September 17, 2021
•4 minute read
I've upgraded my keyboard recently. It's been a frustrating, fulfilling, and invigorating experience so far.
I've ventured into the world of mechanical keyboards a couple of times. The first one was relatively successful: I've got a 60% board with ok keys and had been using it for a couple of years alongside my Apple Magic Keyboard. Probably because of a fairly regular layout and barely noticeable differences between the two keyboards, I didn't really get all the hype around mechanical keyboards. Yes, they are more clicky, a bit nicer to type on due to physical and audible feedback, but that's about it.
This time around, I went all in. I've been getting tired quickly, my wrists started to ache more and more quickly each day. After a bunch of research and reading, I decided to give mechanical keyboards another shot. Only this time, I decided to go all in: no half-assed keyboards that are barely an improvement, no regular layouts since they proved to be hurting in my hands. "Only hardcore this time," I thought to myself and ordered a
On the inside, it is Z
but hold it and it becomes Left CTRL
). There are also thee layers you can switch between (by default, it's three, but I think you can have more): I have a regular one, "num lock" kind with numbers and symbols, and a media one with media keys and such.
Being a fully RGB-enabled keyboard, customizing colors of individual keys is really easy. You could also go with a "theme" or base your customization on a theme but customize the colors of individual keys.
The key caps are really nice: they have just enough texture to be a pleasure to touch. I went with
It's also pretty important to mention that the keyboard is very, very pretty. My photos don't do it justice, but I hope you get the idea.
With all this being said, the first few days with this keyboard were beyond frustrating. I couldn't type; all keys are in the wrong places, special characters were hard to find without referring to the keyboard layout cheat sheet.
There's a special training available for this keyboard and it's really worth it. I went from about 10 words per minute to just over 30 WPM. Still, super slow, but I get better with it every day.
But perhaps the most important thing is the fact that I can place my hands as I please and fully independently. It's a game changer for me. My hands and wrists are very grateful for this upgrade, and I think I get this whole "mechanical keyboards" thing a lot better now.
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