Sadly, and this is a consequence of living in a small country, Matthew only had the TK with Cherry MX Brown switches, which need medium force without returning the satisfying click. This makes it wonderful for keyboard manufacturers, who can churn these out at low cost, but the typing experience is less than satisfactory, especially if you type a lot. They only have a sheet with a printed circuit and contacts underneath, sending electronic signals to the computer. This is the reason mechanical keyboards cost more: modern ones, the $20 variety you see at Dick Smith, don’t have individual switches underneath each key. Keyboards should make a little click noise as the keys are depressed: that’s the mechanical switch getting activated. This was familiar territory to me, and probably most people who are my age and up. My Pinterest is full of blue-switch compact keyboards. Over the years I had eyed the TK with Cherry MX Blue switches: the clicky ones. However, Atech had two, starting from NZ$160. The trouble always was the price: I have seen them go for over NZ$200, and I’ve toyed with bringing one in on a business trip. I have long been a fan of the Cooler Master Storm Quick Fire TK, which suits my requirements to a T. And he had just the thing: a mechanical keyboard for about 10 times the price of the old Manhattan. He knew my plight because I had told him on previous visits: that’s the beauty of going to a smaller store and getting personal service. I visited Matthew Sew Hoy at Atech Computers on Wakefield Street. I also need a numeric keypad since I type in European languages, and Windows wants you to use the numeric keypad, unlike Mac. To save you clicking through to the old post, I dislike reaching for a mouse (and I’m getting progressively fussier with those, too), and the 16-inch width is something I found I was comfortable with after years of typing. But, if there was a fluke and there was something that was the equivalent of the dead Manhattan, I probably would have got it. (I can tolerate maybe an other half-inch on top of that at a pinch.) If anything, I only popped by these stores because they were en route from the Railway Station into town and I was using public transport that day. I looked in the usual places, such as Dick Smith and Noël Leeming, knowing that they wouldn’t have what I sought: a decent keyboard operated on scissor-switches, that was a maximum of 16 inches wide. Sadly, those are all that are left here, other than the scissor-switch one on my Asus laptop.Īs I headed out to town, there weren’t many alternatives. Now, I could have moved another keyboard from one of the less utilized machines, but, faced with the prospect of finishing a book chapter this weekend, I didn’t savour the prospect of typing on a membrane keyboard. ![]() However, on Tuesday, I found myself needing one pretty quick smart. I tend to buy these things based on their practical value, and I’ve gone through my history of finding the right keyboard elsewhere. I’m not entirely sure why but through its lifetime, there were two things wrong with it: the first was that regular typing wore off the keys’ markings (not an issue since I touch-type, and they were in Arial, so it was a pleasure to see them gone) and the wiring was conking out, as it would disconnect itself from the USB for about five seconds a day. On Tuesday, my Manhattan keyboard, for which I gave a glowing review on Amazon, gave up the ghost. The Cooler Master Storm Quick Fire TK, with white case.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |