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Best Desktop Keyboards

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Re: Best Desktop Keyboards

#41

Post by eta_carinae »

barrkel wrote: post #33
eta_carinae wrote: post #15

It's depressing that only one in five of these keyboards is ergonomic. If you're a developer today and you are planning on typing on a keyboard for at least the next ten years, picking any other keyboard than an ergonomic one is a guaranteed path toward painful and permanent pains in your wrists and forearms. Switch to an ergonomic keyboard today, you'll be glad you did.

I've been typing on keyboards for the past 20 years, no pains at all. I credit it to Dvorak, myself.

Some people seem to be immune to it, you might be one of the lucky few.

Make no mistake, though: Dvorak is an aggravating factor in carpal tunnel syndrome. The faster you type by moving your fingers only and not your hands, the more likely you are to start feeling the onset of CTS.

Ironically, the best way to make sure you won't suffer from CTS is by typing with just two fingers.

Re: Best Desktop Keyboards

#42

Post by _pferreir_ »

wickedchicken wrote: post #18

I personally can't stand Apple's keyboards. They look very nice, obviously, but I find them cramped for typing. I have a keycapless Das that is a dream and I've been considering a Kinesis for a long time. If you don't know how to touch type, I highly recommend the Das Model S Ultimate Silent. Two weeks with that cleared it all up, but make sure you have a backup for typing passwords.

I've been using a Kinesis for the last two years or so and I am very happy with it. Zero wrist pain, which was not the case with normal keyboards.

Re: Best Desktop Keyboards

#44

Post by ChrisPebble »

pivo wrote: post #39
wickedchicken wrote: post #18

I personally can't stand Apple's keyboards. They look very nice, obviously, but I find them cramped for typing. I have a keycapless Das that is a dream and I've been considering a Kinesis for a long time. If you don't know how to touch type, I highly recommend the Das Model S Ultimate Silent. Two weeks with that cleared it all up, but make sure you have a backup for typing passwords.

I thought I'd hate the Apple keyboard (on my MacBook Pro) but I ended up really liking it a lot. Even more than my nice mechanical keyboard. It's very quiet and I can type much faster than I can with the mechanical keyboard.

As much as I love my Das Keyboard, I must admit I don't mind the Apple keyboards at all for most tasks. If I had to do anything like transcription, then yes, but for most tasks like programming or surfing, I'm surprised how seamlessly I can switch from a mechanical keyboard to an Apple keyboard and back again.

Re: Best Desktop Keyboards

#46

Post by rimantas »

mattacular wrote: post #26

What a lame article... I don't know why I expected more from Lifehacker. Anyone who does a lot of typing at work is not going to like Apple keyboards. Those things ruin your fingers because the keys have no give. It is kind of similar to what running on concrete will do to your knees.

What? You know, they work even without bangint on keys like crazy. Just lightly tapping them.

Re: Best Desktop Keyboards

#47

Post by barrkel »

mapleoin wrote: post #4
spoon16 wrote: post #3

I have settled on the Leopold ten keyless. I picked mine up from elitekeyboards.com. I really like how the Leopold types and it's not frustratingly loud like many mechanical keyboards.

The noise level of mechanical keyboards is a function of the keyswitches being used. From your comment I'm assuming you got the black or brown switches?

I have a Corsair K90 with cherry red switches, which are still quite noisy - the noise comes from the keys bottoming out, rather than the switch itself.

You can get little rubber rings to dampen them though.

Re: Best Desktop Keyboards

#48

Post by BadassFractal »

fsckin wrote: post #5

Best keyboards? Four out of five of the reccomended keyboards are membrane and scissor switches, which are designed for cost and space savings, not ergonomics. If you type more than a few hours per day, check out a mechanical or hybrid (Topre) keyboard. Your wrists will thank you. geekhack.org is a good resource.

I developed some finger joint pain after years on the Microsoft Natural in that article. I switched to a Topre Realforce from elitekeyboards.com and my life pretty much changed. I hear the Happy Hacking keyboards are in the same league as well. Remapping CAPS to CTRL helped a lot too, as well as having pinky-activated keys be lighter than the ones under your index/middle fingers.

To make a comparison, it's like going from a Toyota Yaris to a BMW 3 series, once you taste it, it's hard to go back. They're quality long-lasting keyboard that will be with you for many years to come, absolutely worth the hundreds of dollars. They will put to shame everything else. If only they came in ergonomic, that'd be amazing. I think there's only one single model in Japan and it's going to cost around $500-600 to import. Also, if laptops started to use Topre, that would be killer, even though they'd get much fatter. I'm tired of carrying my keyboard with me in the bag :)

Re: Best Desktop Keyboards

#49

Post by kabdib »

ChrisPebble wrote: post #37
hapless wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Kinesis Advantage uses the same Cherry keyswitches as a Das Keyboard, and has a split ergo layout: http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/advantage.htm

I've been tempted before but the layout looks a bit extreme. Does it take a while to get used to or is it a pretty easy switch?

I tried a Kinesis like that a few years ago and couldn't stand it.

If Microsoft made a Natural keyboard with slightly clacky keys (or even the original Natural keyboard again) I'd buy a couple dozen of them and stay with them for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, the keyboard folks at MS have been doing a poorer and poorer job over the last few years; the most recent ones (from the 4000 up) are squishy-keyed disasters that I can't type on reliably. [Don't get me started on F-lock. What were they /thinking/?]

Re: Best Desktop Keyboards

#50

Post by BadassFractal »

polyfractal wrote: post #17
fsckin wrote: post #5

Best keyboards? Four out of five of the reccomended keyboards are membrane and scissor switches, which are designed for cost and space savings, not ergonomics. If you type more than a few hours per day, check out a mechanical or hybrid (Topre) keyboard. Your wrists will thank you. geekhack.org is a good resource.

Do they make non-clacky mechanical keyboards? I absolutely cannot stand the clacky old IBM keyboards from my childhood. I currently use a "Logitech Illuminated Ultrathin Keyboard" and love it. But maybe I'm a freak, my wrists/hands feel a lot better using thin, laptop style keys rather than big clunky mechanicals.

Topre isn't nearly as clacky by default, but it also comes in a silent model. I haven't tried it myself, so can't tell how silent it actually gets.
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