From amazon. I like loud and clicky and appreciate the lack of unneeded num pad. Anyone try this keyboard? Thoughts?
I haven’t used any Logitech keyboards in ages, but I’m sure it’d be fine at minimum.
That said, better bang for buck can be found elsewhere, like with the GMMK Tenkeyless which is the same price as that Logitech board, except it uses USB-C (newer reversible connector) and its keyswitches can be replaced without soldering, so if a key breaks you can just replace one switch instead of the whole board, as well as allowing you to change to sound and feel of the board by swapping out all of the switches.
I have an older version of that keyboard - it’s also missing the number pad but it has different mechanical switches that aren’t “loud and clicky”. It’s been a pretty good keyboard, I would happily buy another one.
Do your research on different types of keys first. There’s a lot of different youtube videos that go over the keys, just search there.
After spending hundreds of dollars on keyboards myself, I find that there are 3 real metrics to base your decision on:
1 - key type (for me, it is browns/razer yellows)
2 - software ecosystem (some are easier to use and less of a hassle than others, Razer is rated poorly by many but I personally haven’t had any issues with them…yet)
3 - Build quality and form factor. I like TKL keyboards, but I do find myself missing the num pad for work type stuff (did my taxes without the numpad and it sucked).
One thing to consider is to stick with one ecosystem so you don’t have to have a bunch of crap loaded up at the same time - for me i have Gigabyte RGB Fusion for my motherboard RGB, ASUS Armory Crate for my video card RGB, Razer Synapse for keyboard settings and RGB, AND Logitech Gaming Software for my mouse mapping and RGB.
If you go with only one ecosystem, it might make all of that a bit easier and less confusing/conflicting.
On this note I’ve enjoyed the flexibility afforded by splitting the numpad off the keyboard into its own device. I can pull it out and plug it in only when it’s needed, and it can sit over to the left of my keyboard making it easier to mouse around with my right hand while punching in numbers or using the numpad to control software like Blender.
We’ve talked about this before and I actually bought a usb numpad…good idea but I chose poorly. The one I got had a very strange layout and I ended up having a lot of errors.
The lack of the spacing between the top row and the second row threw me off really bad. Also the small + key.
I’m going to have to get a more smartly designed layout numpad that more closely mirrors the generic work type keyboards.
Ahh yeah I remember this discussion now that you’ve mentioned it.
Here’s the numpad I use, if you’re up for a bit of soldering. It ships from China though so it may be worth waiting for a restock from a US-based store.
Wow this really spurred a cool conversation about keyboards. I never thought I would end up watching youtube videos about them.
My favorite keyboard of all time was the razer black widow series, with the cherry mx switches or whatever they were call.
I want a keyboard that is very loud and clicky. Feels so nice. I want every keystroke to register on a seismograph.
The keyboard I use now is a Corsair K55
It’s not a mechanical keyboard but uses rubber membrane with rubber dome keys. Got tired of mechanical keyboards
I don’t mind membrane keyboards, in fact i actually do like them as browns often feel closer to the feeling of membrane.
i just dislike that many of them have terrible rollover and your typical WASD and numbers will conflict pretty often
The switches I’m using at the moment strike a very nice balance between the two worlds. They have little rubber pads at the ends of their rails, which quiets keystrokes and makes them feel like membranes but more responsive and consistent, and since they’re standard cherry-type switches they can be put into whichever board of choice with good rollover characteristics.
The linear variant is known as U4 Bobagum and the tactile variant U4 Boba. There is no clicky variant (yet).
Nothing is prebuilt with them though since they’re enthusiast switch, so one needs either a hotswap board or custom board built from a kit to use them.