Keyboards - Split from "Do you touch-type or hunt-and-peck"

i really like the keyboard on my Dell laptop as the key action is great and the size is really nice as i don't have very long fingers. i know basically nothing about keyboards but since i have started on this forum and a couple other (ride on two, cloudy nights) i find i do really notice the difference and hate this Microsoft keyboard more and more.

so are there any cheap options for a keyboard like the one on my laptop? i don't have a lot to spend considering that this one still works :shrug: i thought about ebay but would like one from a store that i can see and touch really.

i remember seeing something about those Datahand things a long time ago and wondered what ever happened to them. now i know :p

Yup, there are some cheap options. Laptop keyboards use scissor type keys, and there are quite a few desktop keyboards with the same mechanism. The added bonus is that the keyboards tend to be rather thin.

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Originally Posted by chee16

so are there any cheap options for a keyboard like the one on my laptop? ... i thought about ebay but would like one from a store that i can see and touch really.

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Cheap + from a store will probably mean a no-name import. But give them a try, a laptop-feel keyboard is easier to build than a solid, clicky one, so you might be happy with what you find.

If you are after a compact keyboard, take a look at the Cherry ML-4100 and G84-4100 keyboards. Make sure the keyboard layout suits you, at geekhack.org they seem to prefer the 83-key version of the ML-4100 without Windows keys. These use Cherry ML switches which have 3mm of travel.:gl:

so its the ML part of the model that i am looking for?
i looked at a bunch of Cherry keyboards online now and am not sure exactly what i am looking for in the description. obviously they won't say "scissor type" keys or anything.

thanks for the help by the way.

i apologize for stealing the thread. :ziplip:

I've just taken delivery of a G84-4100. They have a lot more travel and feedback than average laptop keyboards, so you might not like them. They are very nice though.

If you want that laptop feel, something described as soft-touch might be right.

Scissor-switch describes the way the key caps are engineered to move down smoothly, so is good sign.

There's a good summary of switch types here.

actually i checked that out earlier, it was pretty interesting.

i looked around a bit a different stores and really couldn't figure out which ones had what type of keys without taking them out of the boxes. apparently Logitech makes and Ultra X keyboard that is supposed to be nice, and a good price.

i will keep looking. the search has begun :mace:

so i found one made by IOGear called the Ultra Thin. it cost me $40 (which i thought was good) but it came with a 5 button optical mouse. the key profile it just like my laptop and though it doesn't perform exactly the same as my laptop i do like it. both are NOT wireless which is what i was looking for.

i was looking at what type of key it uses and it has a picture on the back. each key uses 4 thin gears, one on each side. it seems to work pretty good.


thanks for all the advice, and again i apologize for hijacking the thread.