I got to thinking I might want a wireless keyboard tonight. I have a very old, wired keyboard, that works fine. Up until a year or two ago, I had a similar old, wired mouse that mostly worked still. I replaced that with a wireless razer mouse and love it.
You guys…I had no idea keyboards were an entire lifestyle.
I started looking at YouTube for best wireless keyboards and I learned that thocky, creamy, buttery, and clacky were adjectives, and that they describe keyboards.
Where is a realistic place to start the keyboard lifestyle? I realized after hearing the vast difference between all of these different sounding switches, that I don’t notice a difference between any of them, and that I want a silent (or very quiet) keyboard…and that there are a whole zoo of different sounding silent switches too…
I’m not looking to go crazy on the price in this economy, but I also want something nice-ish. Keep in mind, my old wired keyboard probably has nothing nice-ish about it to those that choose the keyboard lifestyle.
Where would I even start if say I wanted a quiet keyboard and didn’t want to go above…$150?
For silent switch recommendations I personally have liked Haimu’s lineup, I think they feel pretty darn good for a silent switch. To answer your question about specific brands tying you to certain keyboard chassis, no all switches should work with pretty much any keyboard. The only potential limiters are things like if you buy an HE (Hall Effect magnetic) keyboard which means you can only use HE switches as those have a magnet in them unlike regular MX switches.
Thank you for this. Without having any idea what a tactile or linear switch feels like, it seems like I need to start with some switches to press.
Another question as I start my journey. It seems like you can by a mechanical keyboard, and it seems like you can build one from scratch. I think I land somewhere in the middle. Is that a realistic expectation?
I’d like to pick a percent, and the switches, and the key caps.
I’m not ready to get into pcb’s and stabilizers yet.
A quick Google search, and I think was able to find my current keyboard. It actually looks like it has tactile cherry mx blue keys.
When I am looking at Kaihl, Gateron, Akko, Outemu etc., what am I looking at exactly? Are these each brands that each produce their own full line of switches? Meaning, can I get silent switches from each of these? Is this like Nvidia and AMD?
Yea if you are looking for somewhere in the middle you can find lots of boards where they offer a fully prebuilt keyboard and a “barebones” option where typically all you need is switches and keycaps. And all you have to do is put all the switches in then the keycaps, everything else is done for you. You can always open up the board and tinker around later when you feel you are ready. (An example is Keychron’s V series of boards Keychron V6 QMK Custom Mechanical Keyboard )
Regardless of what you go for, you will want to double check that the board you buy says “hotswap” or “hotswap PCB” somewhere which allows you to change out your switches without soldering. Most prebuilts nowadays are hotswap but doesn’t hurt to double check.
Kailh, Gateron, Cherry, Akko, etc are all switch brands/manufacturers, some of them own their own factories and some borrow from others. For the most part each of those brands have like a million switches nowadays so you can find pretty much anything from anyone without getting into nitty gritty detail differences.
I think I am okay not having a number pad, but I do want a separated arrow key area. I think this puts me somewhere in the 75% zone.
Does a 75% keyboard generally impact the layout of the letters for typing, or does it just remove other parts? I’m wondering if I’ll notice the difference in typing on a less than 100% board.
If that’s the case you would want to look at 75% or TKLs (TKLs are full size keyboards with the numpad chopped off basically). You wont notice that big of a difference in typing especially if you’re talking strictly the letter keys, where you start to see different layouts for the letters are in very small layouts aka 40%s or smaller. From a 100% full size to a 60%, it’s mostly just removing parts and keeping the core letters and keys surrounding them (which we call modifiers/mods).
Sometimes. If you’re in a country where Amazon is reliable, I would advise getting so-called “entry level” boards like Keychron from them. One of the betes noires of this hobby is vendors with slightly iffy quality control and very iffy customer support.
With Amazon, especially Prime, returns in the first month, when many QC issues will reveal themselves, are dead easy and you can sometimes find like-new in their resale section with similar return options.
Going back to one of your earlier questions, linear switches give a steady resistance all the way down with no other intentional feedback. Tactile switches have one or more parts that are shaped to make sure you feel a change as you press the key; while they’re not the best example of the type, cheap membrane boards and laptop boards are tactile, because the point where the rubber dome gives way is intentional and lets you know something has changed in your press. Clickies, such as Cherry MX blue, are basically tactiles, but with one or more parts designed to intentionally make a sharp sound, and that also means they don’t have to be subtle with the tactility in the feel.
I think most brands on the market these days are pretty solid, honestly. I can’t think of a brand you’d go wrong with off the top of my head.
this nifty little quiz can help you narrow down switches to consider based on your preferences. Their database is pretty extensive but definitely not exhaustive.
@ThereminGoat has built up a really comprehensive database of switches they have assessed and reviewed.