Mechanical Keyboards Are Thriving Because Apple and Microsoft Don't Make Them

Discussion in 'hardware' started by ronjor, Jul 30, 2019.

  1. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    by Ernie Smith Jul 30 2019
     
  2. noway

    noway Registered Member

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    I bought one of these 5 years ago:
    https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=3694

    It was to replace a full-size IBM Model M since I wanted a tenkeyless keyboard so my right arm wouldn't need to be extended as much to reach my mouse.

    I just love the thing! It was expensive but at the time it was hard finding cheaper mechanical keyboards with white keys/black lettering and grey function keys. I hate black keys with white lettering.
     
  3. trott3r

    trott3r Registered Member

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    I picked up an IBM model m for a pound car boot.

    great keyboard but missing windows key
     
  4. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    Great keyboard. I still have mine although I use laptops now.
     
  5. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I have two of them. Now you can get them for a lot less money
     
  6. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    What a bunch of total malarkey! This suggests if Apple and Microsoft made them, mechanical keyboards would NOT be popular. :rolleyes:

    Mechanical keyboards are gaining in popularity simply because old time "real" journalists like them, and more significantly, gamers do too.

    Does Apple or Microsoft make gaming computers? Nope! Is Microsoft even considered a computer maker?

    Does Apple - the king of proprietary - even make keyboards they sell separately? Yeah, two versions of the Magic Keyboard. And while MS does sell keyboards, they certainly are not known as a computer accessory manufacturer.

    IMO, Microsoft has always made (or likely rebranded) good keyboards. But they have ALWAYS been marketed as ways to increase "productivity" - that is, to make using MS Office easier, or surfing the Internet.

    The article contains some great information. My rant is totally against the author who clearly is just trying to get some personal information with false, sensationalized, and misleading headline - a common trait these days, it seems with more and more amateurs pretending to be journalist. :(

    If the goal is to put blame on Apple and Microsoft (which for some reason, it seems to be! :rolleyes:o_O) that headline should say something along the lines of, "Mechanical Keyboard Markets Flounder Due to Lack of Offerings from Apple and Microsoft."

    **********

    My favorite keyboard of all time was the mechanical Northgate OmniKey 101. I loved the reassuring feel and clickity-clack sounds it made. I would take it over the IBM Model M (admittedly, also a great keyboard) any day. It also did not have a Windows key but not sure I would say it was "missing". Both the IBM Model M and the Northgate keyboards came out years before the Windows key was ever introduced.
     
  7. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I'm pretty sure Apple still make mechanical keyboards lol.

    keyboard.jpg
     
  8. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    Well that one doesn't seem mechanical to me. :)
     
  9. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    It isn't virtual though lol.
     
  10. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    :) yes it's physical :)
     
  11. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    That would be my guess lol.
     
  12. plat

    plat Registered Member

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    Which modern one/s have a nicer click feel? It's of course subjective. Anyone heard of- or is using a Das Keyboard?
     
  13. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    That's why I always say people looking for a new keyboard (or mouse) need to go play touchy-feeling for themselves. What feels great at the end of my fingertips (or in the palm of my hand), may feel awkward or even painful in someone else's.
     
  14. trott3r

    trott3r Registered Member

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    Dont like cramped keyboards or small screens and trackpads.
    Can tolerate the ibm trackpoint but still prefer a desktop.
     
  15. bellgamin

    bellgamin Registered Member

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    I want my keyboard to make LOTS of noise when I'm typing.
    Oh my -- so ascerbic! :eek: Malarky is a great game, if you play nicely with others.
     
  16. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    I know. Whatever happened to "ethics in journalism" and simply "reporting" the news without bias?
    Just another reason I won't give up my PC, full sized keyboard, mouse, two 24" monitors and my surround sound speaker system - at least not until my last breath! ;)
     
  17. sdmod

    sdmod Shadow Defender Expert

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    As a 'dyed in the woad' utilitarian I like the comfort of a clackity clack keyboard under my fingers and sounding in my ears.
    I recently bought an old 'clacky' non usb and use it through an adapter on one of my pcs. I don't want to just brush against the keys, I like to press them and have that audible acknowledgement that I am part of a two way transaction in a physical world (whatever that is).
    I don't want my pc to recognise me by my heartbeat or breath and I don't want to talk to it to turn it on.
    Walking along the street now in my town you see people completely sucked into a virtual world, children ignored in prams and people not even enjoying the beach without transferring a facimile of the outer world into their 'real' inner realm to validate the 'experience'.
    Speaking of children in prams, most two year olds know their way around the internet and a smart phone better than I do.
     
  18. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

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    Those died when it moved from print to online.
     
  19. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    That might have been the nail in the coffin but I think some cable news channels started the down hill descent.



    Edit comment: Fixed typo.
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2019
  20. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

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    TV news definitely took a turn for the worse in the '80s when it turned into nothing but a quest for ratings.
     
  21. bellgamin

    bellgamin Registered Member

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    TV News went rotten when it moved heavily into political activism. It used to be that political activism was largely confined to the editorial segment, and the news segment remained as objective as humanly possible. No longer. Political activism underlies the entire news content.
     
  22. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    And advertising $$$.
     
  23. guest

    guest Guest

    kinda with their Surface line but surely not their main business.

    In France , they can be consideredd as one, i remember a whole range of keyboards, mouses, headsets and even high quality gaming accessories like vibrating joystick for plane simulators, and i even owned this awesome left hand controller (similar to a mutant oversized fixed mouse) with dozen buttons and switches, all programmable that allow you to play real time strategy games like a pro.

    also a lot to game, Xbox ring a bell? still MS right?
     
  24. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    I am just saying they are not really "known" as an accessory maker. They are known for Windows, Office, and yes, the XBox.

    I certainly would think of Logitech as a computer accessory maker long before MS.

    But yes, they did make great game/simulator controllers. :)
     
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