In your own home where nobody else can hear you typing, that's fine.
In a crowded office environment, eliminating that awful clickity clack of those keyboards, is a god send.
If one has grown up in a world without typewriters, this is an understandable sentiment.
I grew up in a world before PC's. To me high tech back then were spinning tape drives.
I greatly appreciate the tranquility of modern keyboards.
Even my $20 Logitech keyboard-mouse combo bought at Costco, that I use at the office, is a hell of a lot quieter.
But as long as your neighbours don't complain and you're happy, is all that matters.
Keep in mind it was the feel of the Selectric I was praising. I could do without the sound of keys striking paper.
I grew up using "full travel" keys - mostly on 101-key keyboards and some electric typewriters and standalone word processors. I had no trouble adapting to Apple's "reduced travel" keys. The "narrow travel" keyboard on the current MacBook borders on the limit of comfort and usability for me. I don't think I'd much care for a "travel-less" keyboard. Touch typing on an iPad quickly makes the tips of my fingers sore. I think a keyboard needs at least some amount of travel or shock absorption (which requires key travel or material flexibility and thus thickness) to avoid discomfort.
I grew up using "full travel" keys - mostly on 101-key keyboards and some electric typewriters and standalone word processors. I had no trouble adapting to Apple's "reduced travel" keys. The "narrow travel" keyboard on the current MacBook borders on the limit of comfort and usability for me. I don't think I'd much care for a "travel-less" keyboard. Touch typing on an iPad quickly makes the tips of my fingers sore. I think a keyboard needs at least some amount of travel or shock absorption (which requires key travel or material flexibility and thus thickness) to avoid discomfort.
For users willing to pay for it, there are companies making mechanical keyboards with Mac-specific layouts.
I grew up in a world before PC's. To me high tech back then were spinning tape drives.
I greatly appreciate the tranquility of modern keyboards.
Even my $20 Logitech keyboard-mouse combo bought at Costco, that I use at the office, is a hell of a lot quieter.
But as long as your neighbours don't complain and you're happy, is all that matters.
The office in All the presidents Men comes to mind Them were noisy days.
The office in All the presidents Men comes to mind Them were noisy days.
The newsroom I worked in was cubicle-free, all the desks jammed together so editors could harass the reporters instantly and directly, all the manual Underwoods and Remingtons clattering away randomly, but underneath it all was the soothing, steady and muffled tapping of the AP Teletype wire machines.
It was oddly bracing to go into that room every day, like visiting an ocean beach in winter. I don't even remember if it was a relief to leave at the end of the day.
So how small has key-travel been reduced to now? Virtually zero. It seems like Apple wants to eliminate key-travel altogether so we can all experience what it was like to touch-type on a membrane keyboard back in the 70's. I'm sorry, no amount of haptic feedback can compensate for the fact that the keys aren't actually moving.
Oh, and haptic feedback in a keyboard is nothing new. I remember using an old IBM 3278 terminal with this feature. The keys had a pretty soft feel, but you could switch on a clicker - a mechanical relay attached to the inside of the keyboard, which would move and give you (sort of) the sounds and feel of a typewriter's action with each keystroke.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Macky the Macky
I remember when the first "chiclet" style keyboards first came out and people decried how impossible they were to "touch type" on... The idea was that keyboards needed the travel range of the keys to be more like that on an IBM Selectric typewriter. The typewriter keyboard has always been under modification since it first showed up on a Mechanical typewriter in the 1800s. So, I don't think that Apple's idea is stupid, it's just moving the evolution of the keyboard along. In addition, if each key could become more multi-functional than currently, due to 3D touch, then the keyboard will service more languages and purposes then it has in the past.
And as someone who has had to suffer through this "evolution", every successive generation of keyboards has been harder and harder to touch-type on. I don't think they are actually testing these devices with actual typists. They're just trying to make them look cool in the marketing literature, selling them to people who don't know how to type properly in the first place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpamSandwich
I've said it before, in my experience the best "keyboard" I've ever used has been the IBM Selectric typewriter.
IBM did a great (not perfect, but still great) job of capturing this feel in the buckling-spring keyswitches that their PC and PS/2 systems used. Fortunately, you can still get this kind of keyboard.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDBA
In your own home where nobody else can hear you typing, that's fine.
In a crowded office environment, eliminating that awful clickity clack of those keyboards, is a god send.
Don't blame the keyboard. Blame corporations that did away with offices in favor of cubicles, and then did away with cubicles in favor of "open plan" layouts. They deliberately created an office space where there is no acoustic separation between people, so now the rest of us are forced to type on inferior keyboards in order allow others to do their jobs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Magic_Al
For users willing to pay for it, there are companies making mechanical keyboards with Mac-specific layouts.
Unicomp makes one that uses the old IBM-style buckling-spring switches. Matias also makes full-size Mac keyboards with these switches. Sadly, the full-size ones are USB-only.
Comments
If one has grown up in a world without typewriters, this is an understandable sentiment.
If one has grown up in a world without typewriters, this is an understandable sentiment.
I grew up in a world before PC's. To me high tech back then were spinning tape drives.
I greatly appreciate the tranquility of modern keyboards.
Even my $20 Logitech keyboard-mouse combo bought at Costco, that I use at the office, is a hell of a lot quieter.
But as long as your neighbours don't complain and you're happy, is all that matters.
Keep in mind it was the feel of the Selectric I was praising. I could do without the sound of keys striking paper.
I grew up using "full travel" keys - mostly on 101-key keyboards and some electric typewriters and standalone word processors. I had no trouble adapting to Apple's "reduced travel" keys. The "narrow travel" keyboard on the current MacBook borders on the limit of comfort and usability for me. I don't think I'd much care for a "travel-less" keyboard. Touch typing on an iPad quickly makes the tips of my fingers sore. I think a keyboard needs at least some amount of travel or shock absorption (which requires key travel or material flexibility and thus thickness) to avoid discomfort.
It actually makes space, not take up space!
I grew up using "full travel" keys - mostly on 101-key keyboards and some electric typewriters and standalone word processors. I had no trouble adapting to Apple's "reduced travel" keys. The "narrow travel" keyboard on the current MacBook borders on the limit of comfort and usability for me. I don't think I'd much care for a "travel-less" keyboard. Touch typing on an iPad quickly makes the tips of my fingers sore. I think a keyboard needs at least some amount of travel or shock absorption (which requires key travel or material flexibility and thus thickness) to avoid discomfort.
For users willing to pay for it, there are companies making mechanical keyboards with Mac-specific layouts.
Here's a Bluetooth one, though it looks almost as retro as it feels: http://matias.ca/laptoppro/mac/
The office in All the presidents Men comes to mind
Love it...the future!
The newsroom I worked in was cubicle-free, all the desks jammed together so editors could harass the reporters instantly and directly, all the manual Underwoods and Remingtons clattering away randomly, but underneath it all was the soothing, steady and muffled tapping of the AP Teletype wire machines.
It was oddly bracing to go into that room every day, like visiting an ocean beach in winter. I don't even remember if it was a relief to leave at the end of the day.
So how small has key-travel been reduced to now? Virtually zero. It seems like Apple wants to eliminate key-travel altogether so we can all experience what it was like to touch-type on a membrane keyboard back in the 70's. I'm sorry, no amount of haptic feedback can compensate for the fact that the keys aren't actually moving.
Oh, and haptic feedback in a keyboard is nothing new. I remember using an old IBM 3278 terminal with this feature. The keys had a pretty soft feel, but you could switch on a clicker - a mechanical relay attached to the inside of the keyboard, which would move and give you (sort of) the sounds and feel of a typewriter's action with each keystroke.
I remember when the first "chiclet" style keyboards first came out and people decried how impossible they were to "touch type" on... The idea was that keyboards needed the travel range of the keys to be more like that on an IBM Selectric typewriter. The typewriter keyboard has always been under modification since it first showed up on a Mechanical typewriter in the 1800s. So, I don't think that Apple's idea is stupid, it's just moving the evolution of the keyboard along. In addition, if each key could become more multi-functional than currently, due to 3D touch, then the keyboard will service more languages and purposes then it has in the past.
And as someone who has had to suffer through this "evolution", every successive generation of keyboards has been harder and harder to touch-type on. I don't think they are actually testing these devices with actual typists. They're just trying to make them look cool in the marketing literature, selling them to people who don't know how to type properly in the first place.
I've said it before, in my experience the best "keyboard" I've ever used has been the IBM Selectric typewriter.
IBM did a great (not perfect, but still great) job of capturing this feel in the buckling-spring keyswitches that their PC and PS/2 systems used. Fortunately, you can still get this kind of keyboard.
In your own home where nobody else can hear you typing, that's fine.
In a crowded office environment, eliminating that awful clickity clack of those keyboards, is a god send.
Don't blame the keyboard. Blame corporations that did away with offices in favor of cubicles, and then did away with cubicles in favor of "open plan" layouts. They deliberately created an office space where there is no acoustic separation between people, so now the rest of us are forced to type on inferior keyboards in order allow others to do their jobs.
For users willing to pay for it, there are companies making mechanical keyboards with Mac-specific layouts.
Here's a Bluetooth one, though it looks almost as retro as it feels: http://matias.ca/laptoppro/mac/
Unicomp makes one that uses the old IBM-style buckling-spring switches. Matias also makes full-size Mac keyboards with these switches. Sadly, the full-size ones are USB-only.