Mechanical Keyboards

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Are you addicted to the clicking sounds of your beautiful and impressive mechanical keyboard?
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Here you can discuss everything about mechanical keyboards (and only mechanical keyboards).

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Searching for the right pre-built board (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 2 months ago by SqueakySpider@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/mechanicalkeyboards@lemmy.ml

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I hope this is not against the rules - I tried with multiple frontends to find the list of rules but failed.

I'm trying to find the right keyboard and have not had all that much luck using aggregators like keeb-finder or mechanicalkeyboards.com. I'm hoping someone would be willing to make a recommendation based on these criteria:

100%, maybe a few less keys but the number pad is necessary. 100+% is ok
tactile switches
USB passthrough for the mouse or whatever else
audio passthrough with audio out jack and mic in jack. I think this is the limiting feature, seems to be phased out except by brands like logitech and corsair.
standard ergonomic design
case material is not important nor is the key material really

Thanks for reading!

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[–] Kiloee@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I am sorry this isn’t the enlightening solution, but I am missing some info.

When you say standard ergonomic layout, what are you thinking of? Because that word and the 100% wish make me think of the old wavey looking Microsoft keyboard.

I personally can’t recall seeing USB passthrough on any of the ergonomic boards, and after a bit of looking into the standard I can very well understand why. I have literally never seen audio jack passthrough, not even on standard slab keyboards. So for both these features, why do you want them? If it is because your PC backside is awkward to access, maybe a cable can do the job too?

If you do have a budget besides „it will cost what it costs“, what is it?

As someone that was diehard num pad user and believed it is essential, I am now very happy with a Moonlander and num pad on a layer. Depending on how much you mix numbers and letters, that might not be for you though.

[–] SqueakySpider@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Always happy to clarify and add more info, thank you.

I threw in 'standard ergonomic' because it was a search tool often - I just meant I want a normal keyboard design, rectangular, single space bar, etc. The standard ergonomic preference didn't need to be included

The USB passthrough seems big with gaming keyboards, letting me plug my trackball in conveniently. Just a preference thing. Considering a USB hub or something instead but I've seen a fair number of them still available.

The audio passthrough sure is rarer and allows easier setup or removal of the headset. It's nice to have the audio jack at desk level instead of near the ground.

Budget wise I'm happy to pay up to roughly 200 USD, but hopefully less since I'm not trying to find anything too fancy overall.

I often end up regretting a lack of a numpad as they come in handy in some sim games, or as alternate keybinds in whatever I'm playing.

[–] Kiloee@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Since you don’t want anything fancy physical layout wise, I would think going with a big conventional brand might be your best bet for at least USB passthrough.

Personally I tend to lean Logitech amongst those.

Unless you really like the lightshow of RGB lighting or want the super high polling for some reason, you don’t need to go for a gaming series one either, which often have inflated pricing. It might even be easier to find a full size in the office lineup, because excel loves numpad for obvious reasons.

Since I went the totally ergo brained route I can’t recommend any specific model in that area, sorry.

[–] SqueakySpider@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I realized Das Keyboard has a ton of USB hub keebs :)

[–] Kiloee@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 months ago

Oh right, I always forget about those. All I heard about them was positive, so that is a plus.

[–] BingBong@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I use the System76 Launch Heavy and really like it. It meets what I believe you are calling standard ergo along with my take on your other requirements.

Note, I'm am considering something more like the moonlander which is a split board for the future but trying to figure out how I justify it since the launch heavy will probably outlive me and my children.

[–] Kiloee@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 months ago

Incidentally the ergo board I have is a Moonlander. I absolutely love it and it helped with my hands being fatigued after typing a lot.

I do have an entirely homebrew alpha layout, but I am also a crazy person.