Hey there.
My paycheck is coming soon and my keyboard is slowly dying from being cheap piece of crap, so I am in dire need of a new one.
The choice is rich, my money are laughable, so I directed my gaze towards two models.
CM Storm Octane. Rubber dome, illuminated, comes with a mouse, which I don't really care about.
Or Rapoo V500 - mechanical, weird Chinese brand switches, not illuminated, no num pad, that I like.
Should I jump on the mechanical keyboard bandwagon, since I don't really care and don't really know if I am going to like it? Some people actually prefer rubber dome keyboards. Or I should play it safe and get the fairly well reviewed Octane combo? It is illuminated, which I really like, it have the numpad, which I really don't like, but I can live with it. They are about the same price with the mechanical one being 0,50$ more "expensive"...
Or is there a third option? Illuminated no numpad fairly simplistic visually keyboard, that I have not noticed?
Thanks in advance
I've tried:
1. Razer Blackwidow ultimate mechanical 2012 (excellent typing experience)
2. Razer Blackwidow ultimate mechanical 2014 (good typing experience but not as good as the old one)
3. Corsair K70 RGB MX Brown (complete rubbish, now sits on shelf never to be used again, wont touch corsair again)
4. Logitech K120 membrain keyboard for £5 to £12, best and fastest typing experience I've had to date
I want to try next the Ducky, there is an expensive one that lights up aka the shine series but there is a version which doesn't and comes with MX Blue and MX Green switches (best for typing). The ducky is supposed to be very good for typing so I will some day try the cheaper one which I just tried to find on amazon for a link but it's gone?! It was about £60, only ones I can find on there now are £90 to £110 so you may as well go with the shine series. http://www.duckychannel.com.tw/en/keyboard.html but the Logitech K120 is cheap, fast and robust and I have 2 of them not including an older version of it K9X I think it is, love em.
MX Brown = Too light, lots of double tapping
MX Blue = Good for typing and sure press
MX Green = Good for typing and sure press
MX Red = Too light, lots of double tapping
I personally pref a heavy actuation on a mechanical switch keyboard.
I don't really want to spend that much money on keyboard. Those I have mentioned are about 50$, 30-35£. The mechanical one is not Cherry MX. It's some type of yellow switch.
I am not really keen on mechanical, but most people say they are really comfortable for use and people jump on it like it's the best thing since sliced bread.
Logitech K120 is extremely cheap, less than 10£, so I may actually go for it.. It doesn't really fit any of my criteria, but what the hell... 14$...
Mechanical are very overrated...
Not to mention it's given keyboard manufacturers a way to trick the public into thinking that it now costs silly money to make a keyboard.
You can't really go wrong with the logitech k120, super cheap, fast, works perfect for me whether I be working or gaming.
Thanks. That was really helpful actually. I was afraid people will tell me buy Corsair, and here Corsair is so freaking overpriced. The ram, the PSUs, the cases, the keyboards... Everything. Buying Corsair case, PSU, ram and keyboard basically means buying any other brand +50% in price.
Thanks...
I am still open to suggestions. Have 4 more days to paycheck.
I agree, PSU's are another component which have become stupidly over priced.
For a few keyboards to browse through check out:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?catid=2705&groupid=702&sortby=priceAsc&subid=1258
and
http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/keyboards-mice/all
Once you find a few short listers check to see if there are reviews on youtube and order ;)
You should have 14 days I think to return the item if your not happy with it.
Oh no, I am not from UK. I just roughly calculated the price in pounds... And dollars. And euro...
Otherwise I have kind of a shit*y choice here, but still, there is some...
I just use those two website to browse what's about and hot at the moment, I usually then go to amazon or google shop search for better prices. You should find most if not all on amazon US.
After my Dell SK-8135 kicked the bucket, a Corsair Raptor K30 took its place. It is a membrane keyboard, but it doesn't give me too different typing experience than my friend's Razer Blackwidow.
When I was choosing a keyboard, I ended up having to decide from the CM Storm Devastator and the K30. The Devastator has a nice rubberized feel to its keys, and doesn't cost much. The only notable difference between the Octane has over the Devastator that I saw is the RGB backlighting, which I don't believe justifies the price difference. It isn't 10 keyless, but the Devastator might fit the bill at about $30 (on amazon the prices fluctuate, and each color isn't the same price, last I checked the blue one was $40 while the green and red were $30)
I have red a lot of customers reviews for the devastator and there are 2 reasons why i excluded it.
1. the mouse breaks left and right. A lot of people have said, that their mouse has, as you so nicely expressed it, kicked the bucket... My keyboard is still putting it's shoes on.
2. It has only one color backlighting, and i want white. Its only red or blue.
So i am a bit willing to spend extra 15$ for better mouse of the octane and the color i have build my machine around - black and white.
I may rethink this, if i find devastator second hand... Which i am in a process of doing actually. I have heard a lot of nice things about the devastator, but the damn mouse is just making me avoid it.
For gaming anything goes really. In fact rubber dome kb are better for gaming because you can double tap at will easily but still be accurate with heavy hands.
The delay shit is really just marketing, the only thing that matters is ghosting and for very few games.
It's a shame really because mechanical keyboards were going to get cheaper and cheaper until gamers flooded the market. I love old mechanical keyboards like IBMs and Cherry, and old Thinkpads, those feel good for everyone. If you've ever used those, look for a mxblue or mxgreen switch KB. I'd get a DASkeyboard or a WASD (wasd looks more promising).
Corsair is indeed overpriced, but sometimes their midrange/highend products are priced fairly. I still have a 8gb ddr3 cl9 kit from 2009 and the price was the same as today (no excuses...). I also have a RM650 which wasn't very expensive and surpassed my expectations.
Want to see an overpriced keyboard??
Get one of these.
It has MX Browns.
RM as far as i know is made by Seasonic. I have Seasonic, and i skip the middle man...
Fun part is, i can get A-Data XPG V1 for about half the price of Corsair Vengance, not to mention the dominators, dear lord... I have noticed, however, that in US the prices of Corsair, FSP, AData etc are completely different.
I can find an IBM mechanical keyboard, but its about the price of new mechanical one... So i will rather buy a new one.
Check out Unicomp. The best keyboards out there
Not imported by anybody in my country...
It's not that it costs a lot of money to make the keyboard. It's that it costs a lot to package and advertise the keyboard.
Unicomp will ship almost anywhere.
They're collector items now :( I wish they were like army surplus dirt cheap like they should've been.
Oh yeah... And some people even try to sell rubber IBM keyboards as expensive as mechanicals...
Jesus, i am even more confused now :D
OK, so my choices at the moment are CM Octane, Rapoo V500, Logitech K120 or CM Devastator...