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keyboard with smooth scroll wheel

FlyingPotato_is_taken
By FlyingPotato_is_taken
in Peripherals
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Recently bought a Surface Dial as dedicated scroll wheel but it is heavy/difficult to turn, not smooth at all and doesn't have "mouse" acceleration. As the market for decent USB scroll wheels is small I might as well look at the keyboards:

 

- mechanical

- outstanding knob or joystick that can be used as a scroll wheel (very smooth operation) 

- hotswap preferred

- wireless preferred

- backlight preferred

- ISO-DE layout

- LCD preferred

- as close as possible to a 100% layout (as long as the scroll wheel is outstanding I would be willing to go as low as 75%).

- around $100 prior to mods

- no aluminium keyplate! they are too loud

- macros are irrelevant

 

The Declaration of Independence, once the charter of democracy, begins by saying that certain things are self-evident. If we were to trace the history of the American mind from Thomas Jefferson to William James, we should find that fewer and fewer things were self-evident, until at last hardly anything is self-evident. (G. K. Chesterton - Aug. 14 1926 (The Illustrated London News))

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I presume there is a reason why you can't use a mouse scroll wheel, and it would be gauche to ask what it is.

 

I am pretty sure what you want does not exist. Your requirements are too specific and at cross-purposes with each other. Keyboards with wheels/knobs are already a tiny subset of the market, and then you want a bunch of other premium bells and whistles, but you don't want an aluminum backplate which is seen as a premium feature and almost a staple on high-end mechanical keyboards, and you also want it all for the relatively low price of $100. 

Corps aren't your friends. "Bottleneck calculators" are BS. Only suckers buy based on brand. It's your PC, do what makes you happy.  If your build meets your needs, you don't need anyone else to "rate" it for you. And talking about being part of a "master race" is cringe. Watch this space for further truths people need to hear.

 

 

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Kind of seems like you should just buy a trackpad.
I use the Magic Trackpad on my Windows PC and it's effective enough.

 

[Trackpad] [75% keyboard] [Mouse]

this is my layout. Left hand for trackpad scrolling if I don't want to use the scroll wheel on my mouse.

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1 hour ago, Middcore said:

I presume there is a reason why you can't use a mouse scroll wheel, and it would be gauche to ask what it is.

 

Comfort. 

Scrolling a lot and a mouse wheel on a G305 is okay but not great.

 

SpaceMouse does work but doesn't have good mouse acceleration making it not a solution for scrolling. Haptics on this thing is awesome.

Microsoft surface dial. heavy, not smooth and no acceleration.

 

 

1 hour ago, Middcore said:

and you also want it all for the relatively low price of $100. 

There are a lot of great keyboards out there at this price and a lot of them have knobs but without any physical store  there is no option to just test them to know who has the best.

 

1 hour ago, Middcore said:

ur requirements are too specific and at cross-purposes with each other.

Is it? something with a usable layout that has a good knob. Everything else is optional. that's it.

 

1 hour ago, saintlouisbagels said:

Kind of seems like you should just buy a trackpad.

Knob is nicer. I only use the trackpad on my laptop for short scrolls (which I am not looking for). Everything else is done with the TrackPoint on the laptop so I doubt I would enjoy a trackpad. TrackPoint's are impossible on a desktop (Tek shinobi but that thing is over 200€ without any option to try it first and the IBM M13 are rare).

The Declaration of Independence, once the charter of democracy, begins by saying that certain things are self-evident. If we were to trace the history of the American mind from Thomas Jefferson to William James, we should find that fewer and fewer things were self-evident, until at last hardly anything is self-evident. (G. K. Chesterton - Aug. 14 1926 (The Illustrated London News))

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When you say smooth operation, I understand it should not have any 'indents' or tactile feedback? Or just very easy to turn?

 

And looking at the Surface Dial, it is quite a lot larger than the usual keyboard know. those are usually on the order of a keycap or slightly larger. So the size doesn't matter for the use case?

 

If it is really only about the dial, I would look into custom macro pads and rotary encoders, not into full keyboards. Simply put, only a tiny fraction of the budget goes into the knob on a typical keyboard, but a larger fraction goes into one on a macro pad.

 

e.g. stuff like these: https://drop.com/buy/megalodon-dual-layer-knob-macro-pad?defaultSelectionIds=984203, https://drop.com/buy/megalodon-triple-knob-macro-pad?defaultSelectionIds=983859, https://drop.com/buy/binepad-bnk9-macropad) (ignore that they are all from drop, I just had that page open. You should be able to find these at other places as well).

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2 hours ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

 not have any 'indents' or tactile feedback? Or just very easy to turn?

Both.

2 hours ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

So the size doesn't matter for the use case?

No. Just easy to scroll. 

Size of the surface dial is already larger than I like.

 

2 hours ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

I would look into custom macro pads and rotary encoders

What is a good option?

Sofar I am only aware of the surface dial I have and these China offerings ( https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006020111017.html ) I don't expect much of. The product picture already shows horrific tool scattering in the milled part so who knows how good the overall build quality is.

 

 

14 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

As in a LCD screen? Why?

Keyboards like the Royal Kludge S98 allow multiple modes. press down on the button to switch them.

What is currently active is shown on the display. 

Otherwise time and date is nice.

That a keyboard comes with an integrated calculator is unrealistic but would be nice to have.

The Declaration of Independence, once the charter of democracy, begins by saying that certain things are self-evident. If we were to trace the history of the American mind from Thomas Jefferson to William James, we should find that fewer and fewer things were self-evident, until at last hardly anything is self-evident. (G. K. Chesterton - Aug. 14 1926 (The Illustrated London News))

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25 minutes ago, FlyingPotato_is_taken said:

What is a good option?

Sofar I am only aware of the surface dial I have and these China offerings

2 hours ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

e.g. stuff like these: https://drop.com/buy/megalodon-dual-layer-knob-macro-pad?defaultSelectionIds=984203, https://drop.com/buy/megalodon-triple-knob-macro-pad?defaultSelectionIds=983859, https://drop.com/buy/binepad-bnk9-macropad) (ignore that they are all from drop, I just had that page open. You should be able to find these at other places as well).

 

 

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@GarlicDeliverySystemMassdrop is USA which makes them price prohibitive/bad value for money:

19% tax + (likely) high shipping cost that is also taxed with 19%.

 

So the $70 would likley at the end of the day cost 100€.

The Declaration of Independence, once the charter of democracy, begins by saying that certain things are self-evident. If we were to trace the history of the American mind from Thomas Jefferson to William James, we should find that fewer and fewer things were self-evident, until at last hardly anything is self-evident. (G. K. Chesterton - Aug. 14 1926 (The Illustrated London News))

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7 minutes ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:
2 hours ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

e.g. stuff like these: https://drop.com/buy/megalodon-dual-layer-knob-macro-pad?defaultSelectionIds=984203, https://drop.com/buy/megalodon-triple-knob-macro-pad?defaultSelectionIds=983859, https://drop.com/buy/binepad-bnk9-macropad) (ignore that they are all from drop, I just had that page open. You should be able to find these at other places as well).

 

 

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