I have a new keyboard: the Das Keyboard Model S Professional Cherry MX Blue Mechanical keyboard. It’s my first nice keyboard even though I’ve been making my living on the Internet since the late 1990s. Generally, I just buy … whatever. But my son decided I need a nice keyboard so here I am with my spiffy new board and I’ll tell you what I like about it.
NO: The Ducky One 2 Mini RGB LED 60% Double Shot PBT Mechanical Keyboard
But first, let me say that this is my second ‘nice’ keyboard. I first had a Ducky One 2 Mini RGB LED 60% Double Shot PBT Mechanical Keyboard. I absolutely DETESTED the darn thing. First of all, it’s a short keyboard without all the keys on the Das and it seemed that I was constantly using the Function key which was awkwardly placed and didn’t fit my hands well. There are no number keys and various other keys are missing, resulting in the need to use that Function key a lot. A LOT.
The other thing I didn’t like is that the letters, numbers and symbols are very faint. My son said that’s because the keys are meant to be backlit. There are multi-colored lights which I didn’t like so he turned on the white lights for me. I instantly disliked them. The light seemed jarring to me and seemed as though it would bother my eyes over time. And, in fact, that might be true. Blue-white light is hard on the eyes and I bought a new monitor last year which keeps the light down and I noticed that my eyes weren’t tired at night the way they once were.
In fairness to the Ducky, my dislikes are personal preferences and not an example of Right/Wrong. The short keyboards aren’t nearly as popular as the full-length ones, but there are people who would enjoy the features I didn’t like. And, this Ducky keyboard might be very appropriate for someone with a confined space who must have the smaller size.
Evaluation: I didn’t like it at all but it might be great for someone else. The keyboard itself it obviously well-made and I have no complaints about quality.
YES: The Das Keyboard Model S Professional Cherry MX Blue Mechanical Keyboard
This keyboard suits me perfectly. It’s a “mechanical” keyboard and I had to look that up: “A mechanical keyboard is a keyboard built with high quality, typically spring activated, key switches.” 90% of the keyboards in use today use rubber domes and they’re cheap and affordable but provide a “dissatisfying feel and typing experience”. My experience didn’t seem unsatisfactory until I got this mechanical keyboard.
It’s a full-length keyboard with all the keys I’m used to using. I had no idea how important that would be to me until I didn’t have access to all those keys when using the Ducky.
Secondly, it’s very heavy and solid. My cheaper keyboards would sometimes slide across my desk tray. This one isn’t going anywhere. Of course, that means that if you want a mobile keyboard, this may be a bad choice for you. This keyboard is stationary, though, so the weight works for me.
I mentioned that I didn’t like the faint symbols on the Ducky. This keyboard doesn’t have that problem because the inscriptions are laser-etched to resist fading. The keyboards I’ve had up until now ALWAYS fade. It will be fun to see if these last.
It has two USB ports directly on the keyboard. They’re supposedly great for charging my phone, etc., although I don’t use them for that. It’s always great to have extra ports, though, because I’ve often needed more and in fact have a switch that allows more ports.
I can set my keyboard to “sleep” when I’m not using it, although I haven’t enabled that function up until now.
And there are other features I haven’t really appreciated yet since I’ve only had this keyboard for about a week. For instance, it has gold plated switches for long-term durability and typing with these keys is supposedly easier on the fingers.
IMPORTANT: the Das keyboards use switches from the Cherry company, which has been in business since 1953. There are several switch colors and the color you choose determines features of the keys. I have the one with blue switches, meaning it clicks as I type with the keys. The brown switches are silent ones but my son likes this one and so he ordered it for me. Other colors have different features so make sure you know which color you want before ordering one.
Everything about this keyboard screams “quality”. It’s strong, durable and supposedly will allow up to 50 million keystrokes. Obviously, I can’t speak to that but all my experiences are good up till now. Just like the Ducky, though, these are personal preferences and may be liabilities for someone else. However, if these features are pleasing to YOU, I can’t recommend the Das Model S Professional Cherry MX Blue Mechanical Keyboard enough.
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