Moving to a Mechanical Keyboard

Hi everyone!

I've been using Dell SK-8135 Multimedia Keyboards for years now. They would meet their death by the occasional spill, but I've gotten better over the years. Apparently Dell stopped making this model, and they're difficult to find new. They replaced it with this which is a slim, scissor key style keyboard, which I do not like.

After doing some reading on mechanical keyboards here and at OCN, I'm unsure if I've narrowed it down properly as I am a noob with regards to mechanical keyboards. I've also been doing ~120WPM on membrane for so long that I'm not sure if it's the right choice.

I believe that based on my current keyboard and typing style that I would want Cherry MX Browns or Reds. I am used to bottoming out, so I imagine blues would be a poor choice and blacks would likely have too much resistance for my taste.

I am still somewhat open to membrane keyboards if there is one that's $60 or less and very similar to the SK-8135. I feel like once I'm getting to $70+ I might as well buy the Leopold.

I need:

- Traditional layout (104/5-key, enter key with backslash above, 2x3 ins/del/etc)
- Cylindrical keytops
- Wired, USB (6 key RO is fine)
- Resistance similar to my current keyboard
- Reasonable footprint (no Deck keyboards, no Logitech G19)

I would like:

- Clip-on, basic, plastic palm-rest (like the SK-8135)
- USB hub
- Multimedia keys
- Easy to clean
- Easy to replace keys

I do not want:

- Flat key
- A very noisy keyboard
- Very low or high resistance (Too low: Logitech K-120/200, too high: Older mechanical keyboards / typewriters)

I believe I have narrowed it down to:

Leopold Full-Size - $99-$109
WASD Custom or Semi-Custom - $119.99 - $149.99
Das Keyboard Silent - $135

I am unsure how to rank these in terms of quality.

Any other suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks!

i think you'd love cherry mx browns

My absolute first suggestion would be the browns, but I can tell you this:

DO NOT GO BY THE ADVICE PEOPLE HERE GIVE YOU ALONE.

You could get a keyboard with MX Browns and absolutely be disgusted by the way it feels. Now I personally believe that is highly unlikely, but my point is that every person is different and every person is going to have a switch type they SWEAR by. Cherry browns, blues, blacks, reds, clears, ALPS White, ALPS Black, ALPS Green, buckling spring... every keyboard 'enthusiast' has their own preference.

You may as well be asking people here what ice cream flavor they like. The answers will be that varied.

Cherry Blues or Browns seem to be the 'vanilla' of the bunch - as in most people seem to prefer them for general usage.
Blacks and Reds tend to be for the gaming crowd as they seem to like them for the linear feel and the ability to register rapid actuations of a single key (aka firing in an FPS game)

I will say that for general typing *I* think that buckling spring (the type used by the classic IBM Model M and the current Unicomp boards) just can't be beat for general typing. The reason most current-day keyboard 'enthusiasts' don't seem to favor them is that they are extremely LOUD. Like your family/roomates will murder you LOUD. So Cherry Blues are the next best thing for me...

Any one of those brands would be great. I like WASD because you can customize the key caps, which can get very pricey if purchased separately.

Filco's are considered to be one of the best mechanical keyboards. If you are willing to spend a little more on a keyboard, you are getting a solid, high end keyboard that should meet all of your criteria (MX Browns). I have two and love them.

Note: I see that you do not want a very noise keyboards. Relative to Blues, Browns are considered quiet (Das calls their Browns the "Silent" model). However, they are not silent at all... They dont click as loudly as the Blues, but they can get pretty noisy, especially if you bottom out when you type. Just my 2 cents.

Check out DAS keyboards, I think they have a keyboard with MX Browns if I am not mistaken.

I'm a reds kind of guy. I find theyre faster to type on than blues and browns.

Also, consider buying dampeners for your board. The decrease the throw of the key making them faster to type on. They also eliminate the bottom-out sound, and givbe it a very satisfying "thud" feel. I have dampeners on both my blue and red board, and its a pleasing improvement.

WASD keyboards stocks the dampeners.

Thanks for the replies.

I've read a bit more now and I've seen some reports about browns being so easy to depress that if you rest your hands on the keyboard, the key triggers? Is this true? I'm concerned because I rest my fingers on the keyboard in between typing all the time. In ready/waiting position, my fingers sit on awef / huil.

My other concern after reading through geekhack.org was whether people just think keyboards are cool or if they can type over 100wpm and really put them to use.

I'm hoping to be able to try a keyboard with cherry blue, brown, or red tonight or tomorrow so I can actually feel the difference.

Blue Falcon said:

My absolute first suggestion would be the browns, but I can tell you this:

DO NOT GO BY THE ADVICE PEOPLE HERE GIVE YOU ALONE.

You could get a keyboard with MX Browns and absolutely be disgusted by the way it feels. Now I personally believe that is highly unlikely, but my point is that every person is different and every person is going to have a switch type they SWEAR by. Cherry browns, blues, blacks, reds, clears, ALPS White, ALPS Black, ALPS Green, buckling spring... every keyboard 'enthusiast' has their own preference.

You may as well be asking people here what ice cream flavor they like. The answers will be that varied.

Cherry Blues or Browns seem to be the 'vanilla' of the bunch - as in most people seem to prefer them for general usage.
Blacks and Reds tend to be for the gaming crowd as they seem to like them for the linear feel and the ability to register rapid actuations of a single key (aka firing in an FPS game)

I will say that for general typing *I* think that buckling spring (the type used by the classic IBM Model M and the current Unicomp boards) just can't be beat for general typing. The reason most current-day keyboard 'enthusiasts' don't seem to favor them is that they are extremely LOUD. Like your family/roomates will murder you LOUD. So Cherry Blues are the next best thing for me...

Click to expand...

Thanks, this is helpful. I was indeed trying to go by what a lot of the guides said about the different keys and trying to mentally compare them, but I think at this point I need to get some hands on with at least one of the Cherry keys.

I find buckling spring keyboards good to type on, but I don't like the noise. My fastest tested WPM was on a buckling spring.

My concern for brown vs red is whether or not tactile feel would inhibit me when I bottom out. I doubt I would like the big tactile bump of blues after typing on membranes for so many years.

WorldExclusive said:

Any one of those brands would be great. I like WASD because you can customize the key caps, which can get very pricey if purchased separately.

Click to expand...

That's pretty much what I was thinking about the brands, and how I saw WASD. If I want custom key caps, then the value is great, whether I choose semi-custom or fully custom.

Value is really what I used to narrow down these three brands, all offer something for their price that the other doesn't.

The only reason I didn't include a Razer Blackwidow is because of Razer's questionable support. It's always, "I love Razer products, I have 50 of them and they've never broken," or "I hate Razer, my mouse broke and they won't replace it."

thesecond said:

I'm a reds kind of guy. I find theyre faster to type on than blues and browns.

Also, consider buying dampeners for your board. The decrease the throw of the key making them faster to type on. They also eliminate the bottom-out sound, and givbe it a very satisfying "thud" feel. I have dampeners on both my blue and red board, and its a pleasing improvement.

WASD keyboards stocks the dampeners.

Click to expand...

I was actually curious about the dampeners, but didn't see a lot of discussion about them. This could make the impact of bottoming out either more similar to a membrane keyboard or even less forceful, correct?

The o-ring dampeners are supposed to reduce the noise and also cushion the impact of the key bottoming out.

Das all the way

MrMike said:

My concern for brown vs red is whether or not tactile feel would inhibit me when I bottom out. I doubt I would like the big tactile bump of blues after typing on membranes for so many years.

Click to expand...

If you don't think you would like the tactile feedback (the 'bump') of the blues then you probably won't like the browns either. Sounds like you are a red/black kind of guy.

I have the das and the filco in mx brown. I type faster with the DAS, but I def prefer the filco because I can play fighting games with much more precision. For example, to wave dash, I have to press 3p (3 keys) and then down to cancel, and repeat the motion. With the DAS, it would only work sometimes, with the filco, it always works. I also didn't like the shiny finish on the DAS, so I bought the filco. I'm really happy with the filco.

ironforge said:

The o-ring dampeners are supposed to reduce the noise and also cushion the impact of the key bottoming out.

Click to expand...

I'm one of those people who likes the the feeling of plastic on plastic when bottoming out a membrane keyboard.

I think I just answered my own question, thanks for the dampener comments, but I don't think they're for me.

Blue Falcon said:

If you don't think you would like the tactile feedback (the 'bump') of the blues then you probably won't like the browns either. Sounds like you are a red/black kind of guy.

Click to expand...

I was starting to think this too. Thanks

I'm definitely not looking for a keyboard to push me into changing my typing technique. I'm looking for a quality one to aid me in maintaining it.

Check out Razer Blackwidow as they use Cherry Blues that give a feedback both touch and audibly. You have to like a loud tactile keyboard to like blues . The browns are notouriously quiet with no tactile feedback. I might invest in a brown based board for general typing duties but to be honest the blues are working fine for me.

Good luck in your search. Also check keyboard that are based on ALPS switches as they are different and offer a different feeling and feedback than Cherry branded keys.

Personally I'd recommend the Corsair K90 or K60. Granted there are some rubber dome switches still located on the boards, the keys that see the most action are Cherry MX Red switches and it feels niiiiiiice. The overall construction of the board just feels a cut above the rest, mainly because of the aluminum face underneath the keys, and it's a joy to type on. It's still not quiet by any means though, but if you're looking into mechanical keyboards this probably isn't a concern.

Having researched a lot of Mechanical Keyboards before I landed on the Corsair, I would tell you in a heart beat to buy the DAS boards too. Of everything I looked at, they consistently had the highest positive feedback and fewest complaints. I just had to have backlighting and macro capability so the Corsair really sold me. Too bad it was a rushed product, software wise...

Owner of a mx brown filco and I'm confident that I will be using this keyboard until keyboards become obsolete, but even then..

Das Silent owner here... I really like the keyboard.

It is not silent though! And I did purchase the WASD replacement keys... they look awesome.

Blue Falcon said:

DO NOT GO BY THE ADVICE PEOPLE HERE GIVE YOU ALONE.

Click to expand...

Yep.

Mechanical keyboards are ramping up in popularity and everyone is recommending "YOU CAN'T GO BACK TO CRAPPY RUBBER DOME KEYBOARDS MAN". And it just isn't true...

I tried a DAS and bought into the hype a bit and thought it was the greatest board ever. Until I realized the way I type just doesn't work with blue switches. I make many more mistakes and just type slower on them. Compared to an IBM Model M where I make fewer mistakes and type faster yet it has heavier keys / louder.

One really nice thing about the buckling spring keyboards that the Cherry boards just don't have is the activation point is the same as the tactile point. So the moment you hear the click on an buckling spring board is the moment the computer gets a signal that you pressed a key. On the other hand with Cherry MX boards, the activation point and the point where you feel/hear the click isn't the same.

I recommend finding friends or places to try out the boards before you buy, because mechanical boards aren't cheap... except the Model M. You can snag them on eBay pretty cheap and they are probably my favorite board to type on.

For me, Blue switches were too light-weight. I haven't tried any of the others though except maybe Alps Clear (Whatever came on the ABS M1 keyboards). Those were also very light.

Blazestorm said:

except the Model M. You can snag them on eBay pretty cheap and they are probably my favorite board to type on.

Click to expand...

...and keep in mind you can buy them brand new from Unicomp if you don't want to buy used. You can get the 'Model M' (now called the 'Classic') for about $80 in either classic beige or black. Same exact keyboard with the same construction... about the only difference is you can order them in either PS/2 or USB whereas most of the Model M have the old phat AT connectors.

I still think these are some of the best keyboards made for typing and for those of us who like that tactile 'snap' that you just can't get from anything but that little spring buckling under your fingers. The Cherry Blues and ALPS variants come close... but the buckling spring is the king!

True, and I'm not sure if this applies to Model M's too but Unicomps are 2KRO. And it seems like my Model M built in 94 is 6KRO when connected to PS/2, well depending on the set of keys you press.

I've tried cherry-mx brown, black and red myself and love reds (I could game all day on these fuckers without any finger or wrist fatigue and some times do, lol). all of them can be loud if you bottom-out, but it's easily fixed with the o-ring mod which gives the keys a "squishier" feel as well (I use to bottom out a lot and it feels like typing on concrete when the keys have a backplate).

you really have to find out a way to check out all the different key types you're interested in before making a serious decision. if you can find a place that carries different key types and will let you make returns/exchanges go for it.

I just got the CM Storm Cherry Red tenkeyless and it's the best mechanical I've ever used. My previous boards were Filco Brown, Das Blue, Razer BW Blue, Deck Black, Zowie Brown, Leopold Brown, a few more. The CM feels like a better built Filco to me. I still type more accurately with my SIIG Aluminum keyboard (laptop style keys), but I prefer the CM for gaming; not sure that's reason enough to keep it, though.

As others have noted, these things are all about personal preference so you just have to try them for yourself. Amazon has the best, easiest 30-day return policy if you want to try different boards. Newegg and Buy.com accept returns, too, but don't pay return shipping. One thing about EliteKeyboards.com, reseller of Leopolds, is they offer no returns aside from defects.

I've tried both cherry browns and cherry blacks. After extended usage, I much prefer the cherry browns. The blacks felt very stiff compared to the browns.