The Ultimate keyboard (that hasn't been made yet...)
So after buying waaay too many keyboards, I've come to the conclusion that the ultimate keyboard with ALL of the features doesn't exist yet, and maybe it's because manufacturing such a beast would be a nightmare and maybe nobody would buy it? Here's my laundry list though of things I'd want on it and the current keyboard with that function:
- Hot swappable sockets for magnetic or mechanical switches (FUN60 Ultra TMR)
- Magnetic ball catch mechanism for taking off the case (Evo80)
- A multifunction knob with a touch screen in it (Freya)
- A custom weight plate (Zoom65 V3)
- A variety of Positioning plates - Alu, FR4, CF, PC, PP, POM, Brass, Cu
- A place to store the 2.4G dongle (Zoom65 V3) with a separate magnetic plate
- A place to store a keycap puller (Steelseries Apex Pro)
- QMK/VIA (Evo80)
- All settings including macros stored on keyboard (like QMK/VIA)
- Web based HE configuration (Wooting 80HE, Nuphy Field 75 HE)
- 7 mounting styles (Zoom65 V3) + Leaf Spring option, maybe "Le Tray" mount option
- It should sound thocky (Chilkey ND75)
- North or South facing RGB (FUN60)
- HE features: RT, Actuation distance, SOCD, DKS, MT, HT
- Change Profile switch (Nuphy Air75HE)
- Change 2.4G/BT/USB switch
- 2 x 4000mAh batteries
Hmm did I miss anything? Maybe a TFT screen below completely transparent keycaps so you can customize your "virtual keycaps" like a Flux Keyboard... Not sure I would go for that or not.. If they can actually release the Flux Keyboard and produce it, it would be wild since I think it will do most of what I've mentioned above.. Plus it has modular components so you can add switches, keys and displays on the fly! (If they can actually make it of course.. ) Anyway what would you pay for the "Ultimate" keyboard? I'd say it would need to be just under $200 to make it really worth it, but I know that'll never happen. I'd be willing to pay up to $500 though I guess since it doesn't exist yet.
My thoughts have changed on the subject of the ultimate keyboard now and I think I've come to the conclusion that there isn't really such a thing. Fundamentally you want a keyboard to behave differently for gaming versus typing. When typing, I don't want any super sensitive keys because I will miss type keys all the time, and instead I want some sort of tactility to know exactly when the key has been pressed or at least I should have a very good idea of when a key is pressed or not pressed. For typing it is very binary. When gaming I really want to be able to spam a single key repeatedly and then stop it and/or if I am using it as a type of "pedal" where it is analog, I want to have a wide range of motion so I can actually control the depth of the push. I don't want a "bump" in my gaming keyboard because then I'll lose control of exactly how far down I'm pressing it at any given moment. BUT there could be something said for making a "textured" magnetic switch because then based on how much "scratch" you hear it might actually provide feedback about how far down you've pressed a key instead of having silent super smooth linear switches that while they are very precise, do not necessarily provide the best feedback as far as knowing how far down you've pressed a key... So for typing I think the Cherry MX Black Hyperglide switches with TX AP films and NO lube, along with 40g activation, 45g bottom out single stage springs feel best for typing. They let me type super fast and they give both feel and sound feedback so it is very easy to type quickly and accurately. I like the acoustics of Qwertykey's Neo keyboards though the RGB and other features like knobs and screens is usually lacking. I like the Monsgeek M1 V5 TMR gaming keyboard because it can take both normal mechanical and magnetic switches at the same time, and it has a ball catch mechanism to open the board. The sound will never be that great until they redo the way magnetic switches are made with large diameter stems, and nobody has made a "textured" sound magnetic switch yet. The Owlabs Ti magnetic switches sound pretty good, but they still don't compare to the sound of most mechanical switches because of the stem size limitation. I think the stem size could be reduced on TMR keyboards because TMR is more sensitive and smaller magnets could be used, but then the market would be too niche and shut out all of the less sensitive Hall Effect keyboards and then it wouldn't be economically feasible to actually produce a smaller magnet thinner stem textured magnetic switch just for TMR keyboards (of which I think only 2 exist both made by Monsgeek).
ReplyDeleteAh well for now I'll just have multiple keyboards for different purposes!