October 22, 2021

PC hardware - keyboards - general information

Anybody who spends significant time on a computer should take a hard look at their keyboard. They should take a hard look at their monitor too, but that is another topic. I think about it this way. How many hours a day or week do you spend using your computer? Divide the cost of a keyboard (or monitor) by the number of hours you will use it. This will give you the cost per hour. A really nice keyboard (or monitor) may seem expensive, but when you think about dollars (or pennies) per hour of use, you can view it in an entirely different way.

Mechanical keyboards

Most cheap and midrange keyboards are "membrance keyboards". The key presses down a rubbery membrane "bubble" to make contact with pads on a printed circuit board which senses the keypresses. Whatever tactile feel you experience is entirely a function of that rubbery bubble.

Mechanical keyboards are entirely different and have a different feel. They use a spring and metal fingers that make contact when the key is pressed. They come in a variety that will make your head spin. The company Cherry has long been regarded as making the best switches of this sort, but other makers (notably Kailh) are also well regarded and by some even prefered.

Each maker offers switches with different properties and "feel". I use Cherry "brown" which are generally recommended for programmers or writers. Cherry "blue" switches give a distinct click (some love them but some dislike the noise). Cherry "red" are the choice by many gamers (of which I am not) because they have no "click" sound or feel. There is a lot lot more to know, and you can spend all day reading. Keycaps are a whole 'nuther topic with shape and materials being things to know about.

You can even get keyswitch "testers" which are boards with a variety of different switches that allow you to sample the feel of various switches and thus make an informed choice.

Types of keyboards

Ignoring ergonomic keyboards for now (but noting that I am a big fan of ergonomic keyboards), there are various keyboard layouts to choose from.

Most common keyboards are 104 key keyboards. These include a row of function keys, along with a numeric keypad. They are big in order to provide room for all these keys.

At some point I realized that I never use the numeric keypad, so there are 17 keys wasting several inches of valuable desk space. A smarter choice for me would be an 87 key keyboard that does away with the numeric keyboard. These are sometimes denoted "TKL" for "TenKeyLess", which is an odd way of indicating that they do away with the 10 digit numeric keypad (which actually has 17 keys). This is my choice (while ignoring ergonomic keyboards).

If you are willing to also do away with the row of function keys, you can have an even smaller keyboard. There does not seem to be any standard designation for these. They are sometimes called a 65 percent keyboard or 60 percent keyboard. They often have 61 keys or something close to that. If I was looking for a portable keyboard to carry around with a laptop, I would look into one of these, but I hate laptops and want nothing to do with them.

A comment on the last link above (hating Cherry MX brown). I showed it to my son and he declared that the guy is an idiot. I didn't say that (of course). He claims that the browns feel like gritty reds. My browns by no means feel gritty. There is a smooth "rounded feeling" resistance around what I would call mid-travel. Whatever the case, peoples opinions on the best keyswitch varies and that is why so many different varieties are available.

DAS keyboard

This seems to be a no nonsense company that is making high quality mechanical keyboards without exclusively catering to the gaming community. I have used their full size (104 key) "DAS keyboard model S" at work and been impressed (with Cherry brown switches). When I began looking into TKL keyboards, I tripped over their "DAS keyboard 4C TKL" and decided it was perfect (and I ordered one, with Cherry brown). It may only be available with Cherry brown switches. The main criticism I read was that the key markings were black on dark grey and hard to read. I am a touch typist and would be willing to go "full ninja" with an unmarked keyboard, so this is hardly an issue for me and could even be construed as an advantage. As near as I can tell, this keyboard is not reconfigurable, so I will have to be content with the "ESC" key where it is and not being able to disable or remap the "CAPS lock".

For the record, "DAS keyboard" is not a German company. The keyboards are sold by Metadot Corporation, a company located in Austin, Texas. The keyboards are made in China. Also for the record, "the keyboard" in German is "die Tastatur" (die not das). Did Metadot try to establish a german vibe or is that about the "D,A,S" keys like "WASD". The latter seems unlikely, but who knows. Metadot is big on the "ninja" keyboard concept, which earns them some respect from me.

If I did want a reconfigurable 87 key keyboard, the WASD Code V3 might be worth looking at. It has backlit keys, which I am unsure about.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Adventures in Computing / tom@mmto.org