So far in my career, I’ve always used the keyboard that came with the computer. But I just took my first step into the world of 3rd-party mechanical keyboards; here’s a report back on experience with the “Lofree Flow”: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2024/01/20/Lofree-Flow
@timbray ohhhh mannn welcome to the endless hole that is the Mechanical Keyboard hobby.
My recommendation? Stick with the known-good configurations. Tenkeyless layouts are close to ideal as they provide separation between the arrow keys and the main keyboard. Don’t get super-compact layouts that require layers/chording unless you want to geek out—function keys are actually very useful, if for no other reason than to give your Esc key a proper home.
My main keyboard right now is the Kono Kira, which gives you a full layout in the space of a tenkeyless, but that often makes the arrow keys hard to find by touch. I worked around that by switching the keycaps to XDA, but using ZDA for the arrow keys to raise them a tiny bit. I use the Kailh Speed Copper switches (soft tactile) and it is SO GOOD.
@timbray If you want a good starter tenkeyless keyboard, try WASD Keyboards, a local business (to me) right here in Fremont CA. I’ve bought several keyboards from them. https://www.wasdkeyboards.com
@timbray A surprisingly good and comfortable wireless keyboard is the 8BitDo Retro Mechanical keyboard. The standard Kailh Box V2 White has an interesting “tock tock” tactile feel that is somehow really nice but also very retro-feeling, which goes well with the rest of the keyboard vibe.
@timbray I'm a great fan of the Cherry G84-4100. Compact size, decent key pitch, nicely dished key-caps (not flat like apple keyboards, so much more positive finger placement), reasonable travel, nice mechanical action.
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