Your Keyboard Is Tres Sexy
Ok, I know not the best way to start out a blog post but bare with me. Keyboards and mice happen to be the biggest interaction factor we deal with each day when playing with computers. And, I would put some serious clams on this bet, you spend the least amount of time thinking about what your little fingers are pushing on or moving around during that time. Humans are creatures of habit and the more we get into these "rhythms" the more we are likely to think less and less about the little things in life, even if they end up being very important.
Enter this post and why the keyboard is something that is OK to take lightly but why not have some fun, stroke the geek in you and do something WAY better? Before we get too deep down this rabbit hole, we need some history on the two types of keyboards we are going to talk about. One is known as the "buckling spring" based keyboard which was developed by IBM and to this day is the only manufacture of these style keyboards. These are by far the creme-de-la creme of keyboards and have a very distinct sound when each key is depressed. The second style is known as a "key switch or mechanical switch based" keyboard and will be the main focus for the remainder of this post. For a little reference they sounded just like this...and much different than their IBM counterparts which can still be bought if you are hankering,
The two keyboards you see at the beginning of this post are made from two different companies yet they both have the same mechanical, switch based key-structure from a company known as ALPS. The black one is brought to us by a company named Das (bet you can't guess where they hail from) and has been around for maybe 2-3 years. It is based on a standard PC based key layout and like its white brother, is based on the ALPS mechanical switch. The other, is a Mac or Apple based keyboard from a company named Matias. Both are quality keyboards and both are rated for 10-12 million key-cycles (this is nearly 30 years under normal typing conditions) which is dwarfed by the 25 offered by the IBM's mentioned above.
So after all that history, why again should you spend what seems like a lot of money on one of these keyboards? Several reasons actually, they are actually better for you to type on, they are great for the typist who can absolutely fly and they are by far...seriously cool. Because keyboards these days are so damn cheap, they actually hurt the normal typist. Our fingers can become seriously damaged from typing long stints on flat keyboards because the "throw" of the key is so short. These are long throw keyboards that offer wonderful tactile response for all you hardcore typists. Are you a writer, coder, enthusiasts or geek lover? Yeah you apply and by far should be lining up to order the Das or Matias.
So now you are up to speed with why keyboards ARE cool, are you planning on buying the Das or Matias? Or would you like someone to pick up IBM's old technology and make something way different?
