For those that remember using a 286/386/486 PC will all have probably started off with some drab grey/beige made by IBM and then later on something fancy from the likes of Logitech. If you consider that millions upon millions of people are using a keyboard in front of their PC at work or at home, most of the time it is one of the most overlooked PC peripheral. We type our documents with it, we game with, we mash the keys for stress relief, we use the keypad as a calculator.
在过去的6个月里，我一直在努力寻找适合我的键盘。在我最终清理掉桌面上的乱七八糟的东西之后，我只想重新获得更多的桌面空间。我目前使用的是Thermaltake Poseidon RGB游戏键盘，虽然它非常有用，但我后脑勺一直在唠叨，我需要更多的东西……。。个性化。Thermaltake Poseidon Z RGB全尺寸键盘可能是世界上最小的全尺寸游戏键盘之一；顶部没有媒体按钮，没有智能手机支架，没有花哨的旋钮，按键周围的挡板非常薄。
Firstly, I wanted to reduce the size of my keyboard. I’ve come to realise I hardly ever use my the keypad on my keyboard, and I don’t need any fancy control keys or knobs. In 3 months of research and testing I had a look at 60%, 70% and 80% keyboards from various manufacturers, weighing up the pros and cons of each. I did give the 40% Vortex Core a thorough workout, but there were too many keys that I needed which I had to do 3-button combinations to get. Next was a 60% keyboard.
虽然60%的键盘肯定能让我重新利用桌面空间，而且它们看起来很漂亮，但我一直在伸手去拿光标键，但它们不在那里，所以我只好抓住鼠标，重新定位鼠标光标。那么70%的键盘呢？
嗯…。布局越来越好。更好，但仍然不是我想要的。现在，光标键位于右下角，隐藏在附近的其他键中，所以我一直按这些键。也许随着时间的延长，我的肌肉记忆会适应这种狭窄的布局，但我想要F键……
So we reach the 80% keyboard, also known as various names such as TKL (Ten Key Less) or 87 keys. The easiest way to explain the layout of a TKL keyboard is that of a full size keyboard and you chop off the number pad. The cursor keys are separate from the other keys, you get the full F keys from F1 to F12 in a separate row above the number keys, and there the Ins, Home, PgUp, Pg,Dn, Del and End keys in their own separate part of the keyboard. After a weeks of testing with a TKL keyboard I knew this was the right size for me.
Next was the connection; wireless or wired. This was a simple decision. Used main with my Hackintosh, a wireless keyboard would only work once the system had booted into the operating system, so if I want to change anything prior to that, say in the BIOS, it wouldn’t work…..sometimes the simplest solution turns out to the be the only solution….
在这一点上，我订阅了各种销售键盘的在线商店，几乎每天我都会收到几封关于新键盘销售的电子邮件，或者类似于即将推出的小键盘上的Massdrop…。。
Now came the most difficult decision to make, what type of switches to have. My Thermaltake Poseidon Z RGB has Cherry MX blues…..boy are they clicky. Whilst they are decent in lightness when you press (50 cN), I wanted something a little lighter. So something less clicky and lighter than the Cherry MX blues…..my attention then turned to Cherry MX Reds and Browns; a choice between having a tactile bump or not. Whilst that small bump of a Cherry MX brown switch is quite satisfying, I wanted less ‘disturbance’ with my key press, an unadulterated key press……so Cherry MX red then.
Wait, I then happened upon the other multitude of colour switches from Cherry, and had a chance to play with Cherry MX silver switches, and my heart was set. Feeling exactly like Cherry MX reds, the silver switches have a shorter travel distance, which enables faster key presses and less finger travel distance. The problem then came to finding keyboards that come with Cherry MX silver switches, and they are harder to find.
在寻找更小的键盘时，我意识到一件事是，更少的按键并不意味着更低的成本…。事实恰恰相反，因为所有这些60%、70%和TKL键盘都有额外的成本。当我看到漩涡键盘有多大时，我犹豫了。还有TADA68，它要么是DIY套件形式的，要么是已经组装好的，看起来像是一个爱好者键盘，价格不便宜，但加上一个铝外壳和价格火箭。我去了瓦米洛斯的网站，定制了一个TKL键盘…。总共超过250美元！
最后，我终于决定买一个蓝/灰TKL版本的Ducky One键盘，但似乎没有人卖它，除了老淘宝，现在我已经订购了我的完美键盘。
为你的需求和喜好找到合适的键盘就像寻找一双运动鞋；有太多的选择，你真的需要开始过滤所有的选项，直到你找到适合你的。当然，你可以穿一双Yeezy's跑步鞋，你喜欢它的外观，但它们不是为这个功能设计的。和键盘一样，你使用的是戴尔电脑附带的通用键盘，但它并不适合你。
