Keyboards

[Grauniad]

While I"m pretty much in love with my mechanical keyboard, not everyone wants to pay that kind of price (upwards of $70 and the sky is the limit) for a keyboard.

Newegg's Deal of the day for today (January 6th, 2014) includes a Sharkoon gaming keyboard that has nice positive reviews for just $20 and free shipping. Sounds good.

[Clean0nion]

Holy cow, that mechanical keyboard is awesome! But it's expensive.

[Grauniad]

They're available for under US$100. and sometimes specials come along.  A good friend, a long time ago gave me the excellent advice to "never pay retail."

There are also, of course, much more expensive keyboards, such as Das Keyboard, who for some reason think their "ultimate" keyboard should ship with blank keys.

[knucracker]

Sold.... (on that Sharkoon)
I always need another keyboard, or so it seems.

[Grauniad]

Sold.... (on that Sharkoon)
I always need another keyboard, or so it seems.

Thought you might be interested. Hope you'll let us know how it works out for you. $20 isn't that much to pay on the off-chance that it works well.

Edit. Actually, on second thoughts, I bought one for the family PC. That MS keyboard is getting a bit old. And it cost $20 also. :)

[Clean0nion]

There are also, of course, much more expensive keyboards, such as Das Keyboard, who for some reason think their "ultimate" keyboard should ship with blank keys.

No inscriptions? Only 104 keys? Two Windows button for twice as much accidental Window-mashing when the G170 has an option to prevent that? Measurements in inches?
The G170 makes a much better case of itself...

[Grauniad]

Lifehacker (not the most authoritative site IMHO) has these 5 mechanical keyboards as the top 5. I think the Ducky models look interesting

[Blaze]

Luckily I've taken good care of my keyboard and am not in need of another.
Granted, I'll definitely bookmark that Mechanical Keyboard for when I do need one...

I did want to get a mechanical keyboard in the first place but the one I wanted was sold out everywhere at the time.
It was the Razer keyboard in that top 5 list. I settled for the Arctosa.

[Grauniad]

Well, with CES on, not even keyboards are escaping innovation. Anand is reporting on the Corsair MX RGB (currently a prototype).

A mechanical keyboard with full RGB backlighting on every individual key.



Click image for the gallery view.

[Cavemaniac]

Holy cow, that mechanical keyboard is awesome! But it's expensive.

I've worked in retail long enough to offer these words of wisdom:

You tend to get to get what you pay for.

I often use car analogies to help people understand what they're getting for their money.

If a mechanical keyboard is the 'Mercedes' of the keyboard world, then normal keyboards are more like a Mitsubishi.

There's nothing wrong with Mitsubishis - they do much the same job as a Mercedes, but a Mitsubishi will never be a Mercedes.

As a rule, the Mercedes is better designed, better engineered and built from better materials, giving better performance and comfort over their lifespan.

So you'll pay more.

But never lose sight of this: not everyone has a Mercedes, not everyone needs a Mercedes.

Says the guy who drives a 17 year old Toyota.  

[Grauniad]

Well, then I wonder what this keyboard would be like? It's on sale at Newegg with no reviews.  THe newegg bundle offers the keyboard, a mouse and a mousepad for $50 and free shipping. A similar keyboard on Amazon has generally positive reviews.



It does seem as if it may be a mechanical keyboard, but even if not, then the deal seems to be a very good deal. If I didn't order yesterday's keyboard, I might give this one a try - just to see how it is.

[knucracker]

It almost had me.... then I started looking at the keys.  I wondered where the backslash / pipe key went.  Searching around I found this:


Why do companies do this?  Why do they put fatal flaws on keyboards?  Take a look at the successor to the comfort curve 2000, the 3000 model:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109245

Zoom in on the delete and insert keys.  Why?  I guess they decided you don't need to use an insert key much so lets move it where the PrtScn/SysRq key is.  Then move the PrtScrn key where the Pause/Break key is.  Then just forget Pause/Break ever existed.  'Slow clap'.... genius

[Cavemaniac]

Could be worse - ever try typing on a Turkish keyboard?!

(Anthropological note: I love  turkey and the Turks, but I struggle with the 'I' key on their keyboards!)

I grew up with US keyboards, lived in the UK for eight years and totally converted, then came back to NZ where we use the US keyboard.

Small difference, but occasionally you get lost (the biggest difference is the absence of the £ key and the " being elsewhere).

[teknotiss]

Could be worse - ever try typing on a Turkish keyboard?!

(Anthropological note: I love  turkey and the Turks, but I struggle with the 'I' key on their keyboards!)

I grew up with US keyboards, lived in the UK for eight years and totally converted, then came back to NZ where we use the US keyboard.

Small difference, but occasionally you get lost (the biggest difference is the absence of the £ key and the " being elsewhere).

don't forget the ~ is in a dif place too!  ;)
and i got a Sumvison keyboard recently, for about £20, that has backlit keys in red, blue OR purple woooo!
actually i'm very happy with it, it's got nice resistance and a satisfying sound (which are important to me, i dislike the silent ones, especially the contact point style ones) and it's taken being sat on by my cat with no probs, which is nice  ::)

[Grauniad]

Well, my Sharkoon Skiller keyboard arrived today (thanks to my Shoprunner free 2-day shipping).

I must say I had higher hopes, but then it's only a $20 keyboard, so I should not have expected more. It's not backlit, which I thought it should be, but clearly it didn't say that anywhere, so I don't know why I thought it would be.

The keys are a little mushy - but then, I'm accustomed to the crisp feel of a mechanical keyboard and all dome keys would feel that way. The other tester in my family like it more than I do. Not sure it will replace the Microsoft ergonomic keyboard we're using on the family PC, but time will tell.

Interestingly enough, it has buttons on the keyboard to power the PC down, or put it in sleep mode. I don't like that, but again, other family members think "it's cool."

Basically I think it's $20 not wisely spent.

Now over to you Virgil.