

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #8 on: Fri, 05 June 2015, 03:08:53 »
One other thing that's not been mentioned is Jailhouse modded Blues which register quickly like a laptop switch but you can keep pressing long after it's registered for that springy mech feel, with no excuse for bottoming out.  Quiet too.

Of course this would require desoldering all the switches and modding them (unless you can find a board with switch top removal - maybe in the classifieds?) but it might be worth it if he wants to be able to customise as ML lacks cap options and no artisans make for ML.
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Offline Air tree

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #9 on: Fri, 05 June 2015, 04:57:24 »
I think your friend is going to have to just man-up and adjust. Once he gets used to the various keycaps available on a nice new mech board, he'll be happy he made the adjustment. If he wants shorter caps, I'd suggest he stay away from OEM profile and SA. DSA could be the best option for a "level" set, but I'd recommend cherry profile overall.

Or do what I do and just HHKB.
I forgot, what profile are topre keycaps comparable to?

I'm wondering how these cherry profile caps will feel compared to them...

Offline azhdar

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #10 on: Fri, 05 June 2015, 04:59:06 »
I think your friend is going to have to just man-up and adjust. Once he gets used to the various keycaps available on a nice new mech board, he'll be happy he made the adjustment. If he wants shorter caps, I'd suggest he stay away from OEM profile and SA. DSA could be the best option for a "level" set, but I'd recommend cherry profile overall.

Or do what I do and just HHKB.
I forgot, what profile are topre keycaps comparable to?

I'm wondering how these cherry profile caps will feel compared to them...

dope
cherry profile best profile.
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Offline schoeps

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #11 on: Thu, 18 June 2015, 09:49:17 »
thanks for all the replies :-) I've leant him my old board with Cherry MX browns + o-rings. It's nothing fancy but at least he's getting the feel of it...probably best for him to get the hang of it before shelling out on something like a HHKB (which is definitely my next buy hahaha)
« Last Edit: Thu, 18 June 2015, 09:51:26 by schoeps »

Offline divito

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Re: Keys for those who are used to a laptop...
« Reply #12 on: Sat, 20 June 2015, 22:24:34 »
I asked this question a long time ago when I joined because I loved the flat keys of the Razer Lycosa. The closest thing would be finding a Cherry G80-3800, as they're the only keyboard with flat-style keys, outside of the slightly bigger ones linked from SP.

Varmilo (MX Grey) KeyCool 87 (MX Clear) Quickfire Stealth (MX Green)