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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

#201

Post by api_or_ipa »

loup-vaillant wrote: post #193
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…

Many mechanical keyboard users bottom out. That is noisy. It also hurts their fingers. My brother loved his mechanical keyboard (Cherry MX blue). Very loud (he bottomed out), very satisfying, but he had to quit because his fingers hurt.

Not all bottom-outs are created equally. I bottom out on my MX Clears but the increased stiffness dampens the force to the point where my typing is comparable to the latest apple keyboards my colleagues use. I don't even use rubber dampeners which would further reduce sound.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#202

Post by jgalentine007 »

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…

My Cherry MX Red Silents are really quiet (as quiet as a membrane or laptop keyboard, without the chatter) and very crisp.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#204

Post by nickjj »

banachtarski wrote: post #173
nickjj wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. I'm working on addressing that now. I'm currently at 1,800 words to explain the use of my affiliate links for an upcoming post. Then I will modify my static site generator to auto-insert a 1 line sentence into any post with an affiliate link. It will be a couple of hours or even a day for all of that to materialize since I need to balance that into a full day's work but I do want to get it out asap, so maybe…

Thanks for addressing it, I didn't mean to create a ton of unwanted work, but I do see this error crop up a lot among tech blogs that I peruse.

I should be thanking you. I addressed it.

Although for a first pass I just put a small message about the affiliate links at the top of every post that has an affiliate link (15 out of 243 posts btw).

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#205

Post by KingMachiavelli »

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 have MX Reds at work and while they don't have the 'click' that Blues have, when the keys bottom out it's still louder than a membrane keyboard. Fortuently, you can get cheap o-rings on Amazon designed to force the switch to bottom out before the key cap hits the floor of the keyboard or the switch. It's a remarkable improvement for especially quiet offices.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#206

Post by benfrancom »

whitehouse3 wrote: post #82
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.

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 had rsi as well, so bad I couldn't shake anyone's hand. I thought my wrist was broken. What fixed it for me was to drop the keyboard down onto my lap using a lapdesk. It took me forever to find this out, and there is research behind the ergonomics:

http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ergoguide.html

http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/AHTutorials/typingposture.html

In my opionion, it's worth a good read-through. I also switched to an Evoluent vertical mouse and a Goldtouch split/angled keyboard w/o the numeric pad to minimize back-and-forth. Now I use lapdesk+apple magic keyboard+Evoluent vertical mouse, and don't really have any problems.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#207

Post by tempo33 »

rpmisms wrote: post #74
notus wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the author also thinks pair programming is a good idea so I'd take what they say with a grain of salt. Also I get the impression this article is just a thinly veiled ad for their courses.

What exactly is empirically wrong with Pair Programming?

Then what is empirically wrong with trio programming? If the pair programming wonks actually have data to show that it is a net benefit, then they surely must have evidence showing that 2 is a good maximum on return.

Like to this day, I have never seen any reproducible strong evidence provided that pair programming is beneficial. And I don't know if I would call the occasional ad-hoc (unstructured) "pairing" anything other than what a normal person would call it: "two people collaborating like normal fucking human beings."

But if there is evidence that 2 is better than 1, why is 3 or 4 not even better?

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#208

Post by nobleach »

Root_Denied wrote: post #181
mixmastamyk wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Also using a WASD keyboard (Code) with brown switches and o-rings. It's clicky, but not terribly so. Next one will be clear switches with o-rings which I've tested and are even quieter.

I have the WASD Code with Cherry MX Clears. And while it is a bit quieter, I find it not as satisfying. The keys feel pretty springy, and there's not much feedback. So that satisfying "click" of Greens, Browns and Blues, really is more my cup of tea. I did enjoy it originally though... so your mileage will vary.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#209

Post by nickjj »

Author here.

A lot of people commented here saying it's questionable not to mention I happened to use an affiliate link.

I want to thank those people for bringing that up. My intent wasn't to deceive anyone and I hope my HN comment history (98% of what I post here are comments on other people's stuff) separate me from yet another affiliate blog spammer.

I just pushed an update to my site that now includes a little snippet of text at the top of every post that has 1 or more affiliate links.

If anyone is curious about the numbers. I have 243 public posts about a whole bunch of developer focused topics at the time of writing this comment and 15 of those posts had affiliate links, and of those 15 posts most of them are 2,000 to 5,000 word articles evaluating and talking about a product or service I really enjoy using and have used successfully for months or years before even writing about it.

Re: Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard

#210

Post by kazinator »

eukaryote31 wrote: post #151
kazinator wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Great; I'm in Vancouver, Canada; where can I walk into a brick-and-mortar store to try one?
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