On May 29 2012 02:20 Alryk wrote: Has anybody found a CM Storm quickfire rapid brown switch? The tenkeyless version for about ~80$. I have no issue finding blues and to a lesser extent blacks, but I would really like the brown version. This is the only one I found, but it's out of stock now. They do have the numpad version for 98$ or so. Would that be worth it? Or are there any equally good keyboards in that range?
I can't say much about Rosewill or Ducky since I've never owned either, but judging from reviews they would still seem to be some solid choices for your price range.
My budget is technically unlimited, but anything more expensive than $135 (Das Silent Edition) would require a lot of persuasion.
I was thinking of getting a mechanical keyboard for university, so it has to be quiet-ish, and the primary use would be typing, with gaming a distant second.
Since I live in Canada, one of the easiest ones for me to obtain would be the Das Silent edition, with the Cherry MX Brown off amazon.ca .
I was wondering whether you guys had any other suggestions? I've looked around but couldn't find a place where Ducky is readily accessible, and my current keyboard that was given to me (Razer Marauder) is absolute trash, so I'm avoiding the BlackWidow (unless it's different).
I think that I'm leaning towards the Cherry MX Brown switches since they seem to have good typing and don't sound like gunshots.
Thanks for your help in advance!
Also, how did you guys learn touch typing? I'm interested in learning but I just don't know the best way to do it (probably around 50-60 WPM atm).
On May 29 2012 08:08 moltenlead wrote: My budget is technically unlimited, but anything more expensive than $135 (Das Silent Edition) would require a lot of persuasion.
I was thinking of getting a mechanical keyboard for university, so it has to be quiet-ish, and the primary use would be typing, with gaming a distant second.
Since I live in Canada, one of the easiest ones for me to obtain would be the Das Silent edition, with the Cherry MX Brown off amazon.ca .
I was wondering whether you guys had any other suggestions? I've looked around but couldn't find a place where Ducky is readily accessible, and my current keyboard that was given to me (Razer Marauder) is absolute trash, so I'm avoiding the BlackWidow (unless it's different).
I think that I'm leaning towards the Cherry MX Brown switches since they seem to have good typing and don't sound like gunshots.
Thanks for your help in advance!
Also, how did you guys learn touch typing? I'm interested in learning but I just don't know the best way to do it (probably around 50-60 WPM atm).
Ok GOOD! At least you know Razer keyboards suck. There are many good Cherry MX Brown keyboards, you can browse through this thread and check out any keyboards people recommend and for good prices. The Das itself is really good, and even though it's pricey, with Das it's "you get what you pay."
As for touch tying, just type. LOL. Type to the extreme, type over your limit, type to your heart's content. You will eventually develop muscle memory and you will remember where every keys are and every key stroke, and you basically type out of instinct instead of looking down on your keyboard when you type.
I have a Noppoo Choch with Cherry MX browns as my first mechanical, and it's not too loud, but has the nice click you want in a mechanical. I'd recommend it. It's also 10keyless and the F keys are really close, making it desk space efficient as well as nice for SC2 ^^
Hey I was wondering if it was possible to apply the media keys of my Steelseries 6gv2 to Grooveshark.com? So far it only works for players (like Mediaplayer e.g.) but as I only use Grooveshark this would help me out a lot...So can anyone help me with this?
Has anyone here used the sound dampeners sold on either wasd or elitekeyboards? I have a Das with blues, and I don't really feel to bad about using it unless its night and someone is sleeping in the room next to me. There are two doors in the way and it's a pretty solid house, so it isn't incredibly loud, but I wouldn't mind it being a bit quieter. Anyways, I've seen the video that WASD posted that shows the difference, and I'm wondering just how difficult it would be to install everything, and if there's any difference between the two (If anyone is familiar with both kinds, the WASD ones are an o-ring, while the elitekeyboards ones are a square with a hole cut out for the actual switch. Thanks!
On May 30 2012 10:26 Mordanis wrote: Has anyone here used the sound dampeners sold on either wasd or elitekeyboards? I have a Das with blues, and I don't really feel to bad about using it unless its night and someone is sleeping in the room next to me. There are two doors in the way and it's a pretty solid house, so it isn't incredibly loud, but I wouldn't mind it being a bit quieter. Anyways, I've seen the video that WASD posted that shows the difference, and I'm wondering just how difficult it would be to install everything, and if there's any difference between the two (If anyone is familiar with both kinds, the WASD ones are an o-ring, while the elitekeyboards ones are a square with a hole cut out for the actual switch. Thanks!
You just need a key puller and some common sense when pulling off the key caps.
On May 29 2012 08:08 moltenlead wrote: Also, how did you guys learn touch typing? I'm interested in learning but I just don't know the best way to do it (probably around 50-60 WPM atm).
I learned touch typing by putting a tiny graphic of a keyboard with hints for the finger placement and typing zones somewhere, and whenever I had the urge to look at my fingers, I paused and looked at that graphic instead.
If you type with 50-60 WPM, you probably already know by heart where all the keys are, and can already try to use touch typing without a training program. I would not practice much and stress over it. Whenever you have to write something and are not pressed for time, you should touch type slowly until you are bored. Try to use touch typing each day, even something like ten minutes is enough at the start. Your pinkies will get mysteriously better at hitting stuff after each night of sleep, so I would only ramp up the practice time after hitting the keys with the correct fingers stops feeling weird.
Look at this graphic for hand placement and which keys should be hit by what finger: + Show Spoiler +
. For an upper case character, you can try to use the opposite hand's Shift key, so you can type Q, A, Z, P with the correct finger. For the upper row with the number keys, there are differing suggestions for which finger should hit what key.
Thanks for all your replies. I've taken them all into account.
MiZu, you did make me realize that a TKL model would match my needs better than a full size model, so the Das is out now. I just can't find your Noppoo anywhere.
I'm now leaning towards this because it's the only brown tenkeyless I can find around http://www.cmstore-usa.com/quickfire-rapid-mechanical-gaming-keyboard/ . I was considering a Ducky DK1087 with Black Alps but they just seem very hard to me (overclock guide says 60-70g actuation force). mechanicalkeyboards.com says that the DK1087 w/ brown switches are out of stock. Are there any other readily accessible alternatives or should I just go with the CM storm model?
EDIT: I'd much rather not have the keyboard scream gamer as well (this one is probably as far away from standard as I'll go).
Go to elitekeyboards: They sell leopolds, which come in tenkeyless browns, and they are among the best made keyboards out there. I'm told they're almost identical to a filco, but for only $90. The only thing is that I have no idea what their policy is for shipping, but I don't think it would be too much of an issue for Canada.
Edit: That isn't informative at all. Steelseries and Razer keyboards have really bad build qualities etc. for the price you pay. The CM storm quickfire rapid or CM Storm quickfire pro (with numpad) are much better choices around 80$.
Just two examples. The ducky is going to be a good quality because its a ducky from what I understand, but I think you can get better keyboards. The CM Storm is like the 78$ CM quickfire rapid, but with a numpad from what I understand.
Both of those are brown switches. For different color switches, just search for different ones that you want.
On May 31 2012 07:37 wairai wrote: Touch typing (for me) just remember where the F and J keycaps since those 2 keycaps have slight bump + the method of Ropid
(I am typing with blank keycaps though)
@moltenlead
if you can wait abit more, FC700 will hit the market and it is quite a premium version of FC200
What features make it more premium? I'm looking for a workhorse keyboard for the next few years, so I'm really just looking for a solidly build TKL model with a nice typing experience. The differences would help me decide what's better.
Anyways, I found the FC700r on the leopold site (http://www.leopold.co.kr/?doc=cart/item.php&it_id=1325563447), but I don't read Korean so I can't figure out the order process or if they offer a brown switch. Google translate has it down to either option 1 or 3 (other two are linear, which from what I've gathered correspond to black/red). Option 3 seems to be blue (click on google translate), but I can't for the life of me figure out what Option 1 means (translate gives me 'neonkeulrik' :/ ).
Do cheapo-mechanicals with an EU layout exist anywhere? Tenkeyless or not isn't a big factor but I'd like another one for the road, preferably with brown switches.
On May 31 2012 08:58 DJFaqU wrote: Do cheapo-mechanicals with an EU layout exist anywhere? Tenkeyless or not isn't a big factor but I'd like another one for the road, preferably with brown switches.
If you go for a cheap mechanical you will regret it.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/QWERTY-home-keys-position.svg/500px-QWERTY-home-keys-position.svg.png)
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Touch_typing.svg/500px-Touch_typing.svg.png)
