In the time since my last post on getting a keyboard, I'm now on my second one since then. 😆
The Corsair Strafe that I was using since 2015 started stuffing up at the start of last year, with flickering lighting and key double-presses. It is quite disappointing for these Cherry switches to only last ~4 years.
At the time, I still wanted mechanical switches, and nothing came close to the silence of the Cherry MX Silent Reds. So I got a ten-keyless keyboard which I liked the layout of: the Fnatic miniSTREAK.
I really loved the smaller layout, but a few things bothered me to make it just inconvenient enough to not be happy with it for more than a year:
- On my work MacBook Pro, the keyboard would not be recognised correctly in the macOS pre-boot environment to enter the encryption password. This meant that every time I restarted the computer, I would have to take the MacBook off its stand (at home I have it closed in clamshell mode), open it up, and use the built-in keyboard to enter the password. After a full boot, it was fine. Annoying.
- For some reason, I just couldn't get up to a good typing speed with this keyboard. I think it might have something to do with the wrist rest or the shape of the keys, but after about 10 months, I think I gave it enough time if I was going to get used to it.
So, I decided on getting a new keyboard. This time, I was over chasing quiet mechanical switches. After having kids, I don't play many games directly on my PC any more, so that reason now wasn't relevant, and otherwise, I generally still like typing on scissor switch/chiclet low-profile keys.
I ended up searching around, but went for the recently released Logitech MX Keys for a really decent price at the start of the year. It's my first wireless keyboard, and I'm generally quite happy with it. After about 4 months, it's still on its first charge (I'm using it mostly with no backlighting). The keys have a nice tactile bump, are quiet, and the layout is almost perfect. I would probably still prefer a TKL, but good ones are mostly a rarity outside of gaming keyboards.