Looking for a new keyboard
Frozen
New York, NY Join Date: 2010-07-02 Member: 72228Members, Constellation
New York, NY Join Date: 2010-07-02 Member: 72228Members, Constellation
I'll keep this short and simple. I don't want a super high end keyboard. I'm wondering about some of the quieter mechanical options. Right now the Razer Blackwidow Tournament Stealth is looking like my option. I like that it is smaller as the numpad is useless for me since there's no binds for evolutions anymore (or is there??? also have been really wanting a chuckle and xenoform spotted bind, help a bro out 
)
So, in the opinion of the ns2 people, do you think mechanical is good way to go? And if so give me some suggestions! If not... give me some suggestions of non-mechanical!
In NS1 I always felt perfectly comfortable with my stock Dell keyboard, and for the most part with this $10 logitech I've been fine. But my fade play seems to suffer a bit from the keystroke combinations I use in NS2. (In NS1 I felt everything was more rhythmic, or maybe 13 year old me was just that much better) Anyway I find myself not jumping when I meant to, and as I'm not 13 I can afford a decent piece of keyboard. (Thinking no more than $100 because I don't want anything special like macros, I just don't care about that stuff. I just want a reliable board that won't negate keystrokes on me)
)So, in the opinion of the ns2 people, do you think mechanical is good way to go? And if so give me some suggestions! If not... give me some suggestions of non-mechanical!
In NS1 I always felt perfectly comfortable with my stock Dell keyboard, and for the most part with this $10 logitech I've been fine. But my fade play seems to suffer a bit from the keystroke combinations I use in NS2. (In NS1 I felt everything was more rhythmic, or maybe 13 year old me was just that much better) Anyway I find myself not jumping when I meant to, and as I'm not 13 I can afford a decent piece of keyboard. (Thinking no more than $100 because I don't want anything special like macros, I just don't care about that stuff. I just want a reliable board that won't negate keystrokes on me)
Comments
http://www.overclock.net/t/491752/mechanical-keyboard-guide
You don't have to go razor if your after things like usb in a keyboard DAS models do come with that option and many now have media keys as standard. Below is a link to the keyboard I'm referring to you'll need to check your region for pricing.
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=113_1276&products_id=21581
I personally suggest cherry mx red, black or brown.
Red and black are both linear, reds have a very low, blacks a relative strong resistance. (so you could say reds, below average and blacks, above average)
Brown is relative similar to the reds resistance wise, tho has bump. (so you can feel the trigger point, no click sound)
Cant really give a proper suggestion since its something you have to test and try out for yourself.
The allround suggestion i can give, is brown switches. (so if you are lazy or dont have a way to get your hands on some mechanical keyboards to try them out to see what you like...)
Atm i would go for this model: (it looks awesome, seems like they stole some filco design :P and while i love my num pad, having more space is nice for gaming)
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=10035&product_name=CM Storm QuickFire Stealth (not sure if its already available, but i read costs should be around 80-90$)
Sadly it wont come to the European market. But sine your are talking dollars, i assume you are from the us.
Final note, all mechanical keyboards are relative loud... so i hope you play with headphones, and there are no other ppl in the same room that could get annoyed by it :P (otherwise i would go for a plain normal logitech non mechanical or whatever, those are usually relative silent)
edit: i personally have a keyboard with reds(corsair k60), but i cant really recommend those to everybody - since its relative easy to make accidental inputs. (if you go for reds, you should really test first)
You're welcome.
edit: I'll expand on this. I bought one of these with the brown switches. It feels fantastic typing on it and the simple look is pleasing to the eye. They have n-key rollover if you use a ps/2 adapter, but even on USB can do 6 keys at the same time. There are other places that sell daskeyboards cheaper so I'd look around.
My keyboard was totally worth the money and is one of the best purchases I have made.
I'm from NYC, but I doubt even here there's a place to go to just play with every type of switch, but if someone knows of one I'd be elated to go buy one in retail to check it out first. I feel I can assure myself that major stores would not have that feature.
When I get home I'm going to just read up on the color designations, I imagine brown is where I'm leaning since I don't miss many keystrokes or mind the feedback.
Though it will be unfortunate not to have the blue keys for when I'm writing stuff, the key clicks really keep your mind on your thoughts (knowing from the one time I wrote with a typewriter)
I'll let you guys know what I chose under the very unlikely assumption anyone cares xP
Mechanical owners: What's with the whole clicking thing? Like, why does a keyboard have to click? Or make any sound?
My current keyboard is a really flat, laptop-style one, and I love it because of the sound it makes. It's the kinda sleek metallic tapping, the kind you hear in every hacker scene from matrix to braveheart. But other than sounding cool, I don't really get it. I mean you have headphones on anyway.
Aaaaanyway, I believe keys should have as little "trigger distance" as possible, so should I look for black switches or something?
Edit: Oh, I just remembered why I didn't buy a mechanical one the last time. There's almost no flat mechanic keyboards on the market. They're all keytronic-huge-button type. I hate that, I don't understand why there needs to be an immense gap between your keys. Prevents you from sliiiding your fingers across the keys.
I'm new to it, but from what I gather the clicking has to do with the key resistance. And through key resistance you gain accuracy because you don't automatically click if you slightly tap a key.
So if your form is good but you slightly miss keys a high resistance can be helpful. Think of how a typewriter makes a clicky noise and you're physically moving the entire mechanism, obviously more force is required (since in the small space a typewriter exists one can't get a large moment applied to the mechanism without excessive friction. Hurray mechanical engineering majors.) So the click is basically due to resistance in the key)
The key depth, if one can call it that, doesn't stop my key slides, I'm just used to it ao I guess the angle I stroke is different than yours. But a mechanism needs the space.
Read this, you probably want black or red type cherry mx keys, I have black myself.
I'm going to be getting a das keyboard ultimate with cherry blue (clicky) switches pretty soon but if all you do is gaming I'd recommend the red switches as aparently they're really good for gaming.
I'll say this. I think there is little to no skill gain or noticeable improvement in play upgrading from a cheap keyboard (I had a $20 logitech membrane) to a mechanical keyboard. It does feel better, though. Your keyboard feels a lot sturdier. Your key presses feel more consistent.
To give some idea, with my $20 logitech membrane, I typed ~100 wpm +/- 5 on http://play.typeracer.com/. I just ran 10 races with the tesoro and typed at ~105 average. Within my previous average, but at the higher end.
In my opinion, a mechanical keyboard is worth the $75 - $150... just don't expect it to change much in game. Also, razer has the best software that I've seen for mechanical keyboards.
EDIT: I should say, MOST people, there's probably some fools that get sucked in by promises of better gaming performance. Yeah, not so much, a little maybe? But you still need to be skilled, keyboard can't carry you. (SAME GOES FOR MICE).
The backlight is amazing and I personally prefer to feel a "click" when pressing a button. You'd have to test several types of switches to find out which type you prefer though.