It really wasn’t much of a pain, other than the time it took: a few minutes to find and watch a “How To” video on Youtube, and then an hour to replace all the keys. You just need the 2 tools I mentioned above.
And if you’re thinking of replacing the switches, you might want to get a switch tester too, which will give you an assortment of switches to try out. The tester I got didn’t have any Pandas, but I was able to tell straight away that I liked heavier switches, so it wasn’t too much of a leap of faith to get the Pandas.
I looked at that Austin after you posted. The cabernet red is pretty, and at least they have a proper numeric keypad. I don’t know if I could get used to the tightness of the keys in an 65% design. You have to build these all yourself, don’t you?
I’d need a backlight - it doesn’t have to be RGB, but I need a bit of illumination as I often type in poor light. And I’ve just ordered that GMMK. From what I’ve read typists like Topre switches best, but they don’t seem to be that all compatible or available.
Yeah, you would have to build it yourself. If you really wanted to, you could solder LEDs in the switches so you would have backlighting. One thing I would recommend instead of doing that though is to get a monitor light. I just gone one of these and they’re awesome.
Topre has a following but it’s not everyone’s preference. I personally like linear switches and topre is kind of tactile.
Ah - yet another Fuji person. I’ve yet to buy any of the ultra-wide angles. Have a hard enough time finding time to just shoot.
I don’t think the monitor light is what I want. My current home workspace has two desks at 90 degrees and 9 decades apart. The 1920’s secretary has a desk lamp, monitor and keyboard, and the modern workdesk (metal and black) has the Mac Mini, another monitor, keyboard tray with second keyboard, windows laptop (display on the 1920’s secretary) a STAX tube amp, and a Schiit Stack (Bifrost / Lyr3) on it. I like the soft light from the desk lamp - it’s plenty with illuminated keyboards.
So, I have a question for the keyboard enthusiasts here.
I have been using my MacBook Pro (early 2015 version) on a daily basis for the past 5 years. I do a lot of web surfing, and that includes a lot of typing. I love my MacBook’s keyboard because I am used to it. I don’t make mistakes while typing on it and don’t have the need to look at the keyboard when doing so.
I also own a desktop PC that is aimed towards gaming. On the desktop setup, I am using the Corsair Strafe RGB keyboard. It is great for games & all, but I cannot use it for typing. Just like many mechanical keyboards, the keys are spread too apart for my preference…
This leaves me to question whether any low-profile mechanical keyboards exist.
I guess Keychron does something of this kind with their K1 and upcoming K3 keyboards. Cooler Master too, with their SK630 keyboard.
The thing with my Mac’s keyboard is that it very “clickly”/poppy, and the #1 thing that I like about it is the chiclet style (the keys pop out of the laptop’s body – the body acts as a “border” for the keys). It has flat key-caps and has short key traveling distance, which allows me to type very quickly and effortlessly
TL;DR – I am looking for a mechanical keyboard on which the keys are close together (like on the MacBook Pro keyboard), and am possibly interested if there is a mechanical keyboard with chiclet style keys. Basically am looking for a keyboard that removes all the things keyboard enthusiasts love
Critics & advice is welcome. Please don’t kill me.
I saw that site/list before. Not too useful, but I guess that Apple’s keyboard would be the “perfect fit”.
Overall, I did more research after posting my question, and it turns out that the majority of low-profile mechanical keyboards are actually wack, except the Keytron ones.
Tbh I am mainly on my bed and the laptop is below me, so it’s as though I’m typing from above… which is much different than having everything on a desk at a certain level. I have to say that I have no strain on my Strafe keyboard, but just happen to make many typos and keep hitting the space in between (the MacBook keyboard’s keys are closer together, so I am not used to hitting the keys so far apart).
At the end of the day it’s about what you are used to. I have been on laptops my entire life, so mechanical keyboard’s layout isn’t something that I am used to. I can type on my Mac extremely fast, while everything is much slower on my mechanical keyboard… I know I’m not the only one. I should also say that I do appreciate and admire mechanical keyboards (the high-end ones are pretty neat too), but am not the #1 user of them.
I’m in a hurry today, but the GMMK keyboard just came. Barbara likes the LEDs on soft green, blue, or pink. I’m just happy to have all the keys working again. It’s a bit clicky, and the touch is pretty soft for someone who learned on a manual typewriter. I think I’ll try to get used to it, and if I can’t find keys that are more tactile and less clicky. But you have to start somewhere.
I do like the enhanced functions - I think. Although I’m surprised I don’t see a brightness control – There seems to be one that controls scren brightness, but not keyboard LED brightness.
As the Glorious Snow Playing Panda switches are on back order, I’d ordered the Glorious thin, hard O rings. Just finished installing them, and the keyboard is improved. The clicking is slightly muted, which I had hoped for, and I think the feel - possibly the throw is better.
It’s kind of interesting - you can tell that GMMK expected people to fool with these.
I might try the O rings. The Panda switches are too loud for my wife (more of a “thwok” sound than a “click”, but still too loud for her) and she refuses to be in the same room as me when I’m typing.
I did buy some switch lubricant, which should help with the sound, but have been too lazy to take the switches out to lube them.
@PaisleyUnderground was so nice to point out, that you have a sub-group for keyboard-addicts as well. So, here I am.
Current count is 8, all Cherry MX switches, various types. Some with O-rings, but didn’t make a big difference for me. Favourites are my smaller ones, like the Vortex Core (Silent Red) and the Carpe Keyboards JD45 (Blue). The top one is a Vortex Pok3r (Silver). Should take a new picture as all of these have different key caps and layouts now …
I’ve got ONE mechanical keyboard, GMMK, using the stock Gateron brown. I found adding O-rings made all the difference for me. Took down the click just a bit, shortened the throw just a bit. Made it happy. My goal is good typing. The Logitech wired illuminated “Perfect Touch” non-mechanical is still very very good.
What keycaps do y’all use with your custom keyboards? I moved to the Glorious Panda switches (lubed), and since they aren’t as translucent my RBG brightness dropped significantly. Due to that, I am thinking about just buying some PBT double shot keycaps instead of continuing to use the shin-through PBT keycaps from Drop. There are some good brands out there, but I don’t want anything too high profile or something with a wild color scheme. Heck, black with white text would suffice provided they fit properly on a north facing PCB. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!
Lubing them makes quite a large different in sound; they still thwok but are much quieter. The keycaps make a difference as well. If I swap to the Glorious Aura’s, the sound profile is much quieter; but moving back to the Drop Skylight’s increases the decibel level. I’m looking for a happy medium between the two myself, but I think lube and possibly different keycaps will really make a difference for you.
I have most of my keysets from pimpmykeyboard.com (really, that’s their name). They have several profiles (DSA, SA) and several colour-schemes. Plus, you can order individual keys / keysets in any colour. That’s how I created that Gulf- and Sun-Sparc-inspired look.
