As many of you will recall from my various comments and discussions
about the Canon DSLR bodies, I have carpel tunnel in both wrists. This
has proven to be an issue with some camera bodies as well as with
other seemingly mundane tasks.
Like typing.
The problem for typing is the general lack of feeling in the finger
tips. I learned touch-typing back in high-school and find today's
keyboards to be nearly impossible to type on. The keyboards are flat,
have no real tactile response and have minimal (2mm typical) movement.
And because of the short 2mm movement, they tend to be a little
stiffer. It's really hard for me to type anymore.
Last week, one of my external keyboards died so I went down to Best
Buy to get something else. I knew from playing around with them and
with my research, that mechanical gaming keyboards were worth
considering. So, I spent the next couple hours drifting from one to
another and looking up reviews and information on the Interwebs.
The standard keyboard is a membrane style keyboard where you press
down on this rubber dome with conductor inside and it shorts across a
contact on the motherboard. There are a couple of styles of this, but
these membrane switches generally have very poor tactile response. The
better ones do have a give point where they resist up to a point then
will plunge quickly. Other ones are totally linear in response.
Another factor of the membrane style switch is that they generally
don't last as long.
Stepping up to a mechanical keyboard of pretty much any style switch
is a different world. The switches themselves come in variations of
three flavors: Clicky, Linear and Tactile. The Cherry MX switches are
the standard ones out there with other manufacturers building switches
of similar types.
Clicky: (Cherry MX Blue) is the closest thing to an old-style
typewriter keyboard you will encounter. It's loud, but is completely
natural to any of us who mastered typing on typewriters. The aural
feedback is great for those who have little feeling left in their
fingers as you can hear whether or not the key is pressed.
Linear: (Cherry MX Red) is better for gamers as the buttons have no
half-press catch to them. They just plunge down. Similar to the
membrane switches, but without the bump. I wasn't particularly fond of
this style switch as it didn't really address all of my particular
needs. But for gaming, yeah, Reds Rock! Horrible for touch-typing
though.
Tactile: (Cherry MX Brown) is probably the nicest compromise. These
switches are somewhat Linear, but with a half-press bump. Depending on
the brand/model, they may have some aural feedback.
I had narrowed the selection down to three keyboards: The "HyperX
Alloy FPS" with MX Blue (clicky) switches, the "Logitech G513" with
Romer-G Tactile switches, and one of the "Razer" Blackwidow keyboards
with their green tactile/clicky switches.
While each had distinct advantages, it really was a toss-up between
all of them. I think the Razer's keyboard had ever so slightly better
keys as they provide the clickiness that I needed, but weren't nearly
as LOUD as the MX Blue switches nor was the plunge distance the same.
The Logitech was good, but I couldn't quite place why I wasn't getting
along with it. In the absence of the Razer and HyperX, I would have
been pleased with the Logitech, although the software is problematic
as I need to maximum use this keyboard on multiple computers,
including my work one that I can't load other drivers on.
I ended up purchasing the HyperX Alloy FPS with MX Cherry Blue
switches. The keyboard is the right size (no extra keys, no
programmable extra buttons, no drivers, no software). It is backlit,
with multiple brightness and pattern options, but is red LED only.
It's a heavy keyboard with a steel faceplate. The keys have the right
curvature to them (and appropriate stepped profile from one row to the
next) and respond well to off-axis pressing. These days, I would like
slightly less force required for pressing the keys, these MX Blue
switches allow me to raise my fingers up more off the keys like I used
to and punch down on them instead of just rolling down on them.
Exactly like the old days. The fact that the HyperX was also one of
the least expensive keyboards didn't hurt either.
Having been using it now for several days, I will say that the
keyboard is definitely LOUD. Not a keyboard for use in an office
environment with others around. I am working out of the house most of
the time, so it matters little to me how much noise the keyboard
makes. Regardless, my typing speed is probably 20 wpm faster than
before, so it's a HUGE win.
A good compromise keyboard that I would suggest would be any Logitech
with the Romer-G Tactile switches, the Razer keyboards with the clicky
switches or a keyboard with the Cherry MX Brown switches. These all
have similar feel to the MX Blues, but without the loud sound.
I was going to get the Razer keyboard, but didn't because they didn't
have exactly the model in stock that I wanted, and the price was 50%
more than the HyperX. Sometimes frugality still wins out.
Next time you need to buy a new keyboard, definitely look at the
mechanical gaming keyboards and check out any with the "Tactile"
switches first. If noise is not an issue, the Cherry MX Blue switches
are a throwback to the typing days of the past. Next time I have to
work in an office environment again, I will likely get an MX Brown
equipped keyboard for that location.
AG (click-track) Schnozz
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