AstonJ

AstonJ

After seeing it in this thread (and on DT) I tried the Planck but did not like it at all, and came to the conclusion that a mechanical probably keyboard isn’t for me.

Things I didn’t like about the Planck:

  • Not low profile, meaning I would need a wrist rest, meaning it ends up taking too much room (with wrist rest) and too cumbersome to move (I frequently need to push my keyboard back to make notes).
  • I hated the depressing ‘grey’ white colour (Apple’s Magic Keyboard is a warmer white)
  • It felt cheap and plasticy.
  • I probably should have picked different switches as I did not like the cherry browns.
  • I missed the standard keys/layout.

So I’m back to the Magic keyboard, and for me a nicer Apple keyboard would be:

  • Slightly bigger, with full size arrow keys, bigger modifier keys.
  • More customisability via software, such as for allowing layers.

Perhaps an older style one cut into two with the num pad as a separate unit:

Screenshot 2025-03-20 at 00.35.02
Screenshot 2025-03-20 at 00.35.021200×340 42.9 KB

1
Post #273
shzgfx

shzgfx

After seeing it in this thread (and on DT) I tried the Planck but did not like it at all, and came to the conclusion that a mechanical probably keyboard isn’t for me.

You could try a low-profile Nuphy or Royalkludge mechanical keyboard. I think you might get a better feel with these.

I am using Royalkludge rk84 with brown switches and i like it a lot. Anyway currently i would choose low profile mechanical :slight_smile:

1
Post #274
hubertlepicki

hubertlepicki

Just an update on that front: still using UHK, the v1 pictured still works, nothing ever got broken. It did thousands of miles in my backpack without any case, had to clean it like twice inside from dirt but that’s about it.

My daily is now a UHK v2, which I really like as well but to be fair the differences are minimal, it’s been an upgrade rather than a new product.

Highly recommending UHK to anyone who is looking for a small size, split keyboard.

2
Post #275
AstonJ

AstonJ

Thanks @shzgfx, this Nuphy looks nice:

The sound with the blue switches reminds me of an old PC keyboard I had which I actually really liked typing on.

If you used liquid to clean it I hope you used Isopropyl - I killed an Apple Magic keyboard once by using washing detergent with warm soapy water, and I didn’t even use much :sob:

2
Post #276
jswanner

jswanner

~10-11 years ago I started having wrist pain while using an old wired Apple keyboard. At which point I decided to try an ErgoDox, and it was very nice and relieved me of my wrist pain.

A couple years ago I switched to a MoErgo Glove 80, and I love it, can’t recommend it enough.

1
Post #277
odd

odd

I’ve went back and forth quite a bit. I used a wired Apple A1243 for many many years but a few years back my right thumb and wrist started to hurt so I got a ZSA Moonlander. I couldn’t get used to the columnar layout no matter how I tried and switching between a laptop and an external keyboard didn’t make it any easier. After that I got a Mistel Barocco MD770, which is a split keyboard with a non columnar layout. It was fine but had some reliability issues, forcing me to unplug/plug every now and then. Currently I’m quite happily using an Apple A1843 with an external trackpad, but I do wish the keyboard would be a bit smaller. A smaller version does exist but the fn key is wrongly placed imo, so it’s gonna be a no for me.

I’ve been looking at those low-profile Nuphy keyboards for some while now and I’d buy one right away if it was split in half. I miss having my trackpad between the keyboard halves, it worked great for me.

2
Post #278
kevinschweikert

kevinschweikert

I have the Nuphy Air and it’s great! Lubed the switches and the typing experience is great. I’ve also built a Corne Keyboard but i couldn’t find the time to adjust to a split keyboard yet. I first started to learn to type on an english layout because german umlauts don’t fit great on a small keyboard like this. It’s much easier for programming and now (neo)vim keys make sense :slight_smile:

1
Post #279
tomfarm

tomfarm

Nuphy user here as well.

I’m using a nuphy gem80 (mocha) https://nuphy.com/collections/keyboards/products/gem80?variant=40756703723629

By far the best keyboard (haptics, weight, sound, quality) I’ve ever used with a nice retro mac vibe.

The Air96 is nice as well.

2
Post #280
dimitarvp

dimitarvp

I am guessing you guys don’t like backlit keyboards? To me no backlight means I wouldn’t buy the keyboard for a dollar. :expressionless:

1
Post #281
Lucassifoni

Lucassifoni

It’s always nice to see how personal preferences vary wildly !

My 61 key keyboard is a quite generic board that had side and back-RGB illumination, I spent two hours de-soldering every LED I found in it so the thing could be a bit quieter visually :smile: .

1
Post #282