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Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?

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Re: Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?

#181

Post by randomluck040 »

BoysenberryPi wrote: post #112
clon wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly the same sentiment. My yearlong experiment to try to love mechanical keyboards left me with a thousand euro hole in my wallet and physical problems spanning from fingers to upper body musculature. I loved the tactile feel, but hated what they did to my body. I think mechanical keyboards are just too high, with excessive travel. You sort of have to keep your hands floating in the air, which transfers stress to…

>Second issue, perhaps I'm a poor typist, but my fingertips frequently got stuck between the keys, causing mistakes by triggering adjacent keys. This is a new one on me. I have never heard of this happening to anyone. My recommendation for you would get a low profile mechanical keyboard like the Keychron K3 or Logitech G915

For some reason this happens to me with the MacBook laptop keyboards (the new ones). I don’t know what I‘m doing wrong, maybe it’s because I come from a MK with rather deep keys and all? I haven‘t figured it out yet.

Re: Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?

#182

Post by m0zg »

manuelabeledo wrote: post #118
formerly_proven wrote: post #45

The notion that a capacitive switch is somehow expensive to manufacture because the PCB is allegedly "special" (doubt) seems odd to me. All other capacitive sensing stuff uses bog-standard PCBs with nothing special about them at all and it's not like the rubberdome is hard to manufacture either (considering that a more complex kind of rubberdome mat is the centerpiece in cheap rubberdome membrane keyboards). And then…

> And then of course the "Rigorous Japanese Quality Standards", because obviously QC is better if the factory is located in a country containing people of the Japanese ethnicity compared to other ethnicities. This has nothing to do with ethnicity, but mostly work ethics and attention to detail. It is true that this may not apply to all Japanese products, but they are regarded as good manufacturers, akin to German pro…

> work ethics and attention to detail

This, by the way, is immediately apparent if you are traveling in Japan. You get the impression that the Japanese don't goof off at work. This is especially noticeable with folks who work outside: road work, construction, janitors, etc. Quick, to the point, and you won't see anyone leaning on their shovels like in the US. My already high regard for the Japanese has improved even more after a couple of weeks there.

Re: Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?

#183

Post by Aloha »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #125
nicopappl wrote: post #49

I have the privilege of owning a Happy Hacking 2, it has topre keys. I used it for about a year. And I hated it! It's insanely noisy, to the point of distraction. It's so damn loud. But the dealbreaker for me is how heavy and deep the keys are. It's just too much energy and travel time for efficient typing IMO. After long sessions my fingertips felt sore from the blunt damage of pushing down the keys. But I'll recogn…

I worked at a company that gave people generous leeway to purchase computer gear they wanted. We already had good computers and monitors, so fancy mechanical keyboards were the #1 purchase for most people. The mechanical keyboard fans nerded out over different switches and other hardware, spending countless hours doing research and trying out different types of keys. And then slowly nearly everyone went back to regul…

I'm a diehard Model M guy, but it's not a mechanical key switch.

Re: Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?

#184

Post by Aloha »

some-guy wrote: post #111
basedbertram wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh wow, do people really bring mechanical keyboards to the office? I thought that was generally considered a no-no.

I thought so too, so I brought my 1989 Model M and asked everyone around me if they were okay with it, and that the first complaint I heard about it I would get rid of it. Slowly after that, people started bringing in all kinds of mechanical keyboards.

My cube mates threatened to shove it where the sun don't shine if I dared used the one I brought to show off at work.

Re: Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?

#186

Post by entropie »

nicopappl wrote: post #49

I have the privilege of owning a Happy Hacking 2, it has topre keys. I used it for about a year. And I hated it! It's insanely noisy, to the point of distraction. It's so damn loud. But the dealbreaker for me is how heavy and deep the keys are. It's just too much energy and travel time for efficient typing IMO. After long sessions my fingertips felt sore from the blunt damage of pushing down the keys. But I'll recogn…

I have a HHKB2 Pro Blank for like 7 years now (heavy daily use). Its just awesome and it pretty much feels like day one. Keys are still very responsive. I love that thing.

Re: Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?

#187

Post by jagger27 »

epolanski wrote: post #154
jagger27 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also not very hard to modify non-silenced keyboards with aftermarket rings. I did that on my old HHKB and it worked great.

Meh, while it actuates the noise a bit it generally doesn't make a night and day difference. For me coding during night was a no with my older MK even with the rings I would wake people in my house when typing.

That’s reasonable. Modern silent MX switches and MX clones like the Boba U4 are extremely quiet because of their internal dampening.

Re: Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?

#188

Post by jrockway »

jeffbee wrote: post #179
jrockway wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm limited by typing speed. I can type about 120 words per minute, but there are still times when my idea is not instantly conveyed to the computer. In that case, I'm forgetting new ideas while interfacing with a piece of machinery. 1000 lines of code per engineer per week is probably a factor here. Think about a flow where you're bottlenecked by typing something. You then don't finish the thing because you have a s…

I think an honest evaluation would reveal that the interrupted program and the forgotten ideas stood even chances of being of negative value anyway. Getting the programmer away from the keyboard is an organizational defense mechanism.

Doing this at the hardware level is premature optimization.

Re: Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?

#189

Post by [deleted] »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #125
nicopappl wrote: post #49

I have the privilege of owning a Happy Hacking 2, it has topre keys. I used it for about a year. And I hated it! It's insanely noisy, to the point of distraction. It's so damn loud. But the dealbreaker for me is how heavy and deep the keys are. It's just too much energy and travel time for efficient typing IMO. After long sessions my fingertips felt sore from the blunt damage of pushing down the keys. But I'll recogn…

I worked at a company that gave people generous leeway to purchase computer gear they wanted. We already had good computers and monitors, so fancy mechanical keyboards were the #1 purchase for most people. The mechanical keyboard fans nerded out over different switches and other hardware, spending countless hours doing research and trying out different types of keys. And then slowly nearly everyone went back to regul…

[deleted]

Re: Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?

#190

Post by gh02t »

nix23 wrote: post #117
gh02t wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IBM keyboards were also astronomically expensive, the Model M was around $250 in 1985 which is something like $600 in 2021 dollars. The modern Unicomp incarnations made on the same tooling are not as nice as the OG Model M's, but they're a reasonable approximation and still only $100. I have no doubt the pricing on the HHKB and other Topre boards provides a very comfortable profit margin. Which is fine, if people are…

>IBM keyboards were also astronomically expensive, And that's exactly what i wanted to say, quality is expensive and has not much todo with luxury in the first place, it's a high quality tool...basta.

In my opinion it's not really that high quality compared to the competition anymore (though it's still a good keyboard). They used to be, but the high end keyboard market has gone nuts the past few years and the HHKB is not really that competitive anymore for the money. They still have the reputation appeal and have kept the price high despite tougher competition, which is working for them but that is why people criticize them.

Not that I necessarily agree with that take, like I said if people are still paying what they ask for them then that's great for them.

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