As a data scientist, I spend a lot of time in front of my PC. Although I'm not a work-environment geek, I more or less care about some points. One of those is Keyboard.
Actually, my desktop environment is very simple. One MacBookPro, wide monitor, keyboard and mouse. I don't use mouse much.
It is simple and rough. (And now I know I'm pretty bad at taking a picture.)
Before, I was on the journey to to find the best(for me) keyboard. So, I bought and tried some, such as Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad and many other brand’s ones.
Those are really nice keyboards. Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 looks different and doesn’t make the user tired even after long use. The price is also very reasonable. Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad is simple and cool. It visually matches Mac PC.
Even though those are really cool and fun keyboards, sometimes I felt that those were not what I wanted. And after more or less six months of using, I was bored and wanted different ones.
The answer to my keyboard journey was Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional2. I bought this two years ago and even now I don’t feel any complaint. Surely, even after it breaks in future, I’ll buy the same product.
There are some characteristics about this keyboard.
- This is pretty expensive.
- It has just minimum number of keys.
- You can feel reliable keystroke.
- It looks simple and very very cool!
Okay. The first feature is the price. As you saw on the affiliate link of amazon, it is expensive. Actually, for me, even Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad is expensive. I think 100 dollars is too much for a keyboard. The HHKB(Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional2) is over 200 dollars. For me, it is crazy.
Second feature is the number of the keys. I think this is the most interesting characteristics. HHKB doesn’t have functional number keys and even arrow keys. When you use those functions, you need to use some keys together. It sounds inconvenient. But actually those make this keyboard convenient. All the keys are definitely in the range of your palms. Even temporally, you don’t lose your typing. Also, because of the small size, your desk can get much space for the other things.
Third, you can feel the reliable keystroke. The texture of pushing the key is really awesome. Even after long typing the finger and wrist doesn’t become tired.
Fourth, this keyboard looks really cool. You can choose two colours, black and white. Also, there are two types of key tops. One of them has alphabet on the top, the another has nothing. I’m using the black colour without key top letter. This is very stylish and attractive.
I think this is really suitable for programmer. All the keys are surely under your perception and you don’t get tired after long use. To be added the sound and stroke depth is quite comfortable. (And If you choose the one without key top letter, it looks so professional…)
Although this is pretty expensive as a keyboard, I think this can be a candidate to improve your desktop environment and motivation. Or, if you are on the journey of finding your keyboard, I really want to recommend this keyboard.