Why?

During the times of the current pandemic, I am working from home. In my last post, I mentioned that I am using a laptop. At work I used a full size ducky shine 4 with some switch that I can’t remember. When I left work at the start of the pandemic, I thought.. “It can’t take that long until I come back.. right?” So I left my keyboard, mouse and everything at work. Every now and then, I think about going to the office and get all my stuff. But then I think.. “it’s going to be all over soon.. right?” So I just leave it there.

But now, after about a year of working from home, my neck has started to ache. So I am thinking about getting a laptop stand to place it higher. With that, I will be needing a keyboard. For the mouse, I bought an inexpensive Abko Hacker A660.

For the keyboard, I was looking for something else. So my quest begins.

What?

So the things I was looking for.

  • Decent mechanical switches

    I wanted decent mechanical switches.. Otherwise I could just get some good membranes.

  • Bluetooth

    Yes I know that Bluetooth sucks when gaming. Especially the latencies. But since I have Shadow PC and do not play games needing super low latency anyway I don’t need super responsiveness. Plus, most of my gaming will be on Shadow Via phone or tablet.

  • Tenkeyless

    I used to use a lot of the numpads. Not because I use a lot of numbers, but it was what I am used to when I am writing down numbers. But after a year of coding on a tenkeyless laptop, I got used to not using it. Plus my desk is super small.

  • Backlighting

    This is not a must.. But I would really appreciate it if I could see the keys in the dark. That means any kind of backlighting would be good! I don’t need RGB. Although that would look great, it is not a must.

The Options.

I started looking into a lot of reddits, youtubes, and a shit ton of googling.

  • The Keychrons (K1, K2, K3, K4 etc..)
    • Switches - Gaterons or Optical
    • Bluetooth - 5.0!!
    • Tenkeyless - They have almost all the popluar layouts
    • Backlighting - They have RGB
    • Other stuff - Their keycaps seem to have a bad reputation.
  • Monstargear Ninja87BT
    • Switches - Gaterons or Cherry
    • Bluetooth - 5.0!!
    • Tenkeyless - 87 Keys
    • Backlighting - Only when in wired mode.
  • Anne Pro 2
    • Switches - Gaterons, Cherry, Box
    • Bluetooth - 5.0!!
    • Tenkeyless - 60% So kind of? But I do want the Function Key row.
    • Backlighting - RGB!
  • Royal Kludge RK84
    • Switches - Original video said they were hotswappable TTC switches. There seems to be cheaper variants that are soldered but provide Cherry switches.
    • Bluetooth - 5.0!! + 2.4Ghz (Some people with 2.4G seems to have problems)
    • Tenkeyless - 84Key
    • Backlighting - RGB!
  • GK64XS
    • Switches - Hotswappable switches.. They seem to provide Gateron switches.
    • Bluetooth - 5.0
    • Tenkeyless - 64Keys.. But I don’t seem to get their keyboard layout.
    • Backlighting - RGB!

So after looking through the keyboards and their layouts, I started thinking.. Do I really want to sacrifice somethings over the function keys?

I looked through the keyboards that I went through. And was going for the Anne Pro 2. Then a youtube recomendation told me about the Kemove Snowfox. I fell in love instantly.

After some more research. I ordered it on Aliexpress and now it is on the way!!