Anyone using a mechanical keyboard?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice and perspective from the community—especially from those who have been typing for a few decades.

I’ve been a "typis"t for over 45 years, and to this day, the absolute gold standard for me remains the IBM Selectric typewriter. It was incredibly responsive, and I have never matched that level of speed and accuracy on any modern computer keyboard except maybe in the early 90s.

Lately, I’ve been using cheap standard keyboards, but I'm noticing severe input lag. It feels like I'm typing too fast for the hardware to keep up, and it’s driving me crazy. Someone suggested I look into wired mechanical keyboards to fix this.

The problem is, I just started looking into them and immediately fell down a massive rabbit hole. The terminology is overwhelming. I have no interest in building my own board or swapping parts, and names like "Banana," "Brown," or "Red" switches mean absolutely nothing to me.

What I'm looking for:

• Simplicity: A solid, reliable, wired mechanical keyboard that works right out of the box.
• Size: full size — preferably with keypad
• That "Selectric" Feel: Something highly responsive with good tactile feedback, without being deafeningly loud if possible.
• Peer Experiences: If you are around my age or grew up learning on heavy-duty typewriters, what mechanical keyboard/switch did you settle on?

I'd love to hear your recommendations and experiences. Thanks in advance!

Have you thought about this?

Sammy888 said:

I'm curious to read about the experiences of people around my age and what they use now in terms of keyboards especially mechanical keyboards.

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Do your research here...





Personally, I like Ducky Shine (2 or 3) keyboards with "Cherry MX Black" switches.
I type very hard, like a pile driver, so I needed switches with some serious resistance.
Ducky Shine keyboards, are pretty much indestructible.

Short keyboard story...

Keychron makes a wide variety of form factor mechanical keyboards and they are very good quality and a wide price range. You'll most be interested in form-factor, tactile or not switches (tactile give feedback in the form of a bump when the switch closes so you don't need to bottom out), and whether the switches are hot-swap so any switch can be easily replaced. If you want a tactile feel, the browns aew good, non-tactile - reds. Either of these are what boards usually come with by default.

I have the Keychron Q3 Max TKL (TKL meaning Ten Keyless - it doesn't have the side numeric pad). I replaced the keys with some better ones. It is also wired/wireless (bluetooth, USB-C, 2.4 GHz wireless).

There are many guides on the web that are not to crazy.

references:

Sammy888 said:

Lately, I’ve been using cheap standard keyboards, but I'm noticing severe input lag.

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Yes, USB (driver) can do that, usually wireless keyboards can be limited to certain number of characters pressed at once like 3.

I am using an Apple Magic Keyboard with Windows 11 connected via USB.
At work I mainly use Macs and got so used to the Keyboard, I brought one for my home PC.
I haven't bothered trying to assign keys with extra software, the Apple Key by default is the Windows Key.
I had a connectivity issue which was a third party Antivirus Program which was causing USB connectivity issues and a version update fixed the issue.

I'm pretty sure I saw a wooden keyboard somewhere.

Stigg said:

I'm pretty sure I saw a wooden keyboard somewhere.

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Google: Bamboo keyboard

I still get an image when someone says Mechanical Keyboard

A Guy