At home I have a Das Keyboard with Cherry MX browns and they feel great. I think this is the quickest I've been able to type on any keyboard.
I type a lot for my new job and no one cares if I bring in my own keyboard but for my coworkers sake, I don't think I want to bring in browns. I'm a heavy typer and frankly I'm loud on browns.
I searched for quieter keys and found Cherry MX Red Silents (Durgod keyboard) but after typing on it a few days at work, I'm making way more mistakes, I'm typing slower, and my hands are more fatigued. That's when I learned about linear vs tactile... I think tactile is what I need.
So with that, I'm looking for:
Need:
- Tactile
- Light switches (should not take much force to activate? idk. Browns are good for me, for reference)
- Quiet
- 100% layout
Want:
- Switches I can put the Draula keycaps on that my friend bought me. I just know they fit fine on Cherry MX Browns and Red Silent.
- USB-C port. I have a coiled cable I want to use already.
Nice to have:
- Hot swappable PCB
Open to other info I'm not thinking about.
Edit: After looking around some more this evening, I'm leaning toward grabbing a Keychron K10 Pro, grabbing some Zilents V2's and sticking those in there, then popping on the caps I have. This would be the most building I've done for a keyboard. See any issues with that?
Update
Based on the recommendations here and some other threads I read, I went with a Keychron Q6 Max and the Zilent V2's.
I confirmed that my poor speed and accuracy on the (previous) new board I had gotten was definitely due to my not being used to linears. After a day of using the new Keychron with Zilents I did a typing test and got a new PB.
Thanks for all the suggestions! Now I'm in trouble because I want to replace my home keyboard with the same...
Are the browns that loud? Have you considered adding o-rings? Bottoming out in a keystroke can be tougher than the tactile part of the switch.
They’re louder than the crappy keyboards in the office and the red silents. Maybe I’m being overly cautious.
I hadn’t considered o-rings though. I’ll look into that.
I’ve got regular red switches, and the bottoming is more than ten times louder than any noise from the switch.
I got the soft (quiet, but squishy feel) and the hard (not as quiet, but firmer landing) of these: https://www.gloriousgaming.com/products/glorious-mx-o-ring-switch-dampeners both in the “thin” variant (minor reduction in travel). The hard offered me enough noise reduction that it seems to me like it’s as quiet or quieter than a regular keyboard.
I’ve got the Keychron Q6 Wired keyboard and am very satisfied. I use it for work and gaming. It’s way too heavy to transport frequently. Keychron has lighter models.
Also: