[HN Gopher] Ars Technica guide to mechanical keyboards
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Ars Technica guide to mechanical keyboards
Author : Bluestein
Score : 65 points
Date : 2024-12-25 09:47 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
| bloopernova wrote:
| (2022)
| ethbr1 wrote:
| I was wondering why it was a useful article on Ars...
| imp0cat wrote:
| Oh, is that why Hall-effect keyboards got no mention?
| blacksmith_tb wrote:
| They do, as "analog" - but it's more of a brush off than any
| real discussion. What they didn't really talk about at all is
| firmware, which seems like a big omission...
| contrarian1234 wrote:
| I guess it's a matter of habit, but after so many years of laptop
| keyboards everything else feels weird/wrong. I've tried
| mechanical keyboards (for about half ayear) .. and it always felt
| like using some antique typewriter b/c of the key travel
|
| If I need a detached keyboard then the only one that feels normal
| is the Apple Magickeyboard b/c it's exactly like a laptop and
| clicky (the logitech equivalents are very mushy). Wish there was
| one with standard/Windows keys
| Groxx wrote:
| I definitely prefer the lower travel distance. Personally I
| find it much less tiring / RSI-inducing than a normal
| mechanical keyboard / cherry MX switches. I'm not heavily
| bottoming out or anything that are frequent "have you
| tried...", and "just don't bottom out lol" doesn't work for me
| - I've experimented for nearly a decade now, I'm pretty
| confident. Long travel distances are definitely not for me.
|
| I've got a custom keyboard with choc low-profile switches, and
| I like it _a lot_ better. It 's about mid-way between an Apple
| and a cherry MX, and I'm not sure I notice or care to get any
| lower distance since these are so easy to find. Unfortunately
| I'll have to go a lot more custom to get that in a Kinesis
| Advantage/Dactyl-like setup, and I haven't done that yet.
|
| I do prefer MX key _caps_ though (DSA profile, or roughly), the
| smaller center and deeper curve seems to help me calibrate
| better. Choc caps often lean hard into the low-profile thing
| and are very flat, and I 'm not super fond of that.
| wellthisisgreat wrote:
| If you like those kind of keycaps try MT3 MiTO keycaps, I
| have the same preference - sculpted keycaps with smaller
| centers center and those are my endgame
| Groxx wrote:
| Do they have choc versions? All I'm seeing is MX... though
| google's fu has grown weak so it might just be that it's
| being drowned out by Drop at the moment.
| plagiarist wrote:
| Even the low profile switches? I, too, have acquired the taste
| for laptop keyboards, but I think the LP switches are nice.
| eknkc wrote:
| I got into the hype and bought multiple mechanical keyboards a
| couple years ago. Finally went back to Apple's magic keyboard.
| Touch id was a large factor but apparently I love those chiclet
| keyboards.
| AnthonBerg wrote:
| Apple keyboards: yes. I so rarely see a preference stated
| that matches my own that I am compelled to spend a full
| comment in agreement.
|
| I think part of it is that the keyboard itself is thin.
| There's less of a physical object to raise forearms and
| contort wrists over.
| SparkyMcUnicorn wrote:
| If you wanted to try again, take a look at the Nuphy Air75 v2.
| Maybe with the Aloe or Cowberry switches.
|
| I feel like you can always find a mechanical that you like, no
| matter how particular you are. It's just whether or not you
| want to go down the rabbit hole.
| mmphosis wrote:
| It's a very preferential opinion because keyboards can be
| such a personal thing. I used the Nuphy Air75 v2 for a week,
| and it is the best keyboard that I've ever used. I really
| like that particular layout: Ctrl Opt Cmd,the arrow keys
| tucked into the right Shift key and the Del key just to the
| right of the Backspace key.
| https://nuphy.com/products/air75-v2?variant=40635218133101
| Tempest1981 wrote:
| > Wish there was one with standard/Windows keys
|
| Same. Anyone find a low-travel non-mushy keyboard for Windows?
| Ideally with spacing between every 4 function keys?
| cuanim wrote:
| I recommend trying out Redragon Horus K261, it took a while to
| get used to but I like it a lot now. It's a low profile keyb.
| casenmgreen wrote:
| I hear insanely positive reviews of Hall effect, on the basis of
| being able to have different key behaviours _depending how far
| down you press the key_.
|
| So simple example, in a game, walk is a half press and run is a
| full press.
|
| You could imagine also semi-colon a half press and full colon
| from a full press.
| jsheard wrote:
| While you _can_ assign multiple actions to one key with hall
| effect, the biggest benefit (for gaming at least) is what they
| call rapid trigger actuation. The idea is that instead of the
| key triggering and releasing at a specific point in its travel,
| it reacts to a _change in direction_ so you can instantly
| switch from pressed to released or vice versa at any point in
| the keys travel.
| wellthisisgreat wrote:
| I've been eyeing a Hall effect board, but having used
| Swiftpoint Z mouse which has that pressure-based activation on
| several buttons, I must admit it's the kind of feature that's
| good on paper.
|
| At least for me, it's pretty hard to consistent reproduce "half
| press" and "full press" and if I wanted to do a "long press" I
| can easily set it up in QMK for any mechanical keyboard
| minimaxir wrote:
| With hall effect keyboards you can set the starting actuation
| of a "half press".
|
| e.g. a start actuation of 0.5mm and full press of 3.0mm gives
| enough room to avoid false positive full presses.
| AnthonBerg wrote:
| I just want one to use as a MIDI keyboard.
|
| I'm a tracker kid. Jeskola Buzz ftw. Give me velocity-sensitive
| QWERTY and I will finally be complete.
| Bluestein wrote:
| > velocity-sensitive QWERTY
|
| Gosh. Would have never considered such a thing ...
|
| PS. Also, perhaps, coupled with some sort of OSD-autocomplete
| based on key press velocity ...
|
| ... could be interesting just for typing. Messy, but
| interesting ...
| d12345m wrote:
| Yes! Also, if I could use a rotary encoder knob to input midi
| cc information, I'd be happy.
| minimaxir wrote:
| I am extremely happy with the new Keychron K2 HE
| (https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k2-he-wireless-
| ma...) and am surprised hall effect keyboards didn't get
| mentioned in the original post. Even if the advantages are more
| gamer-oriented, setting low actuation distances and getting
| immediate keypress response is also a productivity plus, after
| getting practice to avoid making typos when you'd normally lay
| your fingers on other keys.
|
| The one-key-multiple-actions is useful but also does require
| some muscle memory tweaks.
| casenmgreen wrote:
| Ah, Keychron.
|
| I looked at getting one of theirs.
|
| The web-site is insanely confusing and completely fails to
| explain the differences between keyboards. It took _two days_
| of work to figure out what was going on and how keyboards
| varies and so which model I actually wanted.
|
| I also found their site condescending and annoying - stupid
| banners which were permanently present on product pages on
| every little keyboard image saying I can't remember what now
| - something like "selling quickly so buy now". They're not
| there any more, far as I can see, so I can't check. Maybe
| someone else remembers them?
| hummerbliss wrote:
| I use split keyboards and finding a mechanical split keyboard
| without the ortho linear configuration seem to be hard. I just
| want a mechanical split keyboard with hot swappable keys with
| staggered (normal) keyboard.
| baumy wrote:
| I bit the bullet and got used to column staggered layouts but I
| feel your pain. Some options that I found when I was down this
| rabbit hole:
|
| https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/ (my personal favorite)
|
| https://keeb.io/products/cepstrum-keyboard-pre-built
|
| https://keeb.io/products/quefrency-keyboard-pre-built
|
| https://keeb.io/products/sinc-keyboard-pre-built
|
| https://dygma.com/pages/dygma-raise-2
|
| https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-q11-qmk-custom-me...
| jsheard wrote:
| Another one if you're up for a project to put it together:
| https://nullbits.co/snap/
| Forricide wrote:
| I use a Cepstrum (bought a kit + switches + keycaps and put
| it together; there's no soldering required, so it's quite
| easy). I never 3D printed tenting, so it's not quite perfect
| for normal typing, but for gaming it's fantastic - I don't
| think I can go back to non low-profile switches.
| wlesieutre wrote:
| Give the UHK a look
|
| https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/
| Symbiote wrote:
| I reformatted an existing list of split keyboards into a
| gallery some time ago: https://aposymbiont.github.io/split-
| keyboards/ -- you can filter for "traditional" layout.
|
| I've not been actively keeping the site up-to-date. I merge PRs
| every so often, but I'm not following Reddit/Discord/etc to add
| new keyboards.
| sockbot wrote:
| Kinesis makes regular layout split keyboards.
| muststopmyths wrote:
| I own a freestyle RGB split keyboard and it's the best I've
| used since the OG Microsoft Natural kyboards for ergonomics.
|
| They're also comparatively better priced than others of its
| kind.
| Groxx wrote:
| Kinesis generally makes good stuff, and this one has normal
| cherry MX switches so you've got access to nearly any keycap
| you want: https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/freestyle-pro/
| wellthisisgreat wrote:
| keeb.io keyboards are the best for that kind of thing. I ended
| up going the ortho route and designed my own keyboard (I needed
| extra columns as all the ergo split orthos end at ; key)
|
| But before that I bought all the non-ortho splits (Kinesis,
| Goldtouch, etc.)and keeb.io were by far the most versatile. I
| recommend Quefrency for compact layout (my fav is V3 where you
| could still customize the bottom row) and Sinc for regular
| size. I used Quefrency when traveling and Sinc in the office.
| Happy to answer any questions!
| ivanjermakov wrote:
| Any reason to not go with column-stagger? It felt good
| immediately after a decade on traditional row-stagger
| keyboards.
| ashton314 wrote:
| The most important thing to look for (imo) is _programmability_.
| You want a board that supports QMK or ZMK firmware. This lets you
| set up stuff like mod-tap, macros, mouse keys, etc. Mod tap is my
| favorite thing ergonomics-wise: v and m act as shift when held,
| normal letters when tapped. Really takes the strain off my
| pinkies. I also like having a navigation layer: hjkl in this
| layer act like vim-layout arrow keys.
|
| I use a ZSA Moonlander. Best investment ever.
| mikae1 wrote:
| _> The most important thing to look for (imo) is
| programmability._
|
| This. In Plasma I swap some keys, but when I switch to TTY the
| keys are not swapped. Frustrating. This should clearly be done
| at hardware/firmware level.
| wongogue wrote:
| Have you tried Kmonad?
| randmeerkat wrote:
| It's a disservice to have a guide to mechanical keyboards that
| doesn't mention the ErgoDox EZ: https://ergodox-ez.com/
| ProllyInfamous wrote:
| I have used several inexpensive Apple-keyed mechanical keyboards.
| My random observations:
|
| Buckley Springs (e.g. IBM Model M -type, Unicomp) are absolutely
| the best _keyfeel_ , but they just won't last longer than the
| keyboard's warranty (probably nowhere near as long, YMMV). They
| are obnoxiously loud (similar to my electric Smith Corona Coronet
| typewriter). Simple keystrikes above 100wpm often result in
| blown-out springs -- I have thrown away my last Unicomp keyboard
| (after spring/warranty failures).
|
| _das_ keyboard (brown>blue>red) is heavenly, my daily-drivers (I
| own three, identical). Just a little bit louder than an OEM Apple
| keyboard, and always responds as depressed.
|
| The worst tactile keyboard I've ever used (non-mechanical, but
| physical buttons): mid 2010's Apple Laptop "butterfly" keys,
| which fail spectacularly (to crickets from Apple).
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| I had a model M that was built in 1993 that I used until 2016.
| The main thing you need to do is clean it once in a while. I
| have a newer Model M today that I got last year and I doubt it
| will last as long.
| ink_13 wrote:
| I dunno about that, my Model M from 1989 is still going strong.
| I've been waiting for it to fail for a decade at this point so
| I can upgrade to something more modern, but I find I'm not
| interested in giving it up prematurely.
| thangalin wrote:
| No mention of Unicomp.
|
| https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/UB4041A
|
| They stopped selling quiet touch rubber membrane versions.
| Perhaps the Clickety-M buckling springs just aren't the same
| without the click?
|
| https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/category/QTRD
| Uvix wrote:
| The rubber dome ones didn't have buckling springs. They were
| "traditional" mass-market keyboard tech in the Model M form
| factor.
| 3pm wrote:
| I think that Model M (Unicomp/Lexmark) was a cost cut for Model
| F. Just recently, a company resurrected true Model F:
| https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/
| ridgeguy wrote:
| As I've aged, I've developed kinetic tremor. In typing, this
| shows up as missing my intended target key. The error most
| commonly presents as hitting two keys at once because my ability
| to hit only within a defined x,y envelope at the keyboard plane
| has declined. Analyzing my typos, my intended key gets most of my
| finger, with adjacent keys getting tripped by ~10% - 20%, i.e.,
| by the edge of my finger.
|
| I would love to find a keyboard that has keys at the usual pitch
| (I'm usually on Apple products), but that are smaller targets. I
| think this would result in fewer "out-of-bounds" adjacent key
| strikes. I've searched for such, no results so far. Any
| recommendations gladly received, thanks.
| seltzered_ wrote:
| Perhaps designing some smaller keycaps could help?
| jsheard wrote:
| Maybe you'd benefit from a different keycap profile? There's a
| bunch of options for the standard MX-type mechanical switches,
| some of which are "spherical" where the contact area is concave
| and relatively small.
|
| https://i.imgur.com/f8EJnC7.png
|
| Cherry and OEM are the default keycap style, while SA, XDA and
| DSA are examples of spherical. There aren't many keyboards
| which come with spherical keycaps out of the box, but you can
| easily buy a keycap set separately and install it on any MX
| keyboard.
| thereisnospork wrote:
| Could also go full psycho and go keycap-less for the truly
| minimal target. Costs nothing but time to try anyway.
| ridgeguy wrote:
| Thanks for this. You and speerer have given me the idea to
| get clear plastic near-hemispheres to glue onto my keycaps.
| KB illumination will still show, and the key target area will
| be less than half its current value. Much obliged!
| speerer wrote:
| Just a thought - Circular keycaps exist, and by definiton have
| more space between them. They presumably have the same
| _minimum_ gap at the left and right, though, so might not work.
|
| https://keycapsnation.com/products/round-keycaps
| bb88 wrote:
| There's a recent trend of people designing custom keyboards for
| their own accessibility needs. So this is a random thought, no
| idea if it would work.
|
| A couple of popular keyboard firmwares are open source. I'm
| thinking it could be possible to reject two neighbor keys which
| are struck within the same 10 millisecond window.
|
| IOW, if you're on a qwerty keyboard, if R and T are both hit at
| the same time, don't send the keystrokes to the computer.
|
| QMK and KMK are popular keyboard firmwares. QMK is C based, and
| KMK is CircuitPython based.
| ivanjermakov wrote:
| All that and a single paragraph about ergonomic split keyboards?
| What a shame. Imo, the main reasons to get into mech keyboards
| are customization and programmability. This subreddit is a good
| starting point: https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/
| mlloyd wrote:
| Thanks for this! I use a Perrix 835 and I'm quite happy with it
| except that the keys are rubbing raw and I need new key caps.
| But I'm always looking to trade up if possible.
| pabloescobyte wrote:
| There's a whole world of custom split keyboard options out
| there that use switches where it's super easy to buy
| replacement keycaps. You can get keycaps made of PBT which
| are long-lasting and have a very high "rub" factor so you
| shouldn't have to worry about rubbing them raw for a very
| long time.
| AceJohnny2 wrote:
| Yes! I don't really understand the appeal of mechanical
| keyboards. I mean sure, they're a step up from cheap-ass
| rubber-dome defaults, so it's worth people discovering there
| are _options_.
|
| But for me, most mechanical keyboards are downright painful to
| use. The standard rectangular layout is bad for my wrists, the
| keypress depth is bad for my fingers, clicks are just plain
| annoying.
|
| Perhaps decades of keyboard use has worn my wrists and fingers
| down or helped me define what I wanted, but it's split low-
| profile or bust.
|
| And there's a dearth of such options on the market. Slowly
| rising, but a paltry fraction of the overall
| "mechanical"/custom keyboard market, especially as it comes to
| keycaps!
|
| Maybe I should just grab the bull by the horns and mod a
| Microsoft Sculpt to be wired, whose only downside is unreliable
| wireless.
|
| /rant
| pabloescobyte wrote:
| It's an article written by a mainstream site so I wasn't really
| expecting them to talk about split keyboards at all but I agree
| wholeheartedly.
|
| I went from a full size to a 40% keyboard to an ortholinear and
| now use a low-profile split keyboard as a daily driver.
|
| IME it's so much better for ergonomics with a proper desk setup
| and seating/posture with the split halves shoulder width apart.
| Wireless is a great benefit as well if you swap between
| desktops and laptops.
|
| Open source firmware like ZMK and QMK make it trivial to use
| splits with Linux, mac OS and Windows and for any environments
| where the OS is locked down and software installation is
| required.
| mastazi wrote:
| Are there split keyboards that preserve the standard layout of
| the home/end/pgup/pgdown cluster? Due to my usage patterns, not
| having that is a deal breaker for me. As an example, with
| rectangular keyboards my only choices are tenkeyless or full
| size, because they preserve the home cluster. Are there
| equivalents in the split keyboard world? All I'm seeing in that
| subreddit are smaller keyboards that lack the home cluster,
| that's why I ask.
| bsnnkv wrote:
| I'm still just waiting for someone to make a higher quality
| version of the Logitech Ergo K860.
| Epa095 wrote:
| PERIBOARD-835?
| ilc wrote:
| I use a Svalboard now-a-days. For those looking for the modern
| Datahand... That's where it is. Same switch type, and much the
| same feel :)
|
| Disclaimer: I do volunteer firmware work on Svalboard. (vial-qmk)
| Epa095 wrote:
| Ohhh I have been low-key thinking of getting that one, but it's
| a bit expensive:-/ How do you find it? Was it hard to get
| going? Comfortable? Fast?
| jasoneckert wrote:
| Much like musicians that have dozens of musical keyboards in
| their collection, I've collected/built dozens of mechanical
| keyboards over the years. I've got ones with nearly every general
| type of switch (including Topre).
|
| I like to tell people that - as a developer - I'll spend $400+ on
| a mechanical keyboard that makes the sound I like, and then use
| it alongside $500+ noise-cancelling headphones.
|
| But all of my mechanical keyboards sit on a display shelf unused
| today as I prefer to use the Lenovo TrackPoint II keyboard for
| all of my work (including coding). It's just the best keyboard
| ever made in my opinion, and I love using it.
| sgarman wrote:
| Ten years ago I used to be really into all the mech keyboard
| stuff. Then I bought a topre realforce and have been using it
| ever since. The hobby part of the keyboards is neat but as far
| as "good" keyboard I haven't seen anything that would cause me
| to switch.
| amatecha wrote:
| same. finally got realforce R2 and I'm good. There might be
| something better for me, but I've spent enough time and money
| searching for the perfect combination of form-factor,
| switches, keycaps, materials, etc.
| danielheath wrote:
| I have broad shoulders, and find a split keyboard is
| absolutely essential to avoid scapula pain after longer
| sessions.
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| The sound of the keystroke is much less important than the
| feeling. The return power on stroke is also important for
| stamina reasons. That being said, I'm happy with a Model M, no
| need for fancy customizations.
| blackeyeblitzar wrote:
| Are mechanical keyboards good for ergonomics and carpal tunnel
| and all that? Do different switches make a difference for that
| sort of thing? I've been hearing a lot about Hall effect switches
| recently - wasn't sure if that can help.
| pabloescobyte wrote:
| They can be but they are only a small part of the overall
| setup. You still need to have proper posture and pay particular
| attention to your habits.
|
| Different switches can also help depending on your typing
| habits and usecase.
|
| For me personally having less keys means less movement leading
| to significantly reduced possibility of RSI. With just 42 keys
| on my keyboard literally everything is one key away from each
| finger on home row so I can spend more time typing and mousing
| around than a traditional full size keyboard+mouse setup.
| mberning wrote:
| I do not understand the hobby around mech keyboards at all. It
| reminds me a lot of other activities/sports where the gear
| becomes more of a focus than the activity itself. Reminds me of
| photography or paintball. Dudes will have thousands of dollars of
| gear and use it 3 times a year.
| breakingcups wrote:
| I see soooo many recommendations online in every discussions
| about mechanical keyboards. However, what I would really need is
| a physical place, a store, a showroom, to be able to try them out
| myself. A wide range of brands and options, preferably.
|
| I'm a keyboard pleb, after originally using a Model M I just
| moved on to other regular office keyboards. I like the _idea_ of
| mechanical keyboards but I don 't know if I would actually enjoy
| them, and there's so many variations that for every complaint you
| might have about a keyboard a friend might have that you can try,
| you'll get three people saying that I should really try keyboard
| X from brand Y instead because it will change my life.
| Bluestein wrote:
| Here's wishing one-handed _chorded_ keyboards were mainstream -
| or, at least, viable ...
| motorest wrote:
| Mechanical keyboards are nice, but what stumps me is the lack of
| support for USB hubs embedded in the keyboard. Anyone who uses
| yubikeys know the importance of having those a key stretch away,
| not to mention the convenience of being able to plug headphones
| and USB pens ok what you're already holding.
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