Rubber Keyboard for Silent Tapping

[XaeL]

I would imagine that a mechanical keyboard could reduce misdrops,

In what way? The human pressing the wrong button or the cpu not taking inputs is not fixed by getting higher quality keyboard.

I have a mech keyboard. its good stuff. But saying that it improves performance by any significant amount is laughable.

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--] I also wonder if the flat-keyed Apple keyboards are better (for tetris) than the mechanical ones (which still seem to have big keys).[/quote]
Their pretty good. like i said changing keyboard has negligible impact.

General tips:

Gold plated/gold anything = lol.

blue is easier to press than brown. Brown is more silent.

Black and red are linear actuation forces.

[ChewingPencils]

This one is expensive but is called a DAS keyboard  : http://www.amazon.com/DAS-Keyboard-Model-U...t/dp/B003M4XGI4

I can vouch for the Das Keyboard ... I have the Model S Ultimate (the clickety version). I spend at least 10 hours a day behind it (for over a year) and it performs like a champ.

[Rosti_LFC]

Gold plating increases longevity and mean time to failure. It won't make it any more responsive, but it's not just "lol". Only claims of high polling rates are lol.

And not all misdrops are dropped inputs or hitting the wrong button. Some are not fully depressing the key when you're trying to play as fast as possible, especially fast double-taps.

Also mechanical keyboards tend to have faster response times than rubber-dome ones because there's less key bounce.

[Paradox]

BLINK! how do I use that promo code?!

[myndzi]

Browns are lighter than blues. Blues make more noise and have more feel. Browns are quieter and smoother.

Blacks are "best" for gaming, but medium for typing from all accounts. They have linear force, but are fairly heavy. Reds are linear and much lighter.

Of the high profile "gaming keyboards" being mentioned - Steelseries 7G uses Cherry black keyswitches. Das Keyboard uses Cherry blues.

Geekhack is a good site, but it's rather technical and hard to dig through. There are other keyboard switches than just Cherry, but Cherry has a big following.

Notably, scissor switches are kind of a like/hate thing for many people; those of you who like the flat, low travel keyboards - that's what you're typing on. I'm not sure of any specific recommendations for brands of scissor switches.

Keyboards do have other aspects than just their key switches, but the only one you're likely to care about as a gamer is key rollover. You don't really need full N-key rollover, but something like 6 keys guaranteed is worth it. I know I've walked a couple players through discovering key conflicts that were causing misdrops because they didn't realize certain keys wouldn't register when other combinations were pressed. Even a keyboard that claims 4-key rollover will at least guarantee you four keypresses at once always works. My Realforce claims 6 keys, but I have yet to find a keypress that gets blocked.

Finally, N-key rollover if you want it only works properly with a PS/2 connection in general(?). In addition, the PS/2 works on interrupts while USB works by polling. High speed Tetris players like to complain about input lag and the like, so it's possible you will feel a bit more response from a PS/2 keyboard.

Wireless, of course, is worthless for gaming. Lag, buffering, potential dropped keystrokes, and I have never heard of a wireless keyboard that was aimed at typists / had effort/thought put into the key switches. Doesn't mean they don't exist, but I sure as hell wouldn't buy one.

Edit: I can highly recommend http://elitekeyboards.com/ for purchasing import mechanical keyswitches. There's no "gaming" bullshit here, just good quality and excellent/reliable support. Maybe not a large price difference compared to some, but I'd love to show them some love, they've treated me well.

Edit2: http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:6456 has a good list of keyboards with the relevant details, ratings, and prices. There are some steals available here, for example the iOne Scorpius M10 - which is a $50 board with Cherry Blues. It doesn't have some of the other niceties (thus the low price point) like NKRO, but if you just want to get an idea what the fuss is about, it's $100 less than some of your options.

[Paradox]

yay thx blink I bought a steelseries 7g for $60 off

[vipjun]

yay thx blink I bought a steelseries 7g for $60 off

You should do a review later and let us know if it makes you faster XD.

[XaeL]

yay thx blink I bought a steelseries 7g for $60 off

how much did u get it for? i woudl get one but i already have blues and i dont want my fingers to die in the transition to blacks...

[Corrosive]

After switching from that POS rubber keyboard to a flat expensive HP keyboard I have been playing about 30% more efficiently.

[Paradox]

how much did u get it for? i woudl get one but i already have blues and i dont want my fingers to die in the transition to blacks...

I got it for $90

[DarthDuck]

Lol who is doing tetris commercials for 7G?

I tried to find a nonbiased non-tetris review of 7G and I got this: http://gaming.emr8.com/2011/05/23/editors-...ries-7g-review/

[Rosti_LFC]

Having played a while this week with an external USB keyboard instead of my laptop one, I'd like to add that having a keyboard that is PS/2 instead of USB is almost certainly way more important than what keyboard you actually use. The difference in feel and input lag is actually pretty massive - USB feels really sluggish in comparison.

If you have a computer with a PS/2 port and you've got your keyboard hooked up via USB I'd strongly recommend buying and adaptor and switching.