Hello, my name is Rob, and I’m delighted I discovered this website. I work in the tech industry and occupy a decent portion of my day typing away at a keyboard. For the last twelve years I’ve used a number of Apple keyboards at work. I’ve never really have had a problem wielding them until recently. The redesigned keyboard for the latest touch bar laptops finally pushed me over the edge. I’ve always had an interest in mechanical keyboards but never could justify the cost of switching to one considering my jobs would provide me with a laptop and keyboard provided it was from Apple. After three months of trying to use the keyboard on the touch bar Mac I’ve given up. The first mechanical keyboard I purchased was the Razer Huntsman Mini. I’m assuming those with more experience could talk for hours about the disadvantages of this keyboard, but compared to what I was using before it’s like night and day. From the first day I fell in love with the sound and feel of the keyboard as I spent hours coding. I’m blown away at all the freedom you have to construct a keyboard that’s tailor made just for you. After watching a few YouTube build videos I knew I wanted to try my hand at making my own keyboard. In the upcoming months I hope to learn and develop the needed skills to accomplish my goal of creating a keyboard that I can be proud that was built by me.
Welcome! I think you’ll have fun here, and learn a lot while you’re at it.
Razer is a favorite target of keeb snobbery, but I think their responsiveness to feedback is quite commendable. I’m also delighted to see innovation from them in the form the opto-mechanical switches that come with the Huntsman.
My first mechanical keeb was a ~$30 rando TKL from Amazon, and at the time, it was the best keyboard I’d ever used in my adult life - and I still like it. Since then, I’ve been happily falling down the rabbit-hole with no signs of reaching terminal velocity any time soon… ha!
This is a great place to get information and advice for building a custom - we’re glad to have you here and look forward to seeing your eventual build project!
Thanks for the welcome. I completely understand about the rabbit-hole, because I’ve looked over the edge and am amazed at just how much I don’t know.
Welcome Rob from UT!
I can relate to wanting something better than the mbp butterfly keys. That was me for a while too.
I’m still learning myself, but happy to share what little insights I have. Message me anytime. All the best on your hunt for a better board. BE PATIENT and take your time.
Welcome Rob! I spent most of my life in CA but was born in SLC. I have been in the hobby for just over 2 years now. And after using prebuilt board, I am finally on the way to building my own. This seems to be a pretty diverse and open community that is always willing to help out.
I was in the same boat with work. I am used to working in Windows but moved into a department that all use Apple. Now I have both, I remote into the windows box from the apple mac book when I need to. It was a coworker that got me into mechanical keyboards. He and another developer had boards and wooden rests which got me asking questions. I finally took the leap and bought a Ducky Varmilo Miya Pro. Seemed like a good fit. Smaller form factor, pleasing aesthetic, came with swag. It wasn’t long before I had to order another one for work. I could not stand the laptop keyboard or the blue tooth logitech board the supplied after typing on a mechanical.
Welcome! Former Southern Utah resident but am now in NE Nevada. Make sure to check out the UTMK Discord. Awesome group of local Utah folks on there. Between Keebtalk and UTMK, you have a great community and a plethora of resources available to you in this awesome hobby!
No problem! Hope to see you there!
