Ask Lemmy

WASD Keyboards

I am very late to the party but a friend gave me one of these. Better than any keyboard I have ever had and I'm an old bastard.

https://mistelkeyboard.com/products/aff922daf90083d4382a8e6583885571

You need to leave away the firstname "Gaming" from your search terms.

I use a Cooler Master Masterkeys Pro M white LED board with MX Blue switches. It's nominally a gaming board but it's very subtle, the "It's a gaming product so it has to look like Gigatron's left knee cap" is held to a minimum. I mainly use the backlights in the "all keys lit" mode at its dimmest brightness or turned off.

The Logitech K845 only has a white backlight. It's a really clean, professional looking mechanical.

Did Das Keyboard go RGB? That’s a (pricey) but great keyboard.

E: just had a quick look. Still expensive, backlit but not RGB, full keyboard. We’ve had one for a decade.

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.

Filco is a typist's professional keyboard.

I love the WASD Code it's just built like a workhorse. Their newer models have backlighting but it's all white, the only thing you can RGB is the 3 indicator LEDs (caps lock etc...) which are very discrete and personalizing them is entirely optional. No software, everything is done & stored on-board. They're pricy but usually they'll have some banger black friday or holiday sales.

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.

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.

HHKB could be an option or not i use a laptop's keyboard as a main.

I'd be happy with a keyboard deeper than the apparent 1mm the junk is going with.

As a bonus, one that's easier to vacuum for cat hair and similar detritus.

As a second bonus, one I can frustratingly pound when fingers/coding are betraying me. I will never manage that anger.

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.