Ask Slashdot: Good Keyboard?

An anonymous reader writes: After five years of service, my keyboard is dying, and I'm starting to look for a new one. Since it's for my primary machine, and I spend a lot of hours there for both work and leisure, I'd like to invest in a high-quality replacement. What do you recommend? I've been using a Logitech G15, and it worked well enough — but not well enough for me to buy another. (I've also heard Logitech's build quality has been on the decline in recent years — has that been your experience, those of you who own their recent hardware?) My use cases include coding and gaming, so durability is a big plus.

I'd prefer something a bit less bulky than the G15, which has a raised area at the top for media controls and a tiny screen. I don't mind a thicker bottom bezel so much. I'm not a huge fan of ergonomic/split keyboards, but if you know a really excellent one, I wouldn't rule it out. Same with mechanical keyboards — love the action, but the noise is an issue. I don't need any particular bells and whistles, but don't mind them. As for a budget... as I said, it's for a heavy-use machine, so I don't mind investing in great hardware. (That said, if I'm spending $150+, it better automatically make sure all my semicolons are in the right place.) So, what keyboard has served you well?

Comments

quiet mechanical keyboard

[SethJohnson]

I got the "Royal Kludge RC930-87" from Massdrop and love it. Not too loud for a mechanical keyboard and it is extremely responsive. It's also not taking up my whole desk with the numeric keypad, which I love. Very fine-grained control over LED backlighting as well. Since the OP is so detailed on these requirements, I'm sure she'll love the control over the LED backlighting.

Re:Ergo!

[lkcl]

irony isn't it: we don't like what microsoft has done in the software world, but the microsoft natural keyboard is absolutely awesome. *but*, butbutbut, you *have* to get the right one! the one i find is amazing has a tip-up at the *front* not the back, allowing the hands to droop downwards onto the keys rather than being stressfully pulled upwards, and also you want the one with full-sized cursor keys. there was a while when microsoft foolishly tried to make one with half-sized cursor keys: it's utter rubbish.

other than that: the keyboard i have seen which people absolutely swear by is - don't laugh - the old IBM AT keyboard! apparently you can still get them. they're noisy, but people who use them don't care. that tactile response - the click - appears to be crucial to ast and wrist-stress-free long-term usage.

Re:Good toilet paper?

[mariox19]

Yes, heaven forbid we consider Slashdot a community and ask others in it for opinions, especially on something that many of us deal with every day as a part of both our jobs and leisure and could therefore be assumed to know something about. That would almost seem too human.

Re:Unicomp Keyboard

[jvp]

from www.pckeyboard.com - based on the IBM model M. You will not need a new keyboard again for a good many years.

The Model M (and descendants) are truly *the* only keyboard to ever consider. For anything:
Coding
Gaming
Writing emails
Hammering nails
Cracking concrete
Cracking someone's skull

And for what it's worth, Unicomp dumped the pckeyboard.com domain, but are still reachable via http://www.unicomp.com./ :-)

Re:Unicomp Keyboard

[funwithBSD]

They don't die, the connector becomes obsolete.