Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard • Hacker News Board

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#151

Post by eukaryote31 » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 5:55 PM UTC

kazinator wrote: post #136

notus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Speaking of engineers and jobs, it's part of an engineer's job description to make compromises on cost. I've never seen a mechanical keyboard that wasn't loud; let alone silent. (The thread topic is noise, not comfort or usability.) That doesn't mean they don't exist. Maybe if I rubbed shoulders more with the high society, I might get access to some invitation-only showroom for exotic keyboards where $14K will get yo…

Most silent mechanical keyboards are about the same cost as clicky ones.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#152

Post by borski » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 5:58 PM UTC

vkou wrote: post #102

borski wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, enlighten me - why is pair programming such an awful idea, in your opinion?

You are paying 2 people for what is, 95% of the time, less than twice the output of one person. There are particular mentoring objectives that you can hit with it, and there is value in bouncing ideas off another person, but I don't need to sit in front of a computer screen for the latter.

There are definitely benefits that are larger than just mentoring or bouncing ideas. Often, the sum is actually greater than the individual parts, as fewer mistakes get made and more fruitful paths get explored earlier/faster.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#153

Post by whitehouse3 » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 5:58 PM UTC

wilsonnb3 wrote: post #109

whitehouse3 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. I bought a $250 Leopold FC660C to combat repetitive strain injury, because my doctor said to minimize the distance between the home row and my mouse pad. But most less-expensive 60% ("ten key-less") boards either lack arrow keys or have obnoxious, loud switches. These weren't feasible because I use arrow keys all the time for Visual Studio and I work in open-office hell. The Leopold has quiet Topre swit…

For what it's worth there are many cheaper options that would work for you. For anyone else looking to reduce the distance between mousepad and keyboard, this size is usually called 84-key, 75%, or 80%. They have all of the keys that a tenkeyless has but laid out in such a way that the keyboard is significantly less wide. this one is relatively cheap (they used to sell an even cheaper one that I currently own, which…

Thank you for this. I haven't scanned the market lately so I entirely missed this new crop of smaller boards.

Nomenclature was the big hurdle I had to clear when searching for a keyboard. I didn't know what these boards were called until a fellow engineer introduced me.

I'm sure "84-key" will be a helpful keyword to someone else reading this thread.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#154

Post by r00nb00m » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 6:00 PM UTC

I was very specific about my keyboard needs: I wanted basically a keyboard layout from a notebook (mac) so i don't have to adjust to layout, it had to be wired because bootcamp and bluetooth are not working good together, ISO layout (which is TERRIBLY hard to find), full size keys but compact design (think magic keyboard). In the end i settled with penclic, which had the added brilliant advantage of having those media keys right next to fn key, so you can adjust volume with one hand. Stil prefer logitech k780 feedback and feel, but couldnt handle the extra length. Once you go TKL it's hard to go back

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#155

Post by whitehouse3 » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 6:01 PM UTC

castlecrasher2 wrote: post #120

whitehouse3 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. I bought a $250 Leopold FC660C to combat repetitive strain injury, because my doctor said to minimize the distance between the home row and my mouse pad. But most less-expensive 60% ("ten key-less") boards either lack arrow keys or have obnoxious, loud switches. These weren't feasible because I use arrow keys all the time for Visual Studio and I work in open-office hell. The Leopold has quiet Topre swit…

I don't mean to intrude or otherwise question you but have you looked into weightlifting as a solution? I used to get RSI pretty bad, and had back problems until about four years ago when I did heavy (two-hours a day, six days a week) weightlifting for a few months. Haven't had it since.

Thank you for mentioning this. That's a great data point and I will look into this further.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#156

Post by vkou » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 6:04 PM UTC

borski wrote: post #152

vkou wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are paying 2 people for what is, 95% of the time, less than twice the output of one person. There are particular mentoring objectives that you can hit with it, and there is value in bouncing ideas off another person, but I don't need to sit in front of a computer screen for the latter.

There are definitely benefits that are larger than just mentoring or bouncing ideas. Often, the sum is actually greater than the individual parts, as fewer mistakes get made and more fruitful paths get explored earlier/faster.

Most coding mistakes are not very expensive.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#157

Post by isbjorn16 » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

tomc1985 wrote: post #115

I'm really surprised that ergonomic, split-key designs aren't more popular. Do you all enjoy unnaturally squishing your hands or something? Fans of RSI?

Some of us just don't get that. I've been typing at around 120wpm since my Typing II course on an actual typewriter back in '98. With every other part of my body degrading far faster than I ever would have expected it to, my wrists and hands still feel right as rain while using a standard keyboard layout.

At least so far, I've won that lottery. I'll take it.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#158

Post by whycombagator » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 6:08 PM UTC

I'm all for being frugal, but from my few interactions with Nick's blog, he appears to like to nickel and dime almost everything (building his own standup desk[0], cheap linux laptop[1]), so the Amazon Basics keyboard (and him loving it) is no surprise.

IIRC he also has a course where he teaches you to build a SaaS app with flask, but you don't build it from scratch - he starts with a fully built app and walks you through it/has you implement parts of it. It's a project he used for clients, and instead of investing time to reimplement it from scratch he just made a course based on the existing app (which is fine and better than no course, but an example of his frugality)

[0] https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/build-a-home-made-standing-de...

[1] https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromeboo...

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#159

Post by mixmastamyk » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

PascLeRasc wrote: post #137

sli wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, no offense to the author, but this article read like one written by someone who really doesn't know much about keyboards. There is a whole slew of different silent, non-clicky, tactile and linear switches to choose from, as well as sound dampening o-rings.

I can't really blame him though, if you assume Amazon is the standard marketplace for everything all you'll find is Cherry blue and red switches, and Razer/Logitech's versions of those. It wasn't until I attended a mechanical keyboard conference that I found out about Zealios, by far my favorite switch but near-impossible to find in pre-built boards. Even Clears, which are really great and my favorite Cherry switch,…

I have the wasd keyboard with red switches and thin o-rings and it is quiet, quieter than my mouse buttons.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#160

Post by eropple » Tue, Sep 03, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

bonestamp2 wrote: post #67

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…

Agreed, I have MX Clears and they're not bad at all. That said, they are still louder than standard (rubber dome) keyboards, even with o-ring dampeners installed. But, I switched to a noise reduction headset and my screen sharing partners say my keyboard noise is now equivalent to people with rubber dome keyboards (you can barely hear it). I have a keyboard on order with "silent red" mechanical switches. From what I…

You can also get a better microphone.

I use a Logitech G Pro keyboard, which sounds (to my ears) roughly the same as MX Browns, but I use a supercardioid dynamic microphone (the sE L7, which for my money is the best dynamic microphone you can buy until you get up into the ElectroVoice RE320 territory) on an arm. It's got a tight enough polar pattern that I don't even need headphones because my desk speakers don't feed back, let alone the keyboard that's at a 90 degree angle from the business end of the mic.