Why does no one make a mechanical keyboard with modern features

[ToneStar]

I feel like other than RGB lighting and sometimes programmable keys all of these mechanical keyboards are basically a 1980s keyboard with giant tall keys, little to no comfort features like ergonomics or something to rest your hand / wrist on.

 

How about this for a keyboard design? Why does no one make anything like this?  Seems like it would easily be the top keyboard if they did.

 

1. A slight ergonomic curve like modern Logitech and Microsoft curved keyboards with a wrist pad or placement area.

2. Mechanical / optical switches

3. Low profile keys like a laptop similar to the Tesoro Gram XS or the Cougar Vantar

4. Full keyboard with some programmable keys

5. RGB key back lighting.

6. A nice modern look and feel like a Razor, Logitech or Corsair gaming keyboard.

 

Doesn't have to be wireless, but maybe a wireless version without the RGB.

[Crunchy Dragon]

I thought some keyboards had individual key backlighting.

[Enderman]

1) many keyboards have a wrist rest, like the corsair ones, or you can get a third party one. Most people don't use one. Also ergonomic curves are for typing, not gaming. Also not everyone likes it even for typing.

 

2) You're asking for a mechanical keyboard with mechanical switches? What do you think the part "mechanical" in "mechanical keyboard" means? Also optical switches are just a gimmick, they are basically a useless overcomplication.

 

3) Low profile and mechanical don't go together. The point of it being mechanical is to have the full travel and mechanical feel.

 

4) Plenty of mechanical keyboards have programmable macro keys. Logitech, corsair, razer, etc...

 

5) Tons of mechanical keyboards have programmable RGB per key backlighting. Have you even done a search at all?

 

6) Then get a razer, logitech, or corsair keyboard.

[79wjd]

Most (all?) curved keyboards get their curve through varying key heights -- something that would likely be a turn off for most people (read: purists) who want a mechanical keyboard. Along that same line, I'd guess that most people (again, 'purists') want the travel and don't want a chiclet style key.  Then there is wireless, which until recently had a latency penalty that, again, 'purists' didn't want to deal with, not to mention that wireless basically means no backlight (since battery life would be atrocious), and most people would probably prefer a backlight over wireless making wireless mechanical fairly niche.

 

The rest -- mechanical, programmable/backlight, wrist rest, and nice looking are already satisfied.

[ToneStar]

Just now, Enderman said:

1) many keyboards have a wrist rest, like the corsair ones, or you can get a third party one. Most people don't use one. Also ergonomic curves are for typing, not gaming.

 

2) You're asking for a mechanical keyboard with mechanical switches? What do you think the part "mechanical" in "mechanical keyboard" means? Also optical switches are just a gimmick, they are basically a useless overcomplication.

 

3) Low profile and mechanical don't go together. The point of it being mechanical is to have the full travel and mechanical feel.

 

4) Plenty of mechanical keyboards have programmable macro keys. Logitech, corsair, razer, etc...

 

5) Tons of mechanical keyboards have programmable RGB per key backlighting. Have you even done a search at all?

 

6) Then get a razer, logitech, or corsair keyboard.

 

Yea you are breaking things down individually.  Tell me which keyboard has all of that or even close to all of that, some have 1 feature but not another.

 

There are some that are close but why is being curved with lower profile keys not good for gaming?  Your answer doesn't make any sense.

[ToneStar]

2 minutes ago, 79wjd said:

Most (all?) curved keyboards get their curve through varying key heights -- something that would likely be a turn off for most people (read: purists) who want a mechanical keyboard. Along that same line, I'd guess that most people (again, 'purists') want the travel and don't want a chiclet style key.  Then there is wireless, which until recently had a latency penalty that, again, 'purists' didn't want to deal with, not to mention that wireless basically means no backlight (since battery life would be atrocious), and most people would probably prefer a backlight over wireless making wireless mechanical fairly niche.

 

The rest -- mechanical, programmable/backlight, wrist rest, and nice looking are already satisfied.

Not having wireless is fine, who cares about that really since it just sits there.  I just feel like we went back in time for the sake of mechanical, why not make the mechanical keyboard with the slight ergonomics of a microsoft curve with a little bit lower profile keys?

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, ToneStar said:

Yea you are breaking things down individually.  Tell me which keyboard has all of that or even close to all of that, some have 1 feature but not another.

 

There are some that are close but why is being curved with lower profile keys not good for gaming?  Your answer doesn't make any sense.

There isn't a keyboard with all of those things because nobody would buy it. Why do you think so few people buy "ergonomic keyboards" in the first place.

 

Also almost all (good quality) mechanical keyboards use cherry MX switches, which is not "low profile".

[ToneStar]

3 minutes ago, 79wjd said:

Most (all?) curved keyboards get their curve through varying key heights -- something that would likely be a turn off for most people (read: purists) who want a mechanical keyboard. Along that same line, I'd guess that most people (again, 'purists') want the travel and don't want a chiclet style key.  Then there is wireless, which until recently had a latency penalty that, again, 'purists' didn't want to deal with, not to mention that wireless basically means no backlight (since battery life would be atrocious), and most people would probably prefer a backlight over wireless making wireless mechanical fairly niche.

 

The rest -- mechanical, programmable/backlight, wrist rest, and nice looking are already satisfied.

Here is something to think about with travel height, an Xbox Controller, gaming mice, PS4 controller etc all pull this off fine without sacrificing anything.  We aren't using NES shaped controllers so why are we using 1980s shaped keyboards?

[ToneStar]

3 minutes ago, Enderman said:

There isn't a keyboard with all of those things because nobody would buy it. Why do you think so few people buy "ergonomic keyboards" in the first place.

 

Also almost all (good quality) mechanical keyboards use cherry MX switches, which is not "low profile".

I would guarantee you that the highest selling 3rd party keyboards are the curved keyboards sold by logitech and microsoft.  Go to a best buy and see which are the most common keyboards, obviously those are likely the highest selling. If we are talking about Apple and Dell or some shit they don't do that for specific reasons, Apple just wants some tiny looking cool keyboard for a marketing gimmick and dell just wants to sell you a cheap piece of shit that cost $1 to make.

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, ToneStar said:

I would guarantee you that the highest selling 3rd party keyboards are the curved keyboards sold by logitech and microsoft.  Go to a best buy and see which are the most common keyboards, obviously those are likely the highest selling. If we are talking about Apple and Dell or some shit they don't do that for specific reasons, Apple just wants some tiny looking cool keyboard for a marketing gimmick and dell just wants to sell you a cheap piece of shit that cost $1 to make.

Oh hey look, all the top selling keyboards are NOT curved.

https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=keyboard

[79wjd]

10 minutes ago, ToneStar said:

Here is something to think about with travel height, an Xbox Controller, gaming mice, PS4 controller etc all pull this off fine without sacrificing anything.  We aren't using NES shaped controllers so why are we using 1980s shaped keyboards?

There is a very big difference between a mouse/controller and a keyboard. Specifically, the entire use case.

11 minutes ago, ToneStar said:

Not having wireless is fine, who cares about that really since it just sits there.  I just feel like we went back in time for the sake of mechanical, why not make the mechanical keyboard with the slight ergonomics of a microsoft curve with a little bit lower profile keys?

Because people don't want lower profile keys and again, curved keyboards require varying height keys, which will affect the consistent and predictable typing experience -- which is the whole point of a mechanical keyboard.

[ToneStar]

10 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Oh hey look, all the top selling keyboards are NOT curved.

https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=keyboard

Are you sure about that?  You didn't filter by best selling or anything like that.

 

Show me a keyboard with more reviews than these.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergonomic-Keyboard-Business/dp/B004SUIM4E/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1545872987&sr=1-1&keywords=microsoft+keyboard

https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-MK550-Wireless-Keyboard-Mouse/dp/B003VAHYNC/ref=sr_1_19?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1545873212&sr=1-19&keywords=logitech+keyboard

 

 

[Enderman]

7 minutes ago, ToneStar said:

Are you sure about that?  You didn't filter by best selling or anything like that.

 

Show me a keyboard with more reviews than these.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergonomic-Keyboard-Business/dp/B004SUIM4E/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1545872987&sr=1-1&keywords=microsoft+keyboard

https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-MK550-Wireless-Keyboard-Mouse/dp/B003VAHYNC/ref=sr_1_19?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1545873212&sr=1-19&keywords=logitech+keyboard

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-MK270-Wireless-Keyboard-Mouse/dp/B00BP5KOPA/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1545873615&sr=8-8&keywords=keyboard

lol

[DarkEnergy]

8 minutes ago, ToneStar said:

Are you sure about that?  You didn't filter by best selling or anything like that.

 

Show me a keyboard with more reviews than these.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergonomic-Keyboard-Business/dp/B004SUIM4E/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1545872987&sr=1-1&keywords=microsoft+keyboard

https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-MK550-Wireless-Keyboard-Mouse/dp/B003VAHYNC/ref=sr_1_19?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1545873212&sr=1-19&keywords=logitech+keyboard

 

 

Perhaps those have lots of reviews because ergonomic keyboards aren't as common as regular keyboards so there's less quality ergonomic keyboards to choose from, resulting in those receiving high review count. 

 

I get what your're saying about keyboards but I think it's a bit niche of a market, and niche doesn't sell very well so they haven't made something like what you're looking for yet. Someone looking for rgb and programmable keys probably doesn't want to feel like they're typing on a laptop. And those that do are very few.

[cretsiah]

I dont think you can be a Mechanical Keyboard Purist unless your using an:

 

IBM Model M 1984

Made in the USA

Part Number: 1391401

I. D. Number: 6406891

Date: 09-06-90

 

which im currently using on win7 64-bit home premium

No windows Key

No MultiMedia Keys

3 lights Num Lock, Caps Lock, Scroll Lock

PS/2 Port connector

 

PMSL

[seon123]

1 minute ago, cretsiah said:

I dont think you can be a Mechanical Keyboard Purist unless your using an:

 

IBM Model M 1984

How about a Model F? Those are often considered to be better. Though more of a pita to get working. 

[DrDerp]

If you want a keyboard with all of these features the only thing you can do is build it yourself. There’s a reason why these don’t sell well, as its too niche. If you haven’t looked into building one but want someone else to build it for you I don’t think that’s gonna happen, too expensive with no good ROI.

[d3adc3II]

4 hours ago, ToneStar said:

How about this for a keyboard design? Why does no one make anything like this?  Seems like it would easily be the top keyboard if they did.

 

1. A slight ergonomic curve like modern Logitech and Microsoft curved keyboards with a wrist pad or placement area.

2. Mechanical / optical switches

3. Low profile keys like a laptop similar to the Tesoro Gram XS or the Cougar Vantar

4. Full keyboard with some programmable keys

5. RGB key back lighting.

6. A nice modern look and feel like a Razor, Logitech or Corsair gaming keyboard.

 

Doesn't have to be wireless, but maybe a wireless version without the RGB.

There is one, such as this : https://en.roccat.org/Keyboards/Vulcan

 

It has all features you need, and yes, it does not sell well.