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The 40% Keyboard

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Re: The 40% Keyboard

#121

Post by trampypizza »

Oreb wrote: post #69
Tarks wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bought a Corsair K95 a year or so ago and it's fantastic for me, even bought a second for the office. Pricey but it's worth it.

I have no personal experience whatsoever with these, but the Corsair keyboards have a very bad reputation among mechanical keyboard enthusiasts. Allegedly the keycaps are made of low quality ABS plastic, and because some of the keys are non-standard size, you can’t easily find replacement keycaps. Among mainstream brands, Ducky and CoolerMaster are supposed to be much better (I have no experience with these either).

I have a CoolerMaster Masterkey Pro L with Cherry MX Browns - Its a nice keyboard, well built and not too showy. I got it for the office and I didn't want something that was very 'gamer-ey'. Only criticism is that the Cherry Browns are nowehere near as nice as the Gateron Browns I have in another keyboard (although I suppose you can't put this on CM). Oh, and maybe the ABS keycaps, they aren't great and the PBT Keycap 'upgrade kit' that CM sell isn't really a direct replacement. I'll probably pick up a separate PBT Double-shot set, but that's optional. I have recommended the CM Masterkeys Pro L to a bunch of people. I had a Corsair K70 (trampstamp edition) a few years ago, and the quality was good but the non-standard bottom row got on my nerves because it severely limited keycap replacement options.

Re: The 40% Keyboard

#122

Post by _0ffh »

terandle wrote: post #20
dangus wrote: post #7

Call me cynical, but I think a lot of the small style keyboards I see around the office are more of a fashion trend than anything. I remember when the insistence was on number pads, and how dare they be removed from our laptops and desktop keyboards. Fast forward a few years and I was made fun of at a programming job for preferring a full keyboard with a number pads. I guess programmers are too cool to enter in dolla…

No numpad is an ergonomic benefit. Your mouse is closer so you don't have to move your hand as far. The best way to have a numpad if you really need one, I have found, is to have a separate one like how the Microsoft Sculpt keyboard does it.

Personally, I use the numpad to navigate source code and other text files. I very rarely use the mouse under those circumstances. So this very much depends on our personal style and use cases.

Re: The 40% Keyboard

#123

Post by the8472 »

dangus wrote: post #7

Call me cynical, but I think a lot of the small style keyboards I see around the office are more of a fashion trend than anything. I remember when the insistence was on number pads, and how dare they be removed from our laptops and desktop keyboards. Fast forward a few years and I was made fun of at a programming job for preferring a full keyboard with a number pads. I guess programmers are too cool to enter in dolla…

This is a case where you can have your cake and it eat it too. Simply get a TKL keyboard and a detached numpad. This way you can place the numpad on the left of the kbd or right of the mouse

Re: The 40% Keyboard

#124

Post by the8472 »

TylerE wrote: post #26
dangus wrote: post #7

Call me cynical, but I think a lot of the small style keyboards I see around the office are more of a fashion trend than anything. I remember when the insistence was on number pads, and how dare they be removed from our laptops and desktop keyboards. Fast forward a few years and I was made fun of at a programming job for preferring a full keyboard with a number pads. I guess programmers are too cool to enter in dolla…

This is a real annoyance of mine. None of the real nice mechanical keyboards are available in a fullsize layout. A numpad is NOT negotiable for me...several creative apps I regularly use use the numpad for control (and no, the regular number row keys ARE NOT mapped to the same commands).

Plenty keyboards with mechanical switches have numpads. Is every single one of them failing your niceness criteria somehow?

Re: The 40% Keyboard

#125

Post by kgwgk »

joosters wrote: post #111
kgwgk wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the discussion is about ergonomics, not speed.

Much of the discussion is about having fewer keys, resulting in more multiple key presses to type certain symbols. That’s not improving ergonomics.

It seems some people find that not having to move the arms makes up for hand contortions.

But you’re right, the article conclusion is that “First of all, the reduced distances will increase speed, (...) If it turns out that 40% keyboards can reduce Repetitive Strain Injury or R.S.I. (...)”

Anyway, I think touch typing helps in all fronts. The alternative is not just slower typing, it also adds a mental load that can only distract from the thinking.

Re: The 40% Keyboard

#126

Post by yannikyeo »

alpaca128 wrote: post #86
lewisflude wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the same as you until I used a planck[1]. I thought not having direct access to numbers or symbols would be a pain, but it really wasn't. The typing experience was comfortable and my wpm went up. I would say I still prefer something in the 60% range (HHKB) layout, ideally with dedicated arrow keys. [1] https://olkb.com/planck

How portable is the Planck? I've got a 40% but it's a split keyboard and so it's a bit of a hassle to transport. But the Planck would let me use the exact same layout and is still ortho, so I'm thinking about getting it as a secondary.

It can fit inside a Nintendo Switch case.

Re: The 40% Keyboard

#127

Post by petepete »

halvdan wrote: post #96

I own a HHKB[1] and while very pleasant to type with the fact that the function keys are on another layer can be cumbersome in some IDEs. In IntelliJ IDEs you have Ctrl + F9 to build (or something like that) which means pressing Ctrl + Fn + 9. Maybe the experience can be improved with better placement of the Fn-key (which on the HHKB is in the lower right corner). Reading the comments about experiences with split and…

As a Vimmer, the HHKB is very close to perfection. I can reach every key without having to move my hands too far, the Fn key fall right under my right little finger and Control being in the correct place is a huge win. The fact that it has Topre switches is the icing on the cake, I wouldn't use any other keyboard on a prolonged basis.

Re: The 40% Keyboard

#128

Post by Lio »

_0ffh wrote: post #122
terandle wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No numpad is an ergonomic benefit. Your mouse is closer so you don't have to move your hand as far. The best way to have a numpad if you really need one, I have found, is to have a separate one like how the Microsoft Sculpt keyboard does it.

Personally, I use the numpad to navigate source code and other text files. I very rarely use the mouse under those circumstances. So this very much depends on our personal style and use cases.

Yeah definitely somewhere where people should be allow a personal preference.

What does that numpad offer that is not already on the rest of the keyboard?

I think if you are comfortable touch typing numbers then there's not much advantage to having a number pad.

(I've worked from laptops (without numpad) connected to an external monitor for about 15 years now so I may be missing something potentially useful here.)

Re: The 40% Keyboard

#129

Post by blauditore »

dangus wrote: post #7

Call me cynical, but I think a lot of the small style keyboards I see around the office are more of a fashion trend than anything. I remember when the insistence was on number pads, and how dare they be removed from our laptops and desktop keyboards. Fast forward a few years and I was made fun of at a programming job for preferring a full keyboard with a number pads. I guess programmers are too cool to enter in dolla…

I mostly use the num pad for custom key combinations as those are usually not occupied by some system built-ins. It's pretty handy, but obviously falls short if you have to switch to laptop keyboards often.

Re: The 40% Keyboard

#130

Post by BigJ1211 »

throwaway744678 wrote: post #92
tony wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Small style keyboards I'm optimistic about them (depending on what "small style keyboards" mean to you). I consider ergodox in this category, due to how it does ctrl/z, function keys and layers. Ergodox-EZ is quite beautiful. The build quality on it is solid. It's heavy, for a keyboard. This is not a logitech or microsoft keyboard where they cynically use cheap materials. But, there are these "small" hacks: It join…

How do you Ctrl+Z, then?

I use a redox wireless, the layouts in both the ergodox and the redox are completely customisable, CTRL is a separate key from the Z by default on mine for example.

https://configure.ergodox-ez.com/ergodox-ez/layouts/default/...

That is the default for the ergodox ez, as you can see there are multiple ways to access the CTRL key.

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