Keyboard recommendation, please

M

mefizto

Greetings all,

after having had accidentally spilled water on my keyboard, it goes on and off on strike. I would, therefore appreciate advice on a new keyboard. I understand that it is quiet a personal choice, what I seem to like is:

- full, i.e., with numerical pad;
- English layout;
- no need for extra buttons, e.g., opening browser, e-mail, gaming/multi-media support, etc.;
- no need for backlight,
- reasonably quiet with good tactile feedback no need for much force, as I touch-type;
- wired;

Kindest regard,

M
 
I bet this thread goes at least two pages.
Anyway, will you be getting a mechanical keyboard? If so, and you want quiet, there are silent red switches which are very quiet. I know Cherry makes them, don't know about others.
I would also suggest getting a hot swappable keyboard. This means that if one or two keys and/or switch goes bad, it can be easily replaced without soldering.

Looking at https://mechanicalkeyboards.com and just using that criteria, full size, Cherry silent, showed a few, lowest priced being a Ducky--I use the 67% model and like it. Here's the link. It's about $100, I don't know your budget. Cheaper openbox available.

 
mefizto said:
- full, i.e., with numerical pad;
Click to expand...
Tenkeyless with hotswap mech switches on a board with open-source firmware (2.4GHz wireless, USB-C wired, and BT) could be like $30-60, and a keypad $10-30 (I got a Japanese brand mech one for $30 with mech keys and LCD for switching between PC numpad or standalone desk calculator)

A GMK61 keyboard seems perfect and well below $100
 
keyboards for me are 80% feel. "how does a key feel when I press it". Lots of keyboards that are essentially sealed from the environment, they work (I press a key, the letter appears on screen) but to me they feel like crap (or more accurately they have no feel).
When I press a key I want feedback. Resistence, pushback, something physical, not the generic "beep" from a smartphone "you've pressed a virtual key".
It may be just an older guy thing because I grew up on keyboards that provided progressive resistence when pressed.
 
Get a unicomp. Or scour ebay for a real one.

This genuine one looks nice and not too expensive. Label says made in UK, that will have been made at the IBM Greenock site. Looks very good nick in the photo, very clean. Those were built like tanks, very well made.

Oh... may not be USB though. You may need a ps/2 to usb converter.
 
Greetings all,

thank you all for the recommendations, I will go through them.

Regarding the spill, I am afraid that I did not convey it correctly, it was a third party. I did get a "cheap USB keyboard" for now, but I absolutely hate it.

I write professionally, so the price (within reason) is not a big consideration.

Kindest regards,

M
 
Ok, if you write professionally, it's possible that brown switches might be better (but this is totally personal taste.) To me, they give slightly better feedback. I used to have blue switches which were loud, and one night, they bothered my wife. Once she had noticed, it, she couldn't un-notice it and in that apartment, only the silent red worked. Where we live now, the brown switches don't bother her. Good luck.let us know what you picked.
 
I just spotted that ebay ibm model M I found is QWERTZ ... german, not english. Back to the drawing board... well, there are others up there.

I've never tried unicomp, but if they are as good as the originals, then they are good. I've got a couple of original model M's, they are nice keyboards. The Cherry clone isn't bad either, but not as well made as the ibm.
 
Of course a full-size model M will take up a lot of space on your desk. I use these small lenovo thinkpad-style low-profile keyboards for convenience a lot of the time. They're not bad to type on, and having the trackpoint mouse is useful. It's about half the size of a model M. Build quality isn't that great though, you can see the keycap lettering is wearing off on this one, that would never happen on a real IBM one. They're useful if you've got a crowded desk though. I bought a few of these cheap from a surplus place a couple of years ago.

kbd.jpeg
 
Looking for 1 too. I have a Ducky that's pretty much done by intensive use. I had a Das before that. It was better but tt has a broken spacebar metal piece. Now back at Logitech K120 but the layout is bad. What's the point of a 2nd backslash that steals area of the left shift?
Is Keychron worth it?
 
Hi mer,

mer said:
Ahh, that is key (pun intended). Use case is like someone that programs for a living. The feel/feeback of the keys is what you are looking for.
Click to expand...
ROTFLMAO - love the pun. I believe that I mentioned the importance of the feel in the OP. I am not a programmer, but I draft lots of documents and related figures.

Hi scottro,

this is exactly the information I am curious about. Notwithstanding the understood personal preference, which of the key (color) would you judge as quiet with a nice feedback? I just hate the loud click-click sound, but a positive feedback that the key was engaged is important.

Hi blackbird9,

I have a QWERTZ, on one of my Windows laptops, drives me crazy. I could not find a way to remap the key. Can it be done on FreeBSD?

Kindest regards,

M
 
mefizto, for me, I find brown, whether Cherry or other, to be the best compromise--not too loud, and give enough haptic (I think that's the word) feedback. Note that there are also switch testers, where you can buy what looks like an abbreviated keyboard and try various switches in it. Amazon is pretty good about buying and returning---in my case, I live fairly close to an Amazon store so it was easy, but during my keyboard search days, I think I bought and returned about 4 of them.

Lastly, if you find a keyboard that you think looks good, there is quite possibly going to be a youtube video about it, where they will demonstrate the sound of various switches. (Some keyboard companies have something like that on their site, too.
 
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