First, a disclaimer: I do not encourage fanciness in any way. It has been proven times and times again that the great work can be done from any setup. Heck George R.R. Martin still use Wordstar 4.0 for all writing he does. And I would be the happiest man alive if I was to live according to this philosophy. However, I am a fancy-ass, and there is no escaping that. So here goes:
The Decision
It was the beginning of the winter term and my classes have just started. I never expected a class in discrete math to be an incentive for buying a keyboard, however one thing happened: homework in LaTeX. All of the sudden, I was writing 300 lines of that typesetting mistake a day. This, together with weekly 500 word essays made me rediscover one of the biggest flaws of Apple computers: they are extremely uncomfortable. My hands and my wrists started to hurt by week 3 (yes, I am a pussy), and I needed to do something about it. A standalone keyboard was an obvious choice, however, I didn’t know what to to – I have never bought a keyboard. Somehow, there was always an extra keyboard around, and I never had to worry about it. My first urge was to buy something cheap and simple, however, I was intrigued by the idea of a mechanical keyboard. I have tried the Das Keyboard 2 in the past, however, since I always had keyboards lying around, I couldn’t justify spending $XXX on a keyboard. Now, when I didn’t have a keyboard available, and I needed to splurge my own money on it, I wanted the best I could get. The long research, together with a couple of hours on /r/mechanicalkeyboards led me to a conclusion that it’s best for me to stick with what I knew that was good – Das Keyboard in it’s newest iteration with blue switches. For the extra coolness effect (and because there was a sale), I took the badass, blank options.
The only other option I was considering was Unicomp’s take on the famous Model M Space Saver. It’s a classic, but as they are running on a really tight budget, quality control suffers. The $20 difference (DK was on Amazon Student sale) for additional assurance and warranty is well worth it. Is a Das better than Model M? Probably not, but it’s much cooler (and that is just as important).
The Experience
Was it worth it? Heck yeah! I did not realize how important keyboards actually are. If you spend 8 hours in front of the keyboard, it is the most important tool you have. As ESR said in one of his blog posts, keyboards are not a detail!
For anybody who does programming or writing on a computer, your keyboard is your most important tangible tool. It’s the one part of your machine that you touch constantly, the most physical interface you have with the computer. Tiny details about it can have a measurable impact on your productivity. A bad one won’t just slow you down, it will hurt you – causing or aggravating RSI (repetitive strain injuries) in the hands and arms.
The typing is just so much smoother, faster (although not a 100% speedup they once promised), and overall became a pleasant event, rather than a painful necessity. Once typing is an event, even boring writing projects become less boring. All of the sudden, life behind the keyboard becomes a little bit nicer. Is that worth $XXX for a good mech? For me it is.
And how is my Das holding up after a year of hard use?
It’s great! It works like a charm; had not had any problem and/or complaint yet. Yes, maybe it would be nice to have a detachable cord, but that is a small complaint for such a great piece of hardware.
Am I capable of doing anything that couldn’t be done with a $10 keyboard? No!
But I sure am enjoying what I do much more with my Das!