Keyboard Rabbit Hole?

The peripherals we're given for work suck; extremely so. CHI buys everyone crap Dells, which come with crap mice and super crap membrane keyboards. Some of the keyboards have actual keycaps, while some are much closer in design to a laptop keyboard and almost completely flat.

The first thing I replaced though was the mouse. I purchased a Glorious Model I gaming mouse. I had been using Patrick's old Logitech G502, but it was so heavy despite it being wired that it was fatiguing with 8 hours of use. Bu I love the overall ergonomics of the mouse with the thumb rest (that infinite scroll wheel though? UGH). When I saw a review for the Glorious I, I figured I had to try it. Not only was it ergonomic, but it had holes in it (racing holes!! lol jk) in order to make it extremely light. Yes, this mouse would normally be used for FPS gaming but there's no rule saying I can't use it too. I actually really like the mouse; it's so easy to move around that it makes using it all day much easier.

A while ago, I had replaced their crap keyboard with a "cheap" mechanical gaming keyboard from Royal Kludge. (What a name, huh?). It needed a few important things. 

#1 - Mechanical. Membrane keyboards are just horrible to type on. I had been using a mechanical keyboard at home for years and I was much more used to it. In fact, my keyboard at home is from Mountain. It's modular with a removable numpad and hot-swappable keys.

#2 - Backlit. It didn't need to be RGB, but I needed to be able to see my keys better because I still touch type a lot.

#3 - Numpad. This is where all the money is. I could get a decently-priced 60% mechanical keyboard but I need the numpad for work so it limited my options to more expensive stuff.

As for the Royal Kludge, I mean, it fit the bill. I was able to get it with Cherry Reds, which are linear and quiet, and it came with RGB that I kept on a static blue/teal color. But I did have to modify it a bit in order to get it more usable. It has an acrylic-defused RGB ring around the edges which gave the typing a very hollow, pinging noise that was incredibly annoying so I added some foam inside to help with that. And then I added o-rings to the keys to help quiet it down. It only helped so much. Cheap is cheap. 

But I finally decided to splurge a little bit and bought myself a new keyboard for my workplace. I don't work from home, so it's kind of a "waste of money" in a way to buy myself things for work because I don't get reimbursed for them even though I only use them at work. It just makes my life a lot easier.

So, I bought something better now that I hope I will never have to replace. The funny thing is that I'd seen a review of this keyboard on Short Circuit a while back but I didn't remember it, and I only heard from the other youtuber's I watch how good Keychron products are.

I purchased the Keychron K4 96% mechanical keyboard that had hot-swappable Gateron Reds with the aluminum frame for $109. A few things sold me, here. The first one being that it had hot-swappable keys. Although I had bought the Gateron Red version, at home I had Cherry MX Silent Reds and I could easily hear the difference, so I knew I was going to end up replacing the keys. What I ended up doing is putting in my Silent Reds from my home keyboard because I needed the silence at work more than at home. So that was a free upgrade. I also added the foam that came in the packaging to the bottom of the board, and took out the o-rings from my Royal Kludge board and added them to this one. It's so dang quiet it's incredible. (I type hard and bottom out all my keys, so it's quiet even despite that. If I typed like a normal person it'd be practically silent.)

Another thing that sold me, besides the fact that it was RGB backlit, was the 96% layout. It's kind of an odd duck, but it's perfect for my needs, where I can still have a full numpad but get rid of all that empty space between so that it's basically the size of a keyboard without a numpad, saving desk space. It also has the option for bluetooth connectivity, which isn't super important to me but a nice to have if I want to get rid of the cord.

I kind of see the appeal of building my own keyboard now. I don't think I could fall as far as Random Frank P, but I certainly can see the appeal.

And now my desk is much nicer to be at, for sure. It didn't even cost me that much in the end. It's worth it when you spend 8 hours a day there, you know?