If we go back in time to the 80s when IBM was the big dog, we had the really loud keyboards that had metal springs under each key called buckling springs to help make the computer keyboard experience more like the typewriters. There are a few side effects to these springs:
1. Pushing keys on the keyboard makes a loud noise.
2. Other people will probably get annoyed
3. You have an audible cue as to the (almost?) exact time the keypress "registered" and your computer was told that you hit the key.
4. The key physically "pops" into place at the moment the signal is sent to the computer that you pressed the key.
Let's think about the modern "quiet" keyboards, and the features they have:
1. Quiet keys (won't bother anyone)
2. The keys are quiet. So good luck knowing exactly when you pressed it down.
3. No physical "pop" that helps you recognize at what point the keypress should have been sent to the computer.
Most keyboards these days use what is called rubber domes. Basically, a little dome of rubber sits underneath all of your keys (unless you have a laptop, which uses scissor-like things, which are also not super precise) that if compressed enough, it touches something down at the bottom of your keyboard and sends a signal to your computer that you typed a key....
Does anyone else get on a roll typing something up really fast, only to look back at your previous sentence and find that you out-typed your keyboard, and 3-5 words (depending on sentence length) have a couple of letters out of order? In fact, I think most people end up overpressing the keys in order to make sure you actually pressed them (since modern keyboards are mushy), which causes extra strain.
This happens to me. Quite often, actually. Maybe I just type too fast, since at one time maybe 8-10 years ago I was tested at 90 wpm (on a rubber done keyboard, of course).
But anyway. This doesn't happen to me on the Das keyboard. I find my accuracy very much higher and I don't out-type the keyboard. It kind of reminds me of typing on my dad's old IBM model M keyboard that we had in the 90s for a while.
Time for some cons.
Ergonomically, I'm a bit stumped. It seems like Das has gone the exact opposite way they should have with this thing. The keyboard is totally backloaded. Just look at the size if that thing on the back. I got really used to my Microsoft Natural 4000's frontloaded kit that came with it, which helps provide a more neutral typing position (I have another rant for another day about ergonomic keyboards, btw).
The backloadedness of this keyboard annoyed me so much that I felt the urge to prop the front up with some little gameboy cartridge holders:
This gave me a bit more "neutral" typing position. However, these aren't superbly stable and if I were to try typing with this keyboard for a lengthy amount of time I would have to find a more permanent solution.
F and J finger buds, or whatever the little bumps on F and J are. I just have to say that I love these little bumps, and they are integral to my computing ability. I was shocked to find that instead of actual bumps on the keyboard, the Das simply has F and Js that are a little narrower than the rest of the keys on the keyboard. I've been trying and trying to get used to these, but I just find my right hand floating over the keyboard as if I'm lost every time I have to move between the mouse and the keyboard. I've run into a couple $5 keyboards that have missing finger bumps that (if they had been mine) I would throw away in a heartbeat as unusable. If this were my keyboard I'd have to come up with some way to add bumps the the keys, or something. Maybe there is a newer version with real bumps now. Thankfully, the caps-lock has an indentation on the right side of the key which is more helpful than the F and J divets. I look down at this keyboard more than my keyboard with letters written on it because I have to make sure I have two empty keys in-between my fingers. The missing key bumps also come in to play when it comes to ctrl/alt/shift key combinations that shift my hand around a bit, potentially coming off the home row enough to wonder if I have my hands back in the proper position afterward.
This is seriously a huge deal to me. I really like this keyboard a lot minus that (and of course, the back is too fat).
I ordered the successor to the IBM model M and it gets here Tuesday. I'm really excited. I think it will have bumps on F and J. It's from Unicomp, and I'll write something up then.
Oh, if you are a person who types a lot (probably anyone reading my blog, plus most computer users in the world) you should really do yourself a favor and buy a good mechanical keyboard. I mean seriously, you will spend $80+ on speakers, but not on a keyboard? Thinking quality of life here, how much do you use a keyboard? Just in writing this post I've probably saved about 300 backspaces. Oh, Das makes a new model that comes with keys printed on it. I don't know if it has the little bumps or not.
Update: I confirmed that the new versions of Das keyboard DO come with F and J nubs, making this an awesome keyboard whether you want the version with or without letters printed on the keys.
1 comment:
Hm, I've never thought much about my keyboard. I use laptops mostly, so every keyboard is something new to get used to. But once I'm used to it, I'm fine (unless, as you say, there are no finger bumps...I've never been able to get used to that). And on desktops, I tend to just buy the cheapest one.
The things that tend to bug me are location of shift-type keys, like the function key (the volume on my laptop can be changed with Fn-Up or -Down, but because the function key is on the far left of the keyboard, I can't do this function with one hand :-P ). Or once I had a keyboard with a half-sized backspace key, and I was constantly typing extra = characters. Annoying.
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