I needed a new keyboard. As ever, this was not as easy as it seemed.
I can pinpoint the exact moment I became picky about keyboards. Long ago, and after getting used to the then-contemporary Compaq keyboard as what keyboards should feel like. I was presented with an old computer and told to make time figuring out how to do one or another task with it. At least, that’s how I remember it, it was probably more to keep me quiet for about 45 minutes or so.
Unfortunately for my future wallet, the computer in question had an IBM model M keyboard. Membrane? Yes. Loud? Absolutely. A typing experience the likes of which I’d never experienced before? Definitely. Even if I haven’t touched a model M in a while now, I can still remember the solid press until the spring buckled under the pressure of my still very young fingers. The sudden motion came with a comforting clack and a new character on the screen. And all of a sudden not all keyboards were the same.
So, when my trusty keyboard finally died a couple of months ago, it was time for me to see what had changed in the landscape. As it turns out, quite a lot of things. Mechanical keyboards are now nowhere near as much of a niche as they were last time I went shopping, and Amazon was primed and ready to pepper me with dozens of no-name keyboards with mechanical switches from companies I’ve never heard of before. This, plus the traditional, higher-ticket recommendations would make for a nice starting point.
First came the easy rounds of elimination. Nothing that was slim, tenkeyless or indeed, not full-size went out. I don’t own a very large desk, nor use that numpad very often, but it’s nice to not have to mess around with the number row when I do need it. Besides which, most smaller keyboards play stupid games with the arrow keys. With those out, I said goodbye to the ones that decided to mix function keys and media keys. The memory of that Compaq keyboard is still there, and hitting pause is simpler and more intuitive than Fn+F6 or whatever the manufacturer decides they want to do for that action.
And so, it went. Nothing with an under 3-star rating, nothing with a weird enter key, nothing where the RGB was just sections with R, G, and B LEDs, Nothing linear, nothing needing strange software to function,etc. Finally, I got to a couple of keyboards and went to the feature that has killed many a keyboard on previous runnings. A volume wheel.
Everyone who still consumes media in front of their computer and has owned a keyboard with a volume wheel knows what I am talking about. Instead of repeatedly having to hit up and down on the volume keys (or go to a menu on the taskbar or, god help me, use FN+Repeatedly hitting a function key), volume adjustment is done on a simple and intuitive function. It can be as granular or as ham-fisted as change expediency demands and, as far as I can tell, nobody has made it so that it doesn’t work as intended by simply plugging it in.
Needless to say, after all that faffing about and hours toying with filters on Amazon, the winner was a used Corsair K70 which I picked up used. Jeff Bezos is probably going to live with that decision. As will I, because however much the previous owner wrote with it, it didn’t show any appreciable wear after a thorough cleanup and the brown switches are almost peerless at satisfying my inner key geek.
If only the model M came with a volume wheel…
