MX Linux Forum

I have always used membrane keyboards my whole life. Got an opportunity to try a mechanical keyboard of my friend's and immediately felt the difference despite it being a cheap Chinese mechanical keyboard. I was wondering whether it is worth spending 25-30 USD on a mechanical keyboard for an average user?

I had only used membrane keyboards until five years ago. On a whim, I splashed out on a mechanical one, and would never go back.

I'm almost embarrassed to say how much mine cost; it was very expensive. It's a Filco, with Cherry brown switches.

In case you didn't know, Cherry make the keyboard switches for the top keyboard makers, and they come in different pressure weightings, identified by colour.

Chris

I have a Unicomp keyboard, which uses the tech from the original IBM Model M keyboard. It was expensive but worth it in my case as I make fewer errors typing due to the better feedback in the keys. It might not be worth it if you don't do a lot of typing.

It depends. How many of the membrane (regular) type have you gone through just due to wear and tear? Before I bought mine, a Spadger, about eight years ago i was having to buy a new regular keyboard every three years since I am a heavy typist.

Salvation Army and Goodwill supplies my old ergonomic microsoft keyboards for about 3 dollars out here.

Old mech key gaming keyboards are a dollar.

For YEARS I refused to use membrane keyboards, having only ever used mechanicals. As a fast typist ( 120 wpm ) , a good mechanical keyboard were / are one of the best things you can feel a you type. (And personally I think they are *the* best you can use.

However... there are some membrane keyboards that are FAR FAR better than others and provide some excellent feel. The reason I started using Laptops was because of their keyboard. Lenovo also has had excellent keyboards, and although both companies have changed a bit over the years, I believe they keyboards are still very good.

The only other keyboard that I really like... is Logitech. They make one of the best tactile keyboards there is, imo.

As for good mechanical - without breaking the ban, Logitech K845 is my favorite keyboard, with the Red Dragon K556 coming in very close to it. Both under $60, and both VERY nice to the touch.

I still use a 1986 model M keyboard because I make fewer errors with it. When I use my laptop keyboard or my wife's membrane keyboard I have to pay far more attention to my typing.
One note about typing on mechanical keyboards is that unlike a membrane keyboard you don't have to bottom out the keystroke, just press hard enough to "click" so it can be easier on your fingers and wrists.

Excellent point timkb4cq ! One of the primary reasons I didnt like membrane keyboard was specifically that lack of tactile and having the sense of burying the keys.

A regular old Dell keyboard can be rinsed off if you take it apart. As for mechanical, they are simply much nicer than a cheapo plastic one. You can get them in various materials like aluminum or even wood and in all sorts of configurations and colors and backlighting. The keys themselves, incl. the typing experience is also much nicer. The cheapo boards are great as backup and are practically free but I would never want to use one daily after buying a few mechanicals. Mechanicals are ~$100+ on average. I have 3. I actually like my Asus ROG gaming kb the best even though it has the weirdest design just for the fact it comes with a cover to keep the dust off when you're not using it. I don't type much so that helps too lol.

timkb4cq wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2023 11:59 am I still use a 1986 model M keyboard because I make fewer errors with it. When I use my laptop keyboard or my wife's membrane keyboard I have to pay far more attention to my typing. One note about typing on mechanical keyboards is that unlike a membrane keyboard you don't have to bottom out the keystroke, just press hard enough to "click" so it can be easier on your fingers and wrists.

Personally, I have never used such a cheap, disposable product as a rubber dome keyboard. I inherited two IBM keyboards (Model M) from my last company and used at least one of them for years. The buckling spring mechanism is extremely robust and designed for durability. On my desk at the moment I use a Cherry Model MX 3000 keyboard with blue Cherry switches. For reasons of space, I am currently using a Filco Majestouch 2 TKL with brown cherry switches for my second monitor. The latter was relatively expensive, but worth every penny! Both keyboards have a pretty tactile feel, especially if you want to type a little faster.

But the best thing IBM ever built were their beam spring keyboards, which cannot be surpassed in terms of robustness and are now sold at horrendous prices, around $2,000. The sound of the key mechanism alone is incomparable and conveys an extremely secure input feeling. It's a real shame that almost no one builds something like that any more. So, if you want to know more about the technology behind all of the previous IBM keyboards, then I recommend this video, which explains each part in detail (running time 16 minutes and 13 seconds). For a closer look at the keyboard, see here!

The Filco? That aint expensive. I gave my sister a Das Pro that cost $175. This same board but in silver for windows: newegg.com/das-keyboard-4-professional-for-mac-dask4macsft-usb-wired/p/N82E16823830016 is now $185! Really a nice kb I almost wish I had kept it for myself. My 1st was a logitech full gaming kb, blue backlight. Then I grabbed a super low profile 75%? keychron, no numpad with optical switches and customizable backlighting. You won't find optical switches on the regular keyboards ever. Keychrons are nice and come with a plastic dust cover which I didn't know till I unboxed it. Nice but not as nice as it should be so I looked for one that had a proper cover and grabbed the Asus ROG Falchion. Fully modular and the cover is as much of the keyboard as are the keys themselves. The Falchion is actually my favorite because of this. I figure if it's a good gaming board it will also work for typing in general which I hate. Just gotta pretend when you're typing you're trying for high score.

The real trick is in trying to find a decent KVM that allows you to use one keyboard, one mouse, and one monitor for 2 (or more) pc's. Anybody know of one that actually works please tell. The junk you see that pretends to work doesn't at all with any modern hardware that pc's use now.

davidy wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2023 9:11 am The Filco? That ain't expensive.

I wrote it's relatively expensive and that's true! So, $150 + transport costs + import fee = about $185. Still, it was a justified investment and I wouldn't want to miss it. I've never been guided by what others have or believe is good, I am happy to forego this competition.

@NightCoder
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Add me to the list of IBM Model M fans, I use original IBM, Lexmark and Unicomp versions and like them all.

The only desktop keyboard I have that is not a Model M is an IBM UltraNav (has both a touchpad and pointing stick, like a ThinkPad), sadly not buckling spring or sleeve.

So when we talk about mechanical keyboards, a few other aspects come into play, such as the layout of certain keys. Of course, these are not the same everywhere and are often fundamentally different. In this particular case we are talking about the cursor keys, whose arrangement cannot always be described as ideal. This video describes how this changed over time until a certain order was able to prevail. (Runtime 15 minutes, 44 seconds.)