As some of you might have seen on Twitter, lately I went on a hunt to find a new keyboard. It actually started when my mouse started giving me troubles, but then it expanded to a keyboard as well.
My Keyboard-Mouse Set
A few years ago I was looking for a keyboard and mouse for my home office. Since I love Logitech, I looked for a Logitech set. I found a good deal on the Logitech MK710 kit which included the MK700 keyboard and the M705 mouse. It didn’t take me long to realize that I hate the keyboard. The keys were stiff and as I type quickly and a lot, it was simply not comfortable. The mouse on the other hand was good. So after a while I found a good deal on Logitech MK350 keyboard and I’ve been using it since.
Starting to have Problems
But quite a while ago the mouse started having issues. When I clicked it, it double or triple clicked, when I clicked and dragged it released the click in the middle and so on. It made it really hard to work with. I blew some air under the buttons and it worked well for a while, but every now and again it did it again. Every time it happened I blew some air under the buttons, until it didn’t help anymore.
When this happened I took the mouse apart, looking for something that might cause this, but couldn’t find anything. Some more air on the uncovered mouse and it worked well again, until the next time.
But then I’d had enough. So I started looking for a replacement, and since there are lots of keyboard+mouse bundles, I thought about replacing both. The keyboard itself is not bad actually, but I’ve had better ones in the past. I also can’t get (and I know it sounds a bit petty) how a manufacturer creates a keyboard without the option to see if the caps lock and num lock are on or off…
Looking for a New Set
First I went online and looked for posts about “best keyboards”. The internet, like the internet, is full of stuff like that, but there are some problems with the stuff that you can find online:
- Most of the information today, especially about keyboard, mice, and monitors, are for gamers and not people like myself. I did find some posts for developers, that are more relevant to IT people
- Most of the posts are affiliated so I don’t know how trustworthy they are (by the way, the links here to Amazon are not affiliated, they are just informative)
- The posts that I did find about keyboards for typing included models that I know I don’t like, so I couldn’t really trust their other keyboard recommendations
At that point I went on twitter and asked for recommendations, as I guess some of the people I know and I’m connected to have similar needs as me. Three different people recommended the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic right away, so I gave it a try.
Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic
I expected a lot from this set as again, 3 different people (that I know and appreciate) recommended it. But I was quickly disappointed.
- First, maybe it was a faulty one, but when I typed quickly, some keys didn’t register. Maybe I pressed it at a bad angle or something, but still, a keyboard that doesn’t register keystrokes is no use.
- Layout – the layout of the keyboard is Ergonomic to the extreme. Meaning that there are 2 parts, one for the left hand and one for the right one. I have to admit that even though I practically “touch-type” (hardly looking at the keyboard), I break the “typing rules” quite often. For example, “great” should all be typed using the left hand, as all the letters are on the left side of the keyboard. But I find that I can’t type the whole word with one hand (especially left) so I use my right hand for the G and the T. With the sculpt it was difficult to do, as the left side of the keyboard was too far away from my right hand.
- Another thing about the layout – I can’t understand why there isn’t a standard for the home, end, page up, page down, insert, and delete keys. Every keyboard has a different location for them and it drives me crazy. The Microsoft Sculpt has its own layout for them which I think is particularly strange.
- Keypad – the keypad of the keyboard is separated from the rest of the keyboard. Maybe some people find it nice, but I don’t. I use the “small enter” (the one to the right of the 3 on the keypad) a LOT. In many cases I find my hand in different positions on the keyboard and I just reach out all the way to the end of the keyboard without looking and press the “small enter” instead of the main one. When the keypad is separated that was impossible to do. I don’t know why Microsoft didn’t add a way to attach it if I’d like.
So, after not too long, I decided to return it and keep looking.
The Next Option
Then I got a new recommendation on twitter about mechanical keyboards. I didn’t know a lot about this (except that there is a lot of hype about them lately), so I did some research.
Mechanical Keyboards
Mechanical keyboards are keyboards with an independent mechanical mechanism underneath each key. I remember these from years and years ago, but newer keyboards are just a board with a rubber-like plate on top of it with the keys (called membrane). The new keyboards are less durable but much cheaper to manufacture. This “rubber-like” membrane is what gives them the usually stiffer feel and less “feedback”.
Another thing to know about mechanical keyboards, is that they are not cheap. They can range from 100$ to easily 200$ or more for keyboard alone (while you can get a membrane keyboard and a mouse for usually less than 100$). Also, most of them are not wireless, but USB.
With mechanical keyboards, since each key is separated, there are lots of different layouts and customization options (keys color, lights, etc.). To me, all of this fancy stuff is not really important, what is important is the feeling and how comfortable they are.
I read quite a bit about it, but that’s not enough when you are looking for something you need to feel, so I also went to a store and talked to a young guy about it. He was very helpful, so I’m going to explain a little bit about it here if you don’t know how these things work at all. After that you’ll get a very general idea and if interested you can continue your own research from there.
Choosing a Mechanical Keyboard
In order to choose a mechanical keyboard there are 2 main things you need to choose: layout and switches. There are other things as well (like the height of the keys, their shape, etc.) but I won’t get into all of this here.
The layout is quite obvious to understand. Would you like to have a keypad? Would you like some programmable keys? etc. etc.
Switches are the mechanism under each key and they are a bit trickier, so here is the concept in brief.
- Linear – linear switches (like the Cherry MX Red) mean that if you press the key very slowly all the way down, it will go smoothly and with the same resistance until it reaches the bottom. This is great for gamers.
- Tactile – with tactile switches (like the Cherry MX Brown) if you press the key slowly all the way down, at some point in the middle you’ll feel a little “bump”, this is when the key is registered. This is great for typing. When typing fast you actually want to press the key and once it’s registered you move your finger to the next letter. This “bump” helps us typers to know (almost subconsciously) that the key has registered and we can move on.
- Clicky – clicky switches (like the Cherry MX Blue) are similar to the tactile ones with the “bump” in the middle, so it’s great for typers, but it usually comes with quite a loud “click” (hence the name). If you’d like to type quietly (or relatively quietly), tactile would probably be better. If you like the clicking sound as you type (like a typewriter or some of the old keyboards), the clicky is for you.
I mentioned the Cherry MX switches here because this is a very well known company that manufactures this switches. They are usually the ones that are used in many keyboards, and if not, the switches are usually compared to them. There are many other switches with different characteristics (like resistance – the force you need to apply to press the key, or the location of the “bump”), but these are the main 3 groups of switches.
So, Which Keyboard do I Use Today?
After vising the store and talking to this guy (young gamer, but was still quite helpful), I got a Logitech (yes, them again) G513. G is the gaming line of Logitech and most G keyboards are mechanical. The G513 has a few versions, I took the tactile one. The switches are called Romer-G tactile because Logitech manufactures its own switches (called Romer-G) but it’s similar to the Cherry MX Brown as far as I understand.
Yes, it has lighting features and some fancy stuff, but the layout is standard (like the good old keyboards), it feels great (material-wise) and it’s comfortable.
I’ve been using it for only a few days now, but I can already tell that it’s comfortable. It does require getting used to it, as mechanical keyboards feel quite different, but for me it didn’t take long. The look of the keyboard is quite conservative (unlike some of the mechanical keyboards), and typing, though still a bit strange, is pretty fun. One thing that bummed me out is that the keyboard has a passthrough USB, so I was hoping to connect the keyboard to the computer and the mouse dongle to the keyboard. However, for the passthrough USB there is another USB cable that I need to connect to the laptop so it takes up 2 USB ports anyway. At some point I’ll probably get a USB splitter or something similar so it would be easier to connect and disconnect all of the devices. It also doesn’t have a light for the num lock (it does have one for caps lock).
This specific keyboard cost me 150$ (managed to find a discount as the full price is 200$, all Canadian $) and I have a feeling it will be my partner for a while.
What’s Next?
It’s funny, but this post is completely about keyboards while the problem I had was with the mouse. So to finish the story I didn’t make any decision about a mouse yet. I’m currently using a Logitech M510 that I had as a spare one and it’s reasonable. I have to admit that the mouse needs to work and not screw up my clicks, but it’s secondary by a lot to my use of the keyboard. I think I’ll stay with the basic mouse for now and enjoy my new keyboard.
Do you have some mouse recommendations? Comments on the keyboard I chose? Let me know in the comments below.
