keyboards: it's the little things

[cellio]

When I started using computers, keyboards were practically immortal. I stopped using my first keyboard when a couple keys physically broke such that I couldn't get the caps to stay on. My last couple keyboards have not fared so well.

I have an inxpensive Logitech keyboard. "Inexpensive" wasn't actually one of the governing criteria when shopping; I'm willing to pay for a keyboard that delivers higher quality. But what's locally available in stores tends to not be high-end, and I'm not going to spend real money on a keyboard I can't touch first.

The failure mode is irritating, though. My keyboard works fine in most respects, but... well, let me show you a picture:



I can actually live with the worn-off letters because I mostly touch-type. (I'm mystified by what's special about 'L' and 'O'. No, not gaming hotkeys.) But, as a touch-typist, I rely on those little ridges on the 'F' and 'J' keys to tell me that I'm oriented correctly. In the days of typewriters that didn't matter much as you almost never took your hands off the keys, but with a mouse on one side and sometimes a drink on the other, plus things like arrow keys and paging keys, it's pretty essential to the way I use a computer.

My 'J' ridge is gone. And 'F' isn't doing so well either. WTF? That's supposed to be molded plastic!

(I'm open to suggestions, though keyboards are a matter of personal taste so I don't expect them. I require keys that actually have some depth to them; I hate the Mac flat keyboards, which is why I'm using a generic keyboard with my Mac. I also require "not clicky"; typing on anything makes some noise, but I want a quiet one as much as is feasible and definitely not one of the old-style extra-loud ones. I don't care about special keys or even, most of the time, function keys; you'll notice the pristine state of those keys in the photo, cat hair aside. I would prefer that Escape be full-sized. I need the little legs that raise the back of the keyboard.)

Comments

[cellio]

Thanks for the info. I'm willing to spend money for decent tools (says the person who brought her own office chair at my last company because the standard issue was terrible). In what ways is the feel of a mechanical keyboard different?

[metahacker]

Most cheap keyboards use a scissors/X-based design, where thin keycaps are clipped to two interlocking frames that form an X under the key; this holds the key square as it goes up and down. The restorative force is provided by a plastic cap shaped like a mushroom, which dimples when you press down, and undimples to push the key back up. This provides some 'thunk' but can feel very mushy and uncertain.

Almost all mech keyboards these days are based on the MX system, which consists of a plastic socket on a sprung post. The post/socket combination keeps the key moving vertically, rather than wobbling side to side. It also allows for a very "deep" travel if that's what you want, though many people prefer a shallower action (i.e. move the key less far downward). (Also note that you can select where along that travel the computer recognizes it as "key down"; some people prefer a key to trigger right at the top of travel, others only when it's almost completely down.)

The key caps also are generally slightly heavier than for cheap keyboards; I think this is mostly just for subjective oomph, like car doors that make a satisfying "clunk" when you close them.

The sprung part means that they can carefully adjust the feel along the path of travel. See the gifs here:
http://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2012/12/an-introduction-to-cherry-mx-mechanical-switches/
for a really deep explanation. Basically you can choose how much resistance, whether the key 'jumps' a little at the end of its travel (so you know tactile-wise whether you've pushed it), and whether it makes an audible 'click', all separately. Based on what you've said I suspect you want Red, unless you want more key-feel, in which case go Brown. (I'm typing on Brown right now. It's not silent, but it doesn't go 'click'.)

One really nice thing about the MX system is that with a tiny bit of soldering, you can replace just certain keys--e.g. some people prefer their shift key to have a different weight, or want their Esc to click, or whatever. Plus, keycap interchangeability means lots of colors.

There are other 'mechanical' keyboard mechanisms (they're all mechanical, but...geeks...); the old holy grail was clicky IBM keyboards, which used a spring that spilled to the side when you pushed the key down--so it resisted for a few mm, then collapsed to the side to make an audible and tactile click. You can still get "buckling spring" keyboards; they're insanely durable, so often these are just old 80s IBM keyboards, cleaned up a little.

[cellio]

Thanks for this! (Yeah, one of the things that was confusing me was "mechanical" -- I mean, aside from the on-screen keyboards on phones/tablets, aren't they all mechanical? So I didn't know what the meaningful difference was.)

It sounds like I probably want brown, but maybe red. No (physical) keyboard is absolutely silent; I'm hearing my typing right now. But I don't want it to be louder than it needs to be; the sound isn't telling me that a key press has registered. So, probably, there's a tactile component, though I grant that most of the time I'm looking at the screen. (I do type "blind" sometimes, but not often.) OTOH, the red doesn't require as much force, and I don't want my keyboard to slow me down.

I'd like to spend, say, 10 minutes typing on one of these before committing ~$100. How might I achieve that? Are there brick & mortar stores that carry these, or is it pretty much "make sure the mail-order place has a return policy"? (I'll start looking at local stores, but if you have broad advice, like "$chain tends to have them", I'm all ears.)