What's your favourite keyboard?

250€ for a keyboard, wow. I know that there are many people who are keyboard fans (of fanatics it you wish) but I just don't get it.

I hope it doesn't look like I'm criticizing those people because I'm not.
 
I currently use a Keychron Q3 Max keyboard which I find great to type on.
You can see its features here:

Q3Max-Iconic-Features.jpg
 
Alain De Vos said:
I have two mouses, one to the left of my keyboard,
One to the right,
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😲 Never heard of this one before. What are you needing two mice for, except your machine is used by another person, and one is left handed, the other right handed, and if not, are you using them simultaneously (for a computer game, you're operating a robot arm while steering through 3D space?)? :-/
 
scottro said:
to some people, having the keyboard be EXACTLY right is worth it. Though many of us find less expensive ones that we like.
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It is.
For many doing a lot of writing at the computer a keyboad that suits well do make a huge difference compared to one that doesn't feel right. It's several points and very individual what somebody defines what a good keyboard makes (that makes it so difficult.) Besides size, with numlock (full KB), or not, media/special keys, additional features, it's above all if it's ergonomic or not (sitting right at the table, hands lying good/correct is crucial about how long you can work before getting tired, or even get a disease like Tenosynovitis), it's the tactile feeling - you want a feedback if you hit the key right, but don't want it too soft, neither too hard...
To me also all keys have to have the same feeling.
With worn out, cheap rubberdome KBs I hate it, when some keys need brute force to even react while others are needed just to be looked at to produce the letter outright three to five times 😤...➡️🗑️

But as usual in real life, even if lowest price almost never provides good quality, so are high prices not a guarantee for high quality.

At $JOB I always bring my own, personal KB.
A cook has her/his own knifes. A mechanic has her/his own tools. A musician plays her/his own instruments.
A hacker has to have her/his own KB. 😎
 
Maturin said:
😲 Never heard of this one before. What are you needing two mice for, except your machine is used by another person, and one is left handed, the other right handed, and if not, are you using them simultaneously (for a computer game, you're operating a robot arm while steering through 3D space?)? :-/
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I switch when hand tired.
 
+1 for Keychron products... I love the tactile feel and the clicky sound, plus it's heavy and doesn't move around under my hands. I felt like I was overpaying when I dropped $250 (incl shipping) for my Q6 Max a year ago, but I've been so happy with it that I've almost forgotten how spendy it was. Almost. If you can spare the expense I'd say grab one, but in the end it's just a keyboard. I do just fine with the garbage Dell keyboard I'm provided at work.
 
I've had red and brown switches. Browns I've found are the best in everyday writing. Reds should be the gamers choice. It took a day or two to start writing using red switches. These are not cherries, some other manufacturer instead. I'm sure there is not much difference. In images the plastic of these were more smooth than the reference switches. I would vote browns. Some guides can be found.

Light and plastic (softer if dropped) and a smaller size was a better choice here. Sometimes a lunch fits on the same table and multiple other things between the keyboard and a monitor. Finally when the F-keys are needed, they are found using the additional function keys. The layout was an important factor in choosing. There are some typical patters one uses daily. The keys should be in a comfortable position to help in the routines.

A ball, a kensington ball mouse for example attached to the older style keyboard could be a nice addition in UNIX -like OS:ses.

A keyboard manufacturer could get more profit if it had more space and compatibility to offer different internationalizations. In ISO -boards there are not as much to choose from.
 
escape said:
A keyboard manufacturer could get more profit if it had more space and compatibility to offer different internationalizations. In ISO -boards there are not as much to choose from.
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For this reason I switched to the ANSI layout, in some cases the ISO variant does simply not exists...

I like full size keyboard, I have a Topre and a Keychron, both of excellent quality.
My preference goes to the Topre
1769009083403.png


Concerning the internationalization (european accent), I actually use the eu layout
Option "XkbLayout" "eu"
1769009482022.png


The altgr-intl is also interesting:
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
Option "XkbVariant" "altgr-intl"
1769009578676.png
 
IBM (today UniComp) model M. I forgot how many I have at home; I think 3 or 4.

Disclaimer: While I worked for IBM for nearly two decades, I started using the IBM Model F and M keyboards about 20 years before becoming an employee: on IBM PCs, 3277 and successor terminals, and later on RS6K (I had one on my desk in the early 90s, after I dumped the NeXT). And being an old pianist (I have a Bechstein grand in the living room), I do care about keyboard quality.
 
I like the Ducky mechanical keyboards except for one thing. The keys are backlight, but it is just for show. The keys legends are not backlit, so it does not help you read the key legends in the dark.

The Razor Black Widow keyboard is quite nice, and the keys legends are backlit and readable in the dark. But I resent how the installation works. According to what I have read the keyboard registers itself as an HID *and* a thumb drive. Periodically, it issues a command to run a program off of the thumb drive the bugs you to install their Synapse program. I have talked to them, and was unable to get them to understand why I have a security problem with a keyboard that issues secret commands I don’t know about. And since it is all on the down low, I have no idea how hard it would be for a bad guy to remotely reprogram it to issue dangerous commands.

I suspect that none of this is a problem on FreeBSD, because I doubt that their secretware runs on Unix.
 
lgrant said:
I have talked to them, and was unable to get them to understand why I have a security problem with a keyboard that issues secret commands I don’t know about.
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There's no way they design something that convoluted without it being intentional :p

I had a CORSAIR keyboard for years but disliked iCUE software just for a rainbow RGB light pattern (started 200MB V2, 400MB and GPU-eating V3, and V4+ may as well be a whole OS :p). OpenRGB was lighter and worked Windows and Linux.

I don't think I'd buy a RGB keyboard without QML or open-source firmware! Turns out keyboards can have RGB profiles on them :D (no need for on-OS software sending light patterns over USB)
 
Espionage724 said:
There's no way they design something that convoluted without it being intentional :p

I had a CORSAIR keyboard for years but disliked iCUE software just for a rainbow RGB light pattern (started 200MB V2, 400MB and GPU-eating V3, and V4+ may as well be a whole OS :p). OpenRGB was lighter and worked Windows and Linux.

I don't think I'd buy a RGB keyboard without QML or open-source firmware! Turns out keyboards can have RGB profiles on them :D (no need for on-OS software sending light patterns over USB)
Click to expand...
I do not know about open-source keyboard firmware. You have given me something interesting to research tonight. Thank you!
 
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