My MacBook Air default keyboard
I really like concave keyboards, and maybe someday I’ll invest in one (I previously used a Kinesis 2 but the company kept it when I left).
But besides the brief Kinesis foray, I have used the MS Ergo Sculpt since…2014, I think. It’s honestly pretty nice, especially since I don’t really care about mechanical keycaps and I value portability. (The only portability downside is that I need to manually put something in the battery compartment to keep it powered off while traveling, because for some reason it has no off-switch.)
Mattias ergo pro - adjustable, split, and ALPs style switches
I built a “Caldera” using the guide that ex Apollo dev Christian provided and have been extremely happy with it in the past few months I’ve been using it full time.
ZSA Voyager for over a year now, and the other ZSA boards since about 2018.
image (not mine)
I’ve been really happy with it, and it helps me type fast. I do tend to slam the keys down sometimes but it’s held up great. I was able to stop using a mouse- the key-driven mouse motion is intuitive enough for me.
Took me a bit to get used to the reduced key layout, but it’s actually turned out to be just enough. I see some people with even fewer keys! Will need to try that out sometime.
Just running a base hardware configuration with Kalih Choc Brown switches and a custom layout that does not use any chording or timing-based layer switching, only holding.
Would like to try building my own someday.
Scylla Dactyl.
Which is what you have under “Dactyl” but the usual Dactyl is much more boxy.
Keychron q10 max Alice layout, so sweet
Keychron K3.
It’s low-profile (no twisted wrist!), wireless (Bluetooth), has RGB (though I have it set to white), small enough to drag to work, and with the Keychron Mint keys (there’s also a Gateron version) - I’ve tried all their keys except brown because I never liked browns, ever. Black and red are too light - can’t rest my fingers on them without accidentally press them. Blue and orange are too clicky for work, and Mint is what I ended up liking - they’re like browns, but the click is way higher, which feels sooo comfy, instead of weirdly squishy.
Been looking at the Kinesis 360 (?), but I can’t find low-profile keys for it, and the available options are rather lacking for a 650 EUR keyboard (I kinda want the wireless one).
Me and the homes at work are all sporting the HP slim. https://www.amazon.com/Business-Enhanced-Keyboard-HP-803823-001/dp/B017JP0GS4
ZSA Voyager.
I’ve been using this for a while now, both at work and a home, they’re relatively cheap to build and tick almost every box for my usage: https://github.com/mmccoyd/hillside open hw/sw
The corne 3x6, but you can convert it into the corne 36 by breaking off the edge of the pcb. I have several of them.
Here is what I use. The split mechanical one is from Keebio. I don’t think they stock the PCB I used any more. It’s called the Viterbi and I like it a lot. It’s just 2 simple 7x5 ortho boards with an option for a 2u spacebar on the bottom inside keys on both halves.
My other keyboard is a Kensington Pro Fit Ergonomic Wired Keyboard. It’s about 40 dollars on Amazon. I got it because I was learning Blender and it uses hotkeys on the numpad and other keys I don’t have on my Viterbi.Oh and I built the Viterbi with Gateron yellow switches which are like Cherry red but with a heavier actuation because I tend to accidentally press keys with red switches.
Odin75 with HMX Macchiato switches. No exotic layouts or anything, just a good board
I use 2 keyboards primarily.
-
SliceMK ErgoDox Lite - I daily drive this keyboard in particular at home. I was surprised how much you can do with the configurator app. The developer is very active and responsive in his discord. Using the config tool I was able to reproduce all the same layers that my Moonlander has and the keyboard works just as well except that it’s wireless.
-
ZSA Moonlander Mk 1 - I use this keyboard daily when working. It’s packed with features and feels great to use. My only complaint has always been the 1U modifier keys. I got big hands and it’s easy for me to slip up and miss modifiers. Other than that it’s a fantastic keyboard and I’d daily drive it if those modifier keys were longer. The Oryx configurator app is really fluid. I like that it’s integrated with GitHub for version control of your keyboard firmware. Also really cool that you can turn this keyboard into a mini midi controller
-