I’ve been looking to move on from membrane keyboards and go mechanical, but no matter where I look literally every mech has some form of obnoxious RGB lighting on it. Are there any that just… don’t have it?
Das keyboard? Keychron?
Almost all RGB keyboards have a switch to turn off the lighting since some people have their computers in their bedrooms.
Kinesis makes outstanding keyboards with no RGB. Keychron makes good keyboards that you can disable the RGB on.
The Logitech K845 only has a white backlight. It’s a really clean, professional looking mechanical.
There are many, many non-RGB and even non-backlit keyboards. Where are you looking?
Here is a basic mech kb with no added frills.
https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/products/ducky-origin-blackBoth of my own keyboards have the ability to disable the backlights—which is ideal, imo, so I can change my mind later.
Damn I’m bad at searching, then. Thanks!
Why are the feet things on “basic” keyboards always on the wrong side?! I’m not a kid anymore. My wrists don’t bend like that
… wut?
Do you want the keyboard angled down?
Technically, yes, a keyboard recessed and angled down+away from you would be the best ergonomics. Or tented, so the centre of the keyboard is raised while the left and right sides are flush with the desk, so that your wrists are rotated with palms facing each other. A lot of pro eSports players rotate their entire keyboards by 30-90° to better suit left wrist alignment, since the right hand only has to operate the mouse.
I’ll die on this hill - the generic modern keyboard is absolutely terrible for your wrists, and is responsible for so many people having RSI!
But it’s not anything modern. Typewriters have basically always had the row behind be higher than the row in front. You’re supposed to float your wrist over the keyboard, or just get a wrist wrest if you’re lazy.
https://i.rtings.com/assets/products/iCHTgoaB/ibm-model-m/ergonomics-large.jpg?format=auto
A lot of pro eSports players rotate their entire keyboards by 30-90° to better suit left wrist alignment
That’s because they sit at their desks like goblins.
Typewriters were not designed for ergonomics at all. They were made to make mechanical levers attached to the keys functional.
The up-angled keys are basically just a relic of mechanical design that people got used to. Like the QWERTY layout, which is also designed for mechanical function of a bunch of tiny levers swinging at a piece of paper, it’s actually designed to slow down typing speed and is also terrible for ergonomics.
https://www.therevisionist.org/ergonomics/best-keyboard-tilt-for-reducing-wrist-pain-to-zero/
Negative tilt is the actual ergonomic position.
Much like QWERTY, keyboards are designed with positive tilt for no reason other than “it’s always been that way” and “people got used to it”
In both the positive and nuetral tilt position they have their wrists on the table which nobody says is ergonomic. But in the negative position they actually have their wrists off the table.
If you float your wrists off the table (or just have a wrist rest) then you’ll be at an actual ergonomic position. And the upward angle keeps the further back keys just a little bit closer to your fingers so you don’t have to stretch for them.
it’s actually designed to slow down typing speed
This is a myth
I don’t think that appealing typewriters as an authority on ergonomics is really a great move.
Damn that Ducky Origin looks good! Wish there was an 80% option.
Ducky has a bunch of TKL options, including black on black.
https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/products/ducky-one-tkl-pbt?_pos=14&_sid=cd72f4d81&_ss=r
https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/products/ducky-one-2-phantom-black-tkl?_pos=13&_sid=cd72f4d81&_ss=r
Problem is I can’t find them in nordic layout. Would also want cherry mx black. Oh well
Ducky Tinker: opt to bring your own switches and caps, QMK programmable.
https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/products/ducky-tinker-75?_pos=1&_sid=d9b8a85c7&_ss=r
Unfortunately I need TKL (80%), the tinker seems to only exist in 75% or 65%
TL;DR: Check out the KeyChron K3 V2 Non-Backlight edition. Decent quality, inexpensive, no lights, and no knowledge required.
ZSA make good stuff, sell it at reasonable prices, provide incredible support, and give a shit about artists/humans/the world. Any time mechanical keyboards are mentioned I feel compelled to inject their name into the conversation. I’ve owned a Moonlander for a while now and I have nothing but good things to say about it. I’d recommend the ZSA Voyager for someone checking out not shitty keyboards for the first time.
With that out of the way: it’s tough to find a lightless mech keyboard these days because backlights make sense and, so long as you’re putting lights behind keycaps, you might as well use full color range LEDs and let the user set a low brightness white color or turn them off if they don’t care for it. Some companies make non-backlight versions (KeyChron’s K series for instance) but they’re a rarity. Why produce and stock inventory that’s not moving?
I recommend doing some research on how mechanical keyboards are built (watch a 10 minute video on the internet) and then using RTINGS’ keyboard table for some comparison shopping. You’re looking for a well rated keyboard with hot swappable PCBs designed to accommodate south-facing LEDs (they point down - less bright). One of the advantages of going mechanical is customization. Don’t want the LEDs at all? Remove them from your build. Even without PCB hot swapping: no one will stop you desoldering LEDs from your keyboard.
Building out something like a Gem80 from NuPhy or a 60HE from Wooting will net you a high quality mechanical keyboard that won’t get in your way but is customizable enough for you to avoid RGB-induced eye sores.
One of the advantages of going mechanical is customization. Don’t want the LEDs at all? Remove them from your build. Even without PCB hot swapping: no one will stop you desoldering LEDs from your keyboard.
Yeah OP if you want to live the ultra elite mech keyboard life you should be totally fine with just buying something and spending a ton of time desoldering a crap load of tiny components off of it. That’s the best part about mechanical keyboards, is spending hundreds of dollars on them and then also needing to invest in a bunch of soldering gear and time to make sure you can skillfully enough disassemble electronics at the component level to not damage your newly purchased expensive device.
Uh oh. Was someone grumpyyyyy? Poor thing. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such an insightful and well considered contribution to the discussion. Invaluable stuff.
Filco is a typist’s professional keyboard.
WASD Keyboards
I love my WASD. I think you pay a bit more for the customization, but I love that aspect. I made mine in orange and blue with the McLaren logo for the meta keys, and the Formula 1 logo for the F1 key. It makes me smile.
Keychron makes some. I’ve had two of their keyboards and love both of them.
Also have white led Keychrons. Both are K2s.
Loved them at first, overtime I’ve grown to strongly dislike the wasted key for the white backlight but they’re still great keyboards - especially for the price.
You can easily change what all the keys do. https://www.keychron.com/blogs/archived/how-to-use-via-to-program-your-keyboard
I believe only on QMK models?
I’m reasonably sure, but not 100% sure, that the light button in non-qmk keyboards isn’t passed on.
If you really want the retro experience, you can get a modern USB version of the original IBM Model M keyboard from Unicomp (https://pckeyboard.com). I believe these are made on the same equipment that made the Model M back in the day. Buckling spring keys, metal frame, huge, heavy, and loud. Lots of configuration options and the only lights on them are the (admittedly annoyingly bright blue) lock status LEDs. I’ve used an original Model M and own one of these. They’re amazing.
You can absolutely get non-RGB mechanical keyboards, but depending on if you mean completely non-backlit keyboards or single color backlit keyboards determines how hard it is to find. If you want non-backlit, its easy, you see them all over the place. If you want single color, your choice is highly limited. mechanicalkeyboards.com has some from Vortex, Varmilo, and KBParadise.
Even a RGB board should have controls for color, brightness, and pattern. Shouldn’t be too difficult to turn it off or adjust the color to something more natural.
That said, none of the keyboards I currently own and use have anything more than an indicator LED.
Unfortunately, (at least with Razer) the application to control them consumes way more resources than is reasonable, and if you don’t run it then it’ll run the most distracting light show by default on the keyboard.
Wish they would just remember their last setting when they last connected to the app.
Wow, what a terrible design. My experience with QMK- powered keyboards didn’t let my mind entertain the thought of that being controlled externally from the board. I knew people shit on Razer and other “gamer” products but I always chalked it up to aesthetics and advertising gimmicks.
Unfortunately, RGB keyboards do not do well when trying to get some specific single colors, white being one they do quite poorly. I suspect that is what the OP may be looking for.
True, but I’d take a bluish/purplish white over ever having to desolder a through-switch led ever again.
Oh no doubt about that. Desoldering an entire fullsize backlit keyboard and resoldering it with new switches is enough to make one hate soldering forever.
Akko has good ones. They are relatively cheap, but expect to spend ~90 euros on a full sized 110 key keyboard. I like akko cos they genuinely look good, no need for RGB.
Das keyboard - excellent for years and years.
I was about to post this.
I’m on my 2nd blank one from them now.
No RGB, not even any print on the keys. So nice
I love the blank one. It’s great for everyday use apart from passwords! Maybe I need to come up with longer word-based passwords with spaces so they’re easier to type. https://xkcd.com/936/
I saw the link and thought to myself “this is gonna be correct horse battery staple isn’t it?”
Lmaooooo
There’s a user called @horse_battery_staple. I enjoyed telling them they were correct recently.
Lol Internet
You can usually shut off the rgb lighting all together.
