Re: Don't get me started..
>>I could go on for days about the disaster of the modern keyboard design. I won't, but, I'll pose some questions:
>>Why does tenkeyless even exist? Why does 75% keyboards? You're not a pro gamer who needs to get a keybo>>ard into your flight bag, what are you doing?
Because a lot of people don't ever use the numpad keys and they like the ergonomics of having the mouse closer to the keyboard? Or simply having the added "mouse space"? 75% keyboards are just an iteration on that philosophy. If all you ever do is type lots and lots of letters and rarely numbers, plus switching from two hands on keyboard to one hand on mouse, a more compact keyboard can be more comfortable. Just because it doesn't work for your use case doesn't mean it doesn't for others. The fact there's so many on the market should point out there's plenty of demand for them
>> How come we can't make a decent wireless keyboard at a reasonable price in 2025? We've been doing it with mice for years and the latency, bandwidth and battery implications are significantly worse for mice.
Because by and large, nobody has actually tried and there's not that much demand for them. And whereas with a mouse where a slight latency is not that big a deal because we have the bio-wetware interface of a meaty arm performing motions in the brain to pointer loop and a slight delay isn't all that noticeable to most people (bar pro gamers who still favour wired for that reason) for typing somehow this delay is a lot more noticeable and stacks up. You're not making 4+ mouse movements a second, yet fast typists can reach that sort of speed at full chat and even mild delays in sending keystrokes start to add up. Have an experienced typist at full chat blind typing from a document and they could type at a speed that would end up making blocks of text appear from the buffer for several seconds after they stop typing a paragraph. I think wireless keyboards are stuck in the "well they were shit 10 years ago when I tried them so I'm not going to buy them" and "nobody is buying wireless keyboards so we're not going to invest in making a better one" hole right now.
>>Why must you put keys so close to the edge of the keyboard that I can't use it on my lap, leaning back in my chair (which is best for my back)? At least the bottom edge anyway.
Because very very very few people use a keyboard on their laps? And when you're using keyboard on a desk, a long "skirt" at the bottom edge can be a annoying. Many higher end keyboards come with a detachable wrist support for the bottom edge. Not really useful on your lap since they're usually hinged/floppy and meant to be used on a desktop though. If your back is getting hurt from sitting upright I think your problem is bad posture or bad core strength.
>>Do we really even need macro keys? Do gamers really even use them? And if they do, do they really need to be on the left side of the keyboard? Didn't we use to put them at the top?
How many keyboards have macro keys on the left side? Really not that many. If gamers didn't want or use them, there wouldn't be any keyboards with them on. Yes sometimes they went at the top, sometimes they still are. Shop around and find one to your liking.
>>RGB is nice (at least proper RGB through the keys so it lights up the letters, anyway) - but do we _really_ individually referenceable backlights? (to be fair this is weak because once you have backlights you're 98% there)
No we don't. Some people will buy it anyway or want it anyway. Hence it's sold. My last keyboard purchase was addressable RGB backlight because it was cheaper than the solid red monocolor backlight version. Since RGB is where the market lies, apparently that's not the cheaper option through the benefits of mass manufacture.
>>Why is it still not possible, no matter how much you spend, to have keys that don't wear smooth after less than six months - and why don't you sell caps at a reasonable price for when they inevitably do?
If your keys are wearing down that fast you've probably just got some very corrosive sweat. Nothing is going to stand up to that. If you just mean the print wearing off, look for "double shot" keycaps, though anything with RGB light up keys is likely to already be double shot. As for loose keycaps, there's plenty available, "reasonable price" is entirely subjective
>>We're paying a lot of money for, it seems to me, _bad_ keyboards.
I don't share your experience.
>>I literally last week binned an expensive Razer keyboard that had a failed space bar, and resoldering a new switch in didn't help it. I bought a Cynosa Lite to replace it in a hurry because it's cheap and
>>actually fulfils a lot of my criteria. I wish I could get it with proper switches, but it's honestly the best keyboard I've had in years despite being one of the cheapest, nastiest keyboards I've ever owned.
>>This shouldn't be a thing. I should be able to buy something like it with decent switches for, IDK, 80 quid, maybe a wireless option that works well for 100 or so? (yes, I know about the Ornata V3 - but
>>low profile keys are the worst, it does prove we can almost do it and there's not really a good excuse though).
Razer... yeah there's your problem. One of those where the brand is dictating a price backed only by marketing guff, rarely by product quality.