Eulogy for the Ergonomic Keyboard
AKA Will I Like My New Keyboard?
Greetings from NYC!
Apologies for missing last week’s blog. The trip to India was terrific, but it came with a time difference of 10.5 hours (yes… don’t forget the 0.5!). I’ve never experienced that much jet lag in my life and thought it best to make sure brain work good before trying to get any thoughts into your inbox!
I’ll return to writing about the neck next week (the real meat and potatoes), but while I’m getting my drawings sorted for that I thought I’d share with you some sad news.
My “ergonomic” keyboard broke.
This is probably the 4th Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard that I’ve owned over the years. I’ve personally found these comfortable for typing (relatively speaking), but when this 4th one broke I had to STOP and say, “WTF? Why am I on my 4th keyboard?!?”. This particular keyboard broke after 18 months of moderate use.
Something feels wrong with that.
This keyboard has never been dropped. No water/soda splashes. Nada. Zero damage.
My suspicion is that this keyboard is simply built cheaply and the little bluetooth chip inside of it stopped doing its’ bluetooth thing.
Rather than buy the same thing for $100 and go through this all over again in 18 months, I decided to take a look at what my options were. If you want me to cut to the chase, I ended up purchasing a Keychron Mechanical Keyboard. I have not received the product yet so I don’t want to give them an official endorsement but I DO think it’s worth talking you through my thinking behind this purchase.
What Do I Want In A Keyboard?
Like many folks, I’ve spent a good chunk of my time typing. As a kid, I could type for extended periods of time and not only be comfortable, but also never even THINK about my keyboard. When I sat to type, the keystrokes registered a letter without fail. There was no need to connect wirelessly and make sure that the bluetooth signal wasn’t being obstructed in some way. I simply sat and typed.
I would LLOOVVEE to have a keyboard that can just do THIS without fail.
The next thing that I want for my keyboard is to be comfy AF. The one thing that I enjoyed about the dead MS keyboard was that I could type for extended periods of time1 without feeling like each keystroke sent ice picks of pain up into my elbows. This one is perhaps more of a big deal than reliability and why I’ve tolerated keyboard death for so long.
On Reliability
The way that companies produce goods these days leads me to believe that everything we buy is just designed to break within 2-4 years. I don’t want to go on a tirade about corporate greed here, but I do have my suspicions that many companies take production shortcuts. The Keychron keyboard that I’m trying out is built for professional gamers and has a high degree of nerd credit. I’m hoping this means the keyboard is reliable (I won’t know until I’ve used it for several years…).
On Comy AF Layouts
Before checking out the selection of mechanical keyboards, I first went to the Apple store to try out their standard keyboard.
You’ll notice a big difference in design between the Microsoft and Apple keyboards. One has a straight key layout and the other is split/contoured. I consider both of these key layouts to be perfectly “ergonomic” but I would expect everyone would feel that one keyboard is more ComfyAF than the other. This is because - I suspect anyway - everyone has differing types of habitual muscle pulls in their head/neck/back/and arms.
If you had no muscle pulls/strain, both of these keyboards would feel ok. That said, I suspect that the flat Apple keyboard layout would feel more comfortable.
On Comfy AF Key Height/Weight
Comfiness in typing mostly comes from how you type. Some of us have more habitual tension than others and we all strike the keys with a variety of tempos and forces. If you’ve ever heard a co-worker absolutely beating their space bar to death, you’ll know what I mean.
But outside of ourselves, many modern keyboards are built with low key heights (AKA key travel) that require only a few grams of pressure for a key strike to register. This is in stark contrast to a vintage typewriter.
The keyboard above has very high key travel and needs much more pressure to activate the hammer of the typewriter.
Personally, I find that the Apple keyboard with its extremely light touch and low key travel is more difficult for me to use than the Microsoft keyboard. The Microsoft key travel is double that of the Apple. The difference between the feel of these modern keyboards and the vintage typewriter is like the difference between an 80s Casio piano synthesizer and a grand piano. In each case, you must adjust how you strike the keys to fit the style of the device.
A Personalized Keyboard Experience
As I was trying out various keyboards, I found myself at the Apple store. I was juuust about to buy the Apple keyboard and see if I could adjust to the key action, but when I saw the $180 price tag I hit the brakes. I briefly outlined my dilemma to the guy at the Apple store and he mentioned that he uses a mechanical keyboard; specifically a Keychron.
Mechanical keyboards are fully modern accessories that are designed to be adjustable. All of the keys can be removed and all of the key switches (the spring under each key) can be changed. Typically, no one in the computer gaming world uses the lightest spring action.
It doesn’t matter to me which key switch strength is best. What I’m happy about is that for $15-$40 I can buy a new set of key switches and modify the keyboard in accordance with MY comfort level. The fact that I can create fun color layouts is just an added bonus!
This Ain’t A Sales Pitch
The Keychron that I’ve sprung for ain’t cheap. It’s gonna set me back $250 after taxes and shipping so this is NOT something I expect anyone to purchase willy nilly. I also haven’t even tried it out yet so it may take me quite some time to get the key switches set to my liking. I’m writing this post not to sell you on mechanical keyboards, but to bring the factors of key travel and weight to your attention.
You may be able to find a terrific keyboard for under $20 that has the travel and weight that feels comfortable for you. I’ve seen a few wired Logitechs that might fit the bill. I personally decided that I’d rather play around with key switches to get my personal feel dialed in rather than buy/return a whole host of keyboards.
Whatever avenue you pick, bear in mind that you don’t need to murder your space bar or type at 140 wpm. That’s probably far more problematic than any keyboard design!
Get In Touch
If you’re in NYC, you may learn more about my private teaching practice at johndalto.com.
If you’d like to book any lesson time with me, you can find my booking link here.
10-15 minutes is my target before a brief break.
I have a Keychron Q1 Max. I'm not in love with it, but i have no complaints either (and I've had plenty of complaints with any other keyboard I've used). I strive to actuate any keystroke with minimum effort required at all times. To that end, this keyboard delivers. No ergonomic nonsense whatsoever either; the layout is as standard and old-school as it could be (but I've been a Dvorak typist for 25 years).