EPT[Q/D] What keyboard do you use? - Page 29
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ArcticVanguard
United States450 Posts
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Zeke50100
United States2220 Posts
It's actually an HP Pavilion dm4. However, both Envy and Pavilion share similar keyboards, so in a way, it's the same keyboard. | ||
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sawedust
United States506 Posts
Before reading, I suggest you take a look at these two links to familiarize yourself with mechanical keyboards: Geekhack mechanical keyboard guide OCN mechanical keyboard guide Here are my thoughts on the new keyboard: Price This is a top-of-the-line, high-quality keyboard marketed for Japan and made and sold in Taiwan. A Filco Majestouch, tenkeyless, with cherry brown switches. The cost from PCHome? A very cheap 116 USD. “Very cheap?!” Yes, very cheap. Mechanical keyboards are not your run-of-the-mill membrane keyboard that you get from Walmart or other cheapy stores. These keyboards last for-freakin-ever and are very consistent with the feedback you receive from typing. If you haven’t checked out the guides up top, go look! There was a promotion where PCHome was selling anything in their global store with a shipping cost to anywhere in the world for a measly 10 USD. If you’ve ever bought anything from a foreign country before, you know how expensive shipping can be. Normally on a purchase like this, shipping itself would come out to 40 USD. This is huge savings for me. Total cost of the keyboard with shipping: 126 USD. Rating: 9/10. I would have loved it if the keyboard was priced a little less, but for a high-quality peripheral I can’t really complain about the price. This thing is worth way more than any other crappy keyboard you could get from a big box store. Packaging and shipping The box itself from PCHome was badly damaged. There was a break in the box that looked like someone punched his or her fist right through. The protective bubble sheet (not sheets) that they used was all popped except for one. The Filco Majestouch box itself was near perfect though. The keyboard itself? Immaculate condition. it was covered with a plastic sleeve and also accompanied by a yellow WASD cluster, a keycap puller, and two Filco keys (one red/black, the other black/purple). Also included was a PS2/USB adapter. Awesome! I ordered the keyboard on February 5th to take advantage of the promotion as well as the stock that PCHome had. For some reason unbeknownst to me, it was sent from Taiwan to New York to Honolulu to Kauai. Why not just ship it straight to Oahu, then to Kauai? I understand that foreign mail must go through customs, but I don’t understand why my keyboard had to take the long route. Disappointing in a way, but it made receiving my package that much more rewarding. Perhaps it was the 10 USD price where the packages could only be sent one way, but I probably won’t figure it out. Rating for packaging: 4/10. The box and protection for mailing were crap. I would have expected such a high-quality product to be protected much more than it was. The Majestouch box and packaging was very neat, and included a lot of nifty freebies. Still doesn’t make up for the fact that my keyboard could have been DOA. Rating for shipping: 5/10. I don’t understand why they had to take the long route, but it was probably due to the extremely cheap shipping. The board still made it here in less than two weeks (which included Chinese New Year) so I can’t hate on it too badly. The feel The feeling of this keyboard is definitely much nicer than that of the Logitech EX110 wireless keyboard that I was using earlier. It feels a lot lighter and nicer on my hands. As such I’m currently trying to get a used to the feel of the actuation point as I tend to bottom out on this keyboard because it’s so light on the fingers! This one is set as 45g. My old Logitech keyboard needed 70g in order for a key to register. This means a much more comfortable gaming session for me as I won’t need to push down on the keys so hard. I also like the fact that all of my keypresses register. With my old keyboard, the receiver would miss letters or spam them really hard. I’m pretty sure it was the wireless aspect of it rather than the mechanical keys itself. When they say that a cherry brown is tactile touch, they mean it. When I push down on the keyboard, I can feel a slight bump letting me know that I’ve pushed down the key. I thought it was going to be equivalent to haptic feedback on an iPhone or Android device but it isn’t of that intensity. It’s a lot lighter and almost like a gentle massage for your fingers. Rating: 10/10. I don’t think I’ve ever typed on anything else that’s felt as good as this keyboard. Absolutely amazing. The sound A lot of people who are new to mechanical keyboards and who have not had any experience with them (including myself) were concerned about the sound that a mechanical keyboard would make. After hearing the sound and pitch of a cherry blue keyboard, I decided I’d take a shot and go with a brown switched keyboard since it doesn’t have the high pitch that the blue one does. I am very, very satisfied in how this one turned out. When I don’t bottom out, the keyboard sounds just a little louder than the rubber dome keyboard I was using earlier. It is not very intrusive and other people in my household can’t hear it from the other rooms. WIN! Now I’m free to play in some late night SC2 games at my disposal without having to worry about the sound keeping others awake. But for those who have tank fingers and bottom out a lot, this is one loud keyboard. It’s equivalent to someone pounding his or her finger straight into the desk. I’m pretty sure that it’ll take a lot of time to get used to the switch and how much you need to push the key in order for it to register. Rating: 9/10. I love the quietness of the keyboard for my personal tastes. It is a little louder than the EX110 I was using before but I’ll sacrifice that any day for ergonomics and quality. But if you have heavy fingers, I suggest you stay away from blue switches and go with something more muted. The build quality This thing is built like a tank. It’s very heavy (unlike my old keyboard) and almost half the size as it is a tenkeyless version. It takes some force in order to move it anywhere over my desk; one finger isn’t enough unless I push it really, really hard. This can only mean good news for playing SC2 as my old keyboard had a tendency to move all over the place when spamming keys mid-battle. I’m not a big fan of the keycaps. They’re very slippery and don’t have much of a grip on them. It’s one of the first things I noticed when I started typing out this review. I think that can be remedied by purchasing an order of keycaps separately, but I’m going to try and enjoy this keyboard while getting used to the touch and feel before spending anymore extra on accessories for it. The placement of the keys are nice. As it is a tenkeyless I need to get used to the compact layout overall of my desk, which includes my mouse now being a lot closer to where my keyboard hand will be. Rating: 9/10. The keycaps are very disappointing, they feel very slippery and they also get shiny pretty fast. Otherwise it’s a beautiful keyboard. Function I took at typing speed test with my old Logitech keyboard this past weekend, and it gave me anywhere from 75-90 WPM. With the Filco, I was consistently hitting around 90 WPM with little to no fluctuation. As I get used to the layout of the keyboard I’m sure that the number will increase. There are also no media keys on the keyboard. This might be a dealbreaker for some as they’re looking to have a keyboard that does extra stuff for them, but this doesn’t concern me at all. I bought this keyboard specifically for SC2. After playing a custom game on SC2 against a master league Zerg (diamond Protoss myself) I was able to see how less work I needed in order to input commands as needed. It was very easy on the fingers and I can see why so many professionals decided to go with a mechanical keyboard. Amazing stuff! (I did win that game  )Rating: 9/10. While I would have loved to have media macro keys on here for use during SC2, I’m pretty sure I can find a way to remap a few keys on the keyboard. Overall I hope this helps anyone out there looking for a mechanical keyboard and is unsure whether or not to make the jump. Prior to reading about them I didn’t think I would enjoy nor need a keyboard over $50 much less $100+. Now I’m very glad that I bought this board. Rating: 9.5/10 Looking forward to hearing all of your success stories later! | ||
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seph`
Austria329 Posts
i have been using a superold noname keyboard for years now and i still would, but my gf bought me a logitech g510 yesterday, fuck yeah ! typing feels really soft, i like the multimedia-buttons on it, same with the mute/disble-windows-button and most of the other extras too. despite all that, i dont think that this keyboard is the right one for me to play. for example, i played some sc2 at my friends place, he owns a g110, which have pretty the same layout. the first thing is, that i always hitted one of the stupid g-keys instead of ctrl, same with escape-key. i know, i takes time getting used to it, but i just dont want to. i dont even need those macro/g-keys, since im not a MMO-player. same with the (mini-)display, seems unnecessary to me. -- im not too much into gaming-keyboards, but im looking around a bit at amazon (since the g510 came with amazon too, sending it back wouldnt be a problem) what i want: a normal, wired keyboard, i dont need a display or extra macro-keys possibility to plug-in my headset to the keyboard (didnt know about that until yesterday) would be nice maybe multimedia-buttons to pause/etc. music. i dont know anything about mechanical keyboards (pros/con, etc.) budget: well, the g510 is about 90 euros @amazon.de =~ 120$. iw would be okay if its cheaper though  what i found until now: razer lycosa / arctosa (lycosa is my favourite til now) razer marauder - is this thing worth the money ? probably not it doesnt have to be razer-stuff, but i love their mice, im using my deathadder for years now  would be nice if someone could tell me about the lycosa/etc. or recommend other keyboards. thanks in advance. | ||
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lyk503
United States261 Posts
+ Show Spoiler + http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=193345 I have a thread that basically has ~ $100 to spend on a keyboard. There is some good information in there if you are trying to research what to buy. | ||
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Vestrel
Canada271 Posts
1.) I don't need them, 2.) I'm too lazy to figure out how to work it and 3.) I'd have to look down away from the screen to use them. But it's all good because it LIGHTS UP. :D Yeeeeeeeah! ![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/JWWKd.jpg) | ||
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RushGG
United Kingdom212 Posts
As I said a few months ago, I have a SteelSeries 7G (it uses Cherry MX Black switches) however after using it for a while, I now think it's more suited to the FPS or RPG player (those holding the keys down rather than pressing short and quickly). Cherry MX Black switches seem to give more resistance to your fingers, making them ache more if you're playing a high APM game (a la Starcraft...); although in general mechanical keyboard terms they are pretty quiet, it's just becoming a bit too much of a strain for my hands as I'm a solid 150-200 APM player... My problem is, I'm seriously considering spending another ~£100 to get a Filco Majestouch with Cherry MX Blues (heard great things about blues), but don't have anywhere near me (that I know of..) to test the switches out before buying, because, who knows... maybe Browns suit me better? Can anyone who has experienced using Cherry MX Blacks, Blues and Browns give their opinion? I'm also a web designer and java programmer, so typing plays a big role in my day-to-day lifestyle.. another thing I've heard Blue switches are favourable for.. Finally, take into account, I have quite small hands ( can't reach Shift+8  ) so also wondering if Filco keyboards offer anything different in that aspect compared tothe SS 7G? | ||
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Noorgrin
Germany116 Posts
![[image loading]](http://up.picr.de/6332924dqi.jpg) But going to buy a Filco Majestouch with brown Cherry MX switches soon. | ||
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Tablespoon
Norway223 Posts
![[image loading]](http://www.gamingshogun.com/ImageRepo/R/sidewinderbigview8727271.jpg) Microsoft Sidewinder X6. Getting pretty beat up now. Definitely going to get something mechanichal soon. | ||
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DamVii
63 Posts
![[image loading]](http://www.saacomputer.com/catalog/images/M17-1840.jpg) But i am planning on getting a steelseries g6v2 or g7 in the next couple of days. Kinda off topic but anyone knows any steelseries retailer in NYC? | ||
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Marcus420
Canada1923 Posts
Amazing keyboard. On February 16 2011 23:51 DamVii wrote: I' ve been using this for like forever: But i am planning on getting a steelseries g6v2 or g7 in the next couple of days. Kinda off topic but anyone knows any steelseries retailer in NYC? Any semi decent computer store will have steel-series products; along with their keyboards. But i can't speak because i obviously dont live there. lol Just look up computer stores in the local phonebook and call? | ||
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KevinIX
United States2472 Posts
On August 19 2010 08:20 meRz wrote: + Show Spoiler + ![[image loading]](http://www.florisporro.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/saitek-eclipse-kb-21.jpg) Looks "fancy" but the only reasons I got it was because it had a close resemblance to my previous keyboard, and I wanted volume up/down + mute keys. I really don't feel like I need macro keys to "up my play". Just get something you feel comfortable with, the previous keyboard I had before this one was a cheap 9,99$ logitech standard keyboard, and I dare say it was the best damn keyboard i've had. I tried buying the exact same model but couldn't find it anywhere I have one of these too. I'll be honest here, I bought it for the lights. :X I think it looks awesome. | ||
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RoosterSamurai
Japan2108 Posts
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lagbzz
Poland171 Posts
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EliteReplay
Dominican Republic913 Posts
On August 19 2010 08:09 sLiniss wrote: Cheap Dell keyboard]s work fine ![[image loading]](http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/8008/dellkeyboardtw2.jpg) I've tried uber expensive keyboards... but the money difference just isn't really worth it. Find a keyboard that clicks well and has responsive buttons and thats all you need imo i use this one too, very good cheap and confortable | ||
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Floob
United States29 Posts
![[image loading]](http://flooberz.tumblr.com/photo/1280/3328121830/1/tumblr_lgpy4cyzMa1qevhaa) Love it. ♥ | ||
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RacingGun
Canada12 Posts
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master beef
United States21 Posts
On February 13 2011 11:09 zgl wrote: ![[image loading]](http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/9449/igp9121.jpg) Realforce 86U (Also, Filco Tenkeyless with Cherry MX Brown at work) Same here. I've also got a filco majestouch with browns in it and honestly the realforce is waaaay nicer to type on. I have to say my favorite thing though on the 86u is swapping the caps-lock and ctrl buttons. Makes it so much easier to game with my smallish hands | ||
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divito
Canada1213 Posts
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DirtyJack
Netherlands19 Posts
Thanx in advance | ||
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![[image loading]](http://reviews.cnet.com/sc/34113120-2-440-TP-2.jpg)
