What do you type on?
Inspired by @yukikaze’s intro post, what’s your current keyboard? Whether cheap, pricey, mechanical, rubber dome, just your laptop, or Dell, post it.
I am a huge fan of Mechanical Keyboards and build my own. Yes, i am “that guy” who brings his own keyboard to office.
I’ll start, this is one of several keyboards I’ve spent too much money on. I like it a lot thought honestly prefer the Matias that I have at work and have been unable to use for months. Much like my love of tabs for indentation I also have niche taste in key switches and ALPs-style switches will always be the best in my opinion.
Just want to also note that Dell keyboards are god-tier for the $20 price tag.
Hmm, not sure I’d take keyboard advice from a tab user. I type my spaces on three different keyboards. At home I (used to) type on a Roccat Ryos with Cherry MX Black switches. As a long-time Cherry fan, I went with the rather utilitarian Cherry MX Board 3.0 for work. This time with the more tactile Brown switches.
Having to share an office with a rather loud typist at home now, we invested in what my research brought up as one of the quietest options: Two Logitech K800. I have to say I am almost a convert. The feel and feedback are fantastic on it. Best keyboard I had for typing, and decent for gaming. The BIG downside is that it’s Bluetooth only. Even when you plug it in, it only draws power from the cable, no data. And I have a lot of trouble with Bluetooth (both for my Headset and Keyboard) so if I were to buy another keyboard, I’d get a Logitech with the same keys, but a good old-fashioned cable.
bernhard:quietest options
That’s why I like Matias, it makes my tab presses super quiet
Yeah I don’t get the tabs thing either—that’s just crazy talk. I’m a big fan of ALPS switches too; the Apple IIc keyboard is still by far my favorite keyboard of all time. But I ultimately settled for Das Cherry Browns…I didn’t find Matias keyboards as enjoyable to type on as I thought I would. I would have definitely gone with Blues if I didn’t think everyone around me both in the office and at home would murder me.
Das Model S Ultimate Cherry MX Blue
Used to drive @eric_da insane in our first office
. Never again, 
Like @Phoebe_Nichols this is the only keyboard I have found that doesn’t reliably trigger my RSI.
I’ve got this:
Thanks for that tip @Shaul - this is also MX-blue, and I was thinking of bringing it in to the office when I joined, but then thought better of it 
.
The only thing I don’t like about this keyboard is that for the arrow keys you need the Fn button, which is really clumsy. There’s supposed to be a full-size version that’s just come out.
Shubham-koli:SteelSeries Apex M800 with QS1 Switch.
4 Years in and still going strong <3
It’s so bright. I’m kind of jealous. I can’t even see my keys at night.
My standard office keyboard for the last few years is the Infinity Ergodox with Cherry MX Red switches, currently sporting the DSA Galaxy Class keyset.
Occasionally interchanged with a Keyboardio Model 01 with Matias Quiet Click switches.
For travel, I bring along the awesome Unigo66 with my favorite switches, Hako True, and my favorite keyset, GMK Olivia. This neat little hardware hack has been to Zürich, among other places.
At home, I make the most of limited space with the very pleasantly Hermes-typewriter-evocative Rocketeer, for which it would be blasphemy to swap out the beautiful custom SA profile keyset included.
My Keycaps are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.
That’s an impressive collection, here’s a video I captured of @Stephen taking out his keyboard collection for the thread
Stephen:My standard office keyboard for the last few years is the Infinity Ergodox
We have a couple of these in the Zurich office but I gave up after realizing they came with an operations manual … 
Split keyboards are the best, you should give them a shot.
I tried them once, felt weird and went back in my low-tech cave. 
anthony:Split keyboards are the best, you should give them a shot.
They don’t play well with my 2-finger typing system 
Wow. Its so good to see this thread. @Stephen I think I had spotted the ergodox in NYC office. I guess that was yours.
I am a MX Blue and MX White fan, But i fall into the odd taboo area where a person likes “Low Profile” switches and keycaps. Over the years, I have converted to Kailh Chocolate White and Blue switches for my keyboards. They provide a satisfying click and also a faint but noticeable tactile bump. As if things weren’t difficult already, I also like things to be wireless. Judge me!
For my current daily driver i have a keyboard which is more or less a Frankenstein’s monster. I needed something low profile and wireless. So an year or so ago, on one of my trips to NYC, i bought 2 Keychron K1’s . I knew that I would hate them, but hear me out.
Keychrons have a bluetooth board that can be switched between Mac and Windows profiles. It comes with low profile clicky switches by a company named “Fraly”. These switches are garbage and result in too many false/ghost key presses. You spend more time with the backspace with these. I think in the newer versions they are using Gateron’s.
With Keychron K1’s board and chassis. and a desolder of all the switches. I swapped them with kailh Chocolate White’s. Wasnt a straight forward swap, had to make minor modifications. But the time spent was worth it.
Putting everything back together. I have a bluetooth keyboard that I can carry in my backpack. Not a huge RGB fan, mine just has a white backlight.
For the ones who want a sub $40 keyboard, which isnt mechanical, but is wireless!
Your best option is to go for a HP Elite V2, It has Scissor Switches which are low profile and are a delight to type on. You still have the rubber dome, but the scissor switch gives an amazing tactile feedback. A keyboard which is slim and silent. Its chassis has a little bit of flex, but nothing too distracting.
yukikaze:With Keychron K1’s board and chassis. and a desolder of all the switches. I swapped them with kailh Chocolate White’s.
Gonna need some photos of this monster
cool one @anthony
I am a keyboard snob, although I try to be gracious about it and keep quiet around other people.
There is no doubt in my mind that the quality of the keyboard has a direct relationship to the quality of the writing. That, of course, is subjective and may well be unsupportable, but it is a truth for me.
My main keyboards are an old Das Keyboard that sounds like how a war tank sounds as it thunders over the horizon. I like it loud and I am sure it would get me censored in an office, but I work alone.
I also use a modern KeyChron K3 Slim. This is one of a long line of models made primarily for gamers. There is just about nothing that you can’t change on them; the keys, colours, and unfortunately, the backlighting. I say unfortunate because my keyboard has something like a dozen lighting setups, colours, and light level changes. Some settings make it seem like I am trying to write at a rock concert, and I am sure they are a danger to someone with epilepsy. Fortunately, there is an old-guy steady light setting that has an adjustable light level.
As someone else mentioned, backlighting is just so useful and comfortable that I am going to make sure that whatever keyboard, or laptop, I get next has it. However, there are other quite affordable mechanical keyboards out there.
DevinSmithz:Das Keyboard that sounds like how a war tank sounds as it thunders over the horizon.
I’ve always been tempted to buy a keyboard like that, something with Cherry MX Blues or buckling springs. Any idea how well Zoom’s noise cancellation works on the clangy keyboards?
Some keyboards are that much clangy that even a deaf person would hear them, so to speak. Zoom noise cancellation wouldn’t be helpful in this regard you would have to buy a fine quality keyboard.
I’m thinking of getting a ZSA Moonlander to replace my aging Microsoft Natural keyboard.
Anyone tried it? I’ve heard good things about its predecessor, the ErgoDox EZ.
I also have no idea about switches. Looking for something that feels like a keyboard (think the opposite of the new MacBook keyboards) but is relatively quiet. So if anyone has some tips, I’m all ears.
I briefly used a split keyboard (Matias Ergo Pro). I feel it made my typing better by encouraging each of my hands to stick to their side of the keyboard and was a bit less fatiguing. May eventually go back to it.
SamirTalwar:I also have no idea about switches. Looking for something that feels like a keyboard (think the opposite of the new MacBook keyboards) but is relatively quiet. So if anyone has some tips, I’m all ears.
“The good switch” is kind of like “the good mouse sensitivity setting”; most switches “feel like a keyboard” but you’ll get a different [literal] impression from each one.
I mentioned some switches I’ve used in my previous post; Hako True is my favorite, but not everyone likes it.
You can read libraries online that people have written about the properties of switches and switch design, or get a switch sample pack, press them a bunch of times, and pick the one you like best. Like this one, or this one.
Actually while we’re on the subject of switches here are my subjective opinions:
Cherry MX Brown: Solid switch, feels nice, like the tactile feedback, will sound/feel clicky when non-mechanical keyboards are your reference point. These are kind of loud, not ultra-loud, but significantly louder than most keyboards.
Kailh Brown: Okay but my $50 keyboard broke after a year. Lots of companies make Cherry MX knock-offs and Kailh is one of them, another is Gateron.
Alps/Matias Alps-Style switches: Old Mac keyboards from the OS 6/7 era are GOAT. Just the right balance of tactile feedback while being relatively quiet (much less loud than Browns). Alps switches sadly aren’t made anymore but Matias makes a good Alps-style switch and even has an extra quiet version.
Topre: I’m typing on a Topre key switch right now, not really worth the money to me. Just has too much of a rubber-dome feel (it is half rubber dome) with a tactile bump. Some people consider this to be the “best of both worlds” switch but to me it’s just lacking, not a particularly snappy feel like the old Dell keyboards, and not tactile/clicky enough like a mechanical keyboard. But it is pretty quiet.
Some people will also say that to make a keyboard quiet you just need to put rubber o-rings on the key cap stems, this has not been very effective in my experience.
Also to add to Stephen’s links there’s a subreddit with an excellent guide for everything you did (and didn’t) want to know about mechanical keyboards: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/index
I can finally add to this thread. Yesterday I bought a KeyChron K3 slim as well, blue keys, very clicky, would probably annoy everyone if I brought it to the office to use.
@SamirTalwar I’ve also had my eyes on the Moonlander, it’s beautiful.
Max:I can finally add to this thread. Yesterday I bought a KeyChron K3 slim as well, blue keys, very clicky, would probably annoy everyone if I brought it to the office to use.
Post pics
