Keebs!

What sort of keyboard do you use? Is it mechanical or membrane?
If it's mechanical what sort of switches do you use? Is it prebuilt or is it a custom board you've made?

I just recently bought the RAZER Blackwidow Gaming Keyboard, and that made me fall in love with mechanical keyboards, period. I mainly went with this one because of the ~satisfying~ clicky keys.

excellent thread~ for now i have a cheap Tecware Phantom TKL with Outemu Browns. it's hotswappable tho so that's pretty cool. been thinking about saving up to get higher quality switches in the future, possibly even an upgraded keycap set, but honestly i'll prolly wait til these current ones i'm using break down completely first lmao. (here's hoping that won't happen anytime soon!)

I currently am rocking the $20 CM Devastator that I bought when I built my pc 6 years ago. It's nothing too fancy, but it do be backlit and the keys are klacky. I've been watching r/MechanicalKeyboards the past couple months to see if there's anything I really want to devote time and resources into building or if it's better for me to just buy a decent $50-$100 kb.

Been using the Corsair STRAFE MK2 for a while now, I am far too lazy to build my own and this one still serves me so well to this day I don't want to switch.

well HELLO

'tis i, astrokeeb.

I started being interested in mechanical keyboards back in early 2019 when I realized I needed an actual keyboard when I built my desktop, unlike when I was using only laptops d: My first one was a Varmilo VA88M and it's still a nice board but it has my least favorite switch in it (Mx Brown) and overally there isn't much I can do to customize it without desoldering etc, so I've gifted that to my partner now haha.

Instead, I looked further! I got myself an Anne Pro 2 60% with Gateron Red switches, which is honestly an amazing keeb for the price. It's plastic but the plate is steel and well built, and its white finish reflects its rgb lights super smoothly - unlike boards with a black plate for example. It also has bluetooth, in case you wanna operate wirelessly. I still recommend this keyboard to anyone who's new to sub-100% sizes. I don't know if there is any newer version of this; Anne Pro 2 was all the rage back in 2019 when I got mine.

But was I finished there? No. Not nearly. I had by now been converted to the ANSI physical layout of the AP2 and discarded the old ISO ways of the Varmilo. And I was looking for more keycaps. Did you know there is an oooooooocean of keycaps out there? It's a whole industry, and there is so much variation, in colors as well as in materials and profiles of the caps. I've now bought, sold, traded plenty of kits, and I'll probably handle even more before my interest in this is over ahah. Back in the day I preferred bright colorful sets, but these days my favorite caps are black and white :3 cleeean. Best profile btw is "SA". They can be quite expensive, but man are they a joy to type on. Thock thock.

And the best thing in this hobby, according to myself, is to build your own keyboard. There's plenty of sites, nowadays even in Europe, that offer parts you can combine in the way you want it to form a keyboard that sounds and feels and looks the best to you. I've built a few, low-end devices, because I've preferred to play around and discover things rather than to invest hundreds of euros into something more permanent.

Currently I use my old AP2 for work (it sits here at home with me during covid times though :3 ) and a GMMK TKL (80% size) keeb from Glorious PC Gaming Race to have F-keys for gaming etc. Both have Gateron Reds in them for now, but I might switch them out on the TKL, as that has hotswappable sockets :3 My main driver since yesterday however will be a custom keyboard sitting in a "Tofu" model case with loooads of foam stuffed under and above the pcb to mute the noise made while typing. The switches are Glorious Pandas and I've lubed and changed them a little bit internally to fit my typing style as well as possible. I love this keeb <3

so yeah
tl;dr get a mech keeb, y'all

I have a Corsair K70 and cannot ever look at another membrane keyboard again since going mechanical

that is unless it's on a laptop

I first dipped my toe into mechanical keyboards when I managed to snag a Ducky Shine 7 with MX Blues for less than £100 after being exposed to my boyfriends razor viper keyboard. I then got a ducky skyline to use in work with MX browns please don't judge too hard I was new and didn't wanna make noise in the office.
I've recently dove into the world of custom built keyboards too. My partner and I both got a Bella kit from KBD fans, and fully lubed up a set of Kailh Pro Purples and modded stabilizers. I also have a CapsUnlocked CU65 waiting for me at home with some holy panda switches that I can't wait to go pick up once lockdown has eased up here in the UK 😁

oh boy, I rebuilt some of my keyboards and acquired some new ones d: The joy of this hobby is that stuff can be built and rebuilt and tweaked and perfected and explored. It's visual, tactile, audible and just. Fun. Imo!

I use four 60 or 65% keyboards at home now hehe but will probably bring one to work. Considering making that one the TKL but I might want f-keys at home lol so perhaps one of the small ones will go to work instead. B-but... which one?

I currently got about 3 in stock, 1 i will never use again, i bought it cheap from walmart, walmart brand, and it was corded just to i can get into the bios since the keyboard i will eventually switch to (if i dont find a better replacement later) was bluetooth, no adaptor or anything which i can see why companies do now. Idk what the cheap keyboard is feels like a mix between membrane and mechanical. Meanwhile the bluetooth is a membrane keyboard from Matias which basically looks like the silver slim apple keyboards with a full numpad. The one im using now is a full on mechanical with Cherry MX red switches, i like it and not bad for a first mechanical for me, its a Corsair K63 with the lapboard.