I bought a Logitech G19 in 2010 which held until it suffered a large glass of red wine and died last year. I dithered about making the jump to mechanical and decided to just grab something and have a Asus TUF K1 which I don't like and thought I could give it to my son and make another dither about mechanicals. Now I have to keep it quiet above all and thought the best option to transition to mechanical was to look for some linear switches which was going to be a Logitech G513, but models have changed and currently Logitech don't actually offer a full size mechanical linear keyboard these days it seems. So where do I go, am I right to look for linear keyboards as a first move from membrane, with noise an issue? And is it so hard to get a full size keyboard now? I will spend more time on the accounts than gaming so need my keypad!
As someone who encountered similar when looking [still looking as i use k120 office fodder] numpads are the enemy when looking at them... though some do make them... keychron being one of them and they popped up often when researching good cheap but decent starter boards... ...buying a standalone num pad is also an option. I think technically membranes would be considered 'tactile' as there's the 'bump' feeling when the dome deforms but linear [where the switch moves up and down with no detectable 'bump'] are considered preferable for gaming. The good thing is a lot of mechanical boards now, even cheap ones, offer some ability to hot-swap the switches.
Illustration not recommendation but here are a couple of the Keychron examples... Full sized - https://www.keychron.com/collection...tom-mechanical-keyboard-iso-layout-collection There are also some full sized 'ish' boards [also referred to as 1800 or 96% boards] that have the numpad but instead forgo the full nav cluster to smoosh things up into a smaller footprint https://www.keychron.com/collection...-iso-layout-collection?variant=40415228362841
I have a Keychron K8 Pro with brown switches. Best keyboard I’ve ever had. Bought a standalone Microsoft keypad for when I need to enter lots of figures in work.
I have a slight keyboard obsession and have had quite a few recently. What do you need a full size for? Unless I am doing figures there is only downside compared to tenkeyless, the smaller form factor sits more centrally on my desk. I came to the conclusion that I would get a nice tenkeyless and just buy a cheap add on bluetooth numberpad to do figures, like Superhans; I never got that numberpad because it turns out I do not do many figures anymore, and its fine to do occasional figures without it. I have used a few full height mechanical boards over the years and good laptop keyboards I really liked are on Thinkpads and a Microsoft Surface. So I have come to the conclusion that I should try low profile keyboards and got a Razer Deathstalker Pro v2 TKL (linear mechanical). Excellent for gaming but I tried to use the Razer for drafting too and found it overly sensitive for my typing. I then got a Logitech MX Mini (scissor switch, not mechanical) which I use for work or drafting which I really like. The main downside of this is it is not proper tenkeyless. It does not have proper cursor keys and omits Home and End keys (these commands are accessed with fhe function button + cursor keys).
Forgot to mention that keychron [and others] offer some lefty/southpaw versions with the numpad to the left which some regard as good compromise between having the extra space to the right that being tkl offers whilst retaining the numpad... only downside is the keychron version only comes in ANSI layout. https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-q12-qmk-custom-mechanical-keyboard I'm not risky but for my own use case - i type enough numbers often enough that not having one and having to type numbers using the num row is a colossal pain the arse [as is not having f-keys which are also missing from some compact layouts]. And in the wider scheme, what is the ****ing point going to all that time, effort, and expense getting a decent enough mech kb, only to be spending half my time continuing to type on some cheap plastic tat by way of one of those cheap num pads [not to mention its more cables]. ...or maybe I just want everything on my desk to match.
A separate numpad doesn't have to be cheap tat. There's a lot more mech numpads available now than when I wanted one. Filco make one that matches their boards. You can get hotswap wireless ones, so you can use your choice of switches. Or even use it as a switch tester to figure out your favourite switches. And GMMK have put one out that as expensive as a lot of keyboards. Also wireless hotswap, and matches the GMMK Pro. A mech numpad plus mech board, both using cherry compatible switches, will look pretty uniform if you use a full set of keycaps across them. And yes, I'm another that went for a separate numpad. Though I built mine from a PCB kit. Only regret is using mxbrowns rather than the silent switches I have in my main board, but I can't be bothered to desolder it. They'd match more if I had an F-row, but 65% is perfect for my needs: (Excuse the state of my deskpad.) Guess I'm saying, don't discount separates.
I actually feel that, as a righty, this is a better layout Means I can keep my right hand on the mouse and use my left in a more natural position for numbers rather than reaching across the keyboard... Personally, I couldn't cope without a numpad (or F-key row, or wireless), and separates are fine but just not for me. But I think it's great that we have all of these options now, even if 60%/65%/75%/TKL and even 96% aren't for me personally. And I should also say that I have so far resisted going down the mechanical rabbit hole, as I can see it going a loooooong way down But some of those Keychrons sure are tempting!
Same... also i'm skint/a cheapskate... If i'm gonna be spending that kind of money, ideally i only want to be spending it the once... not having to constantly fiddle with various bits of it to get something i don;t actively hate...
I just have to face that I will be spending far more time in Excel and Xero than gaming and don't fancy losing the keypad from where I have been used to for the last ***BEEP*** years!
That is completely nuts, but not in a particularly bad way. I have plenty of desk, save that it is normally covered in a paperwork and cats. Rather dated, that is the G19 that died and the whisky is currently Talisker but the cat is still there!
Got a little lost in the Keycron site but currently looking at https://www.scan.co.uk/products/che...-silent-switches-n-key-rollover-anti-ghosting
As much as i'm normally loathed to recommend my local computer store, i'd probably look at this over the cherry... purely for the ability to swap the switches if i needed/wanted to - https://computerorbit.com/collectio...minium-rgb-fullsize-iso-uk-linear-gateron-red
I was looking at the K10, but can you tell me if the backlight goes through the key symbols without gettting https://www.keychron.uk/products/black-transparent-osa-full-set-keycap-set ?
No idea, but this review of the k10 seems to say yes, the backlight shines through the key legends on the stock keycaps -
They're north facing LEDs, so yes they'll shine through suitable keycaps. From the keychron page: Little white square in the socket is the LED, which sits right under the keycap legend.
