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Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

nickjanetakis.com

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Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#41

Post by nickjj »

egdod wrote: post #23
pyronite wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you believe the author of this article, who from what I can tell is a long-term active HN user, is advertising for Amazon? Skepticism is good, but you should also be skeptical of the first conclusion it leads you to.

Using an affiliate link without mentioning it is scammy.

Yes, I have a few affiliate links on my site (on products and services I've used for ~20 years). And those are all super in depth articles. Such as a 4,000+ word post on monitors that I still get emails about years later saying it is the best resource they found on the internet for purchasing a monitor, etc..

I spent about 3,000 hours over 5 years writing the content on my site asking nothing in return. The affiliate sales on my site help pay for hosting and I don't think it's scammy to drop them in when it applies. I also think it would be a little weird if I started every article that has an affiliate link with a 5 paragraph disclaimer to justify why I am using that link, but maybe I should write a post about that and then drop a 1 liner link somewhere.

Literally opening a lemonade stand as a grown man would be more profitable than what I make on affiliate sales on my site if you factor in hourly rates.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#42

Post by notus »

simonsarris wrote: post #39
pteraspidomorph wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I was thinking. Any decent mechanical keyboard has all of these features and more, and the sound the keys make depends on the switches, of which there are many different types. Some switches are designed to be loud (like the MX Blues) but you don't have to use them. I usually find that people who disparage mechanical keyboards do not actually know a lot about mechanical keyboards...

Which decent mechanical keyboard has the feature of being $14.50?

Most engineers with jobs aren't making compromises on the price when their goal is comfort and usability.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#43

Post by minimaxir »

nickjj wrote: post #41
egdod wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using an affiliate link without mentioning it is scammy.

Yes, I have a few affiliate links on my site (on products and services I've used for ~20 years). And those are all super in depth articles. Such as a 4,000+ word post on monitors that I still get emails about years later saying it is the best resource they found on the internet for purchasing a monitor, etc.. I spent about 3,000 hours over 5 years writing the content on my site asking nothing in return. The affiliate…

The operative phrase in the original comment was “without mentioning”.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#44

Post by veidr »

daguil68367 wrote: post #37
veidr wrote: post #35

The striking thing to me about this is that is is purportedly a "mechanical keyboard" and yet it failed after only 5 years. I have purchased, or somehow gotten, at least 15 mechanical keyboards (and 10+ membrane-or-whatever keyboards) over the past 25 years. Most of the cheap rubber-membrane-or-whatever keyboards failed within a few years, although there are some that kept on working. But none of the mechanical ones…

Nothing in the article indicated that this is a mechanical keyboard. This is some generic rubber-dome over membrane keyboard.

Oops, you are right! I re-read it, and... not sure where I got that impression from.

So, Amazon made a status quo membrane keyboard. OK, uh, then yeah I guess I'll just move on then.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#45

Post by nickjj »

mtmail wrote: post #26
banachtarski wrote: post #7

This article is an affront to everything I know and have experienced about keyboards, all to post a non-disclosed affiliate link.

The blog is very technical (Docker, Linux, VIM) https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/ As far as I see it's the first post about a product. I don't believe it was written just to push affiliate links.

Thanks.

I had another 4,000+ word post about monitors from a few years ago.

After 250ish posts it's hard to keep track of everything but I think you are right. That monitor and this keyboard post is the only time I ever specifically wrote about a product.

I write about what I happen to be learning about and using at the moment. Sometimes it's Flask, sometimes it's Vim, sometimes it's finding a useful product or service I came across while doing developer related things (like typing or looking at a monitor for long hours per day). Often times what I write is what I wish I could have read before having to put in all of the hours of research myself.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#46

Post by nickjj »

vladharbuz wrote: post #3

> Jokes aside, I totally understand the appeal of mechanical keyboards. I’ve used them and it is satisfying to hear that clickity-click sound and the keys do feel amazing but that just doesn’t work for me due to being on so many pair programming calls and recording video courses. I don't like it when people equate mechanical keyboards to loudness. They don't have to be loud! My keyboard has MX Clear switches which ar…

I wouldn't say I'm a mechanical keyboard expert in the sense that I personally spent months assembling and disassembling a few of them while putting on custom switches and all of that but I have used (and listened) to a few of them in situations where it was in a controlled environment (I know what the room is like, the mic used, positioning of everything, the switches, etc.) and I haven't found any mechanical keyboard / switches that were quiet enough for me on video based on what I heard.

Do you have a high end recording set up? A good mic, boom stand, etc.? It would be curious to hear your set up on how it comes off on video when typing at your max WPM.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#47

Post by nickjj »

minimaxir wrote: post #43
nickjj wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I have a few affiliate links on my site (on products and services I've used for ~20 years). And those are all super in depth articles. Such as a 4,000+ word post on monitors that I still get emails about years later saying it is the best resource they found on the internet for purchasing a monitor, etc.. I spent about 3,000 hours over 5 years writing the content on my site asking nothing in return. The affiliate…

The operative phrase in the original comment was “without mentioning”.

> The operative phrase in the original comment was “without mentioning”.

As a reader you wouldn't be weirded out if the first section of the article was to justify why an affiliate link was used?

That would annoy me as a reader a lot more than having an affiliate link used without mention. I mean, I'm not sitting there trying to trick people into clicking links. The blog post is just an honest look / opinion on the keyboard. If you decide to click and buy one, that's cool. If you close the article in 5 seconds after skimming around, that's cool too.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#48

Post by sonofgod »

> Your rollover is the worst possible value you get.

> With the Amazon Basics keyboard I’ve seen as high as a 6 key rollover when pressing spuic

"As high as" implies that you've also seen lower. Which isn't the rollover of the keyboard.

My crappy two-key rollover (QWA fails) keyboard supports that specific keystroke combination.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#49

Post by SwetDrems »

nickjj wrote: post #25
SwetDrems wrote: post #5

This is blatant advertising on the front-page of HN. How did a post about a generic keyboard rise so high in such a short period of time?

How is it advertising? I'm the author of the post. I've used this keyboard for half a decade before I decided to write about it. If you read a few paragraphs of the article you'll see I am using this "generic" keyboard because it's great. Typing is also a pretty important thing for programmers and I've seen plenty of like/dislike posts about various keyboards. It very much applies to developers.

I (now) understand your intention was to simply share your opinion of the keyboard, I happened to see the post in the same format many other commodity-like product posts take: disguising themselves as a genuine review, but really just exist to peddle a product. Intention can be hard to convey on the internet, and if you meant it as a genuine product endorsement, sorry for misinterpreting you.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#50

Post by the_jeremy »

sonofgod wrote: post #48

> Your rollover is the worst possible value you get. > With the Amazon Basics keyboard I’ve seen as high as a 6 key rollover when pressing spui c "As high as" implies that you've also seen lower. Which isn't the rollover of the keyboard. My crappy two-key rollover (QWA fails) keyboard supports that specific keystroke combination.

Unless he edited it in the last 10 minutes since your comment, it already says

> Out of everything listed about this keyboard, its rollover is its biggest weakness as it only supports a 2 key rollover in the worst case.

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