Market survey

The keyboard at work, which I had for a while (many years), does not feel right. It feels like I have to press it all the way to the bottom where it feels like a spongy, but relatively hard rubber, with no clear tactile feedback as to when the key was registered. Therefore I end up pressing hard on the keys, which takes it toll after a while.

Newer keyboards around the office, are similar or worse. It turns out that most of the keyboards nowadays are rubber dome keyboards. They have the advantage that they are cheap and relatively silent. They compromise on how it feels, though I’ll admit: how it feels is subjective.

So, are there better keyboards available?

First there is a flood of keyboards for the gaming market. They can be instantly recognised by the focus on lightning and lightning customisation. A further search shows that there keyboards mainly by the same manufacturers that target coders. Most of them are based on Cherry MX switches (or clones of). I tried a couple of them and they do feel different, from the membrane, but they don’t feel better. At least after some use they have a scratchy feel as you press the key, and the tactile feedback is not much better. Costs are around the £100 mark.

Then there is a huge enthusiast community around custom keyboards. Costs are around the £300 mark. A wide range of key layouts and key caps are available. Unfortunately it’s centered around the same switches.

Then there are the old good buckling spring keyboards. I tried an old IBM one and it just feels right. They are still manufactured by a company named Unicomp. They sell around the £100 mark. The downsides are the loud sound, and the very limited range of layouts. The advantage is the feel of the switch type and the ergonomic sculptured layout of key rows.

I think I’m going to give it a try.

Unicomp Ultra Classic

[2019-05-11] Update:

I eventually bought a Unicomp Ultra Classic keyboard (pictured above). Good keyboard, satisfied overall.

I previously put off purchasing one because of the price. I chose this buckling spring one because I’ve tried some Brown Cherry ones and they felt scratchy to me.

I understand that the tactile experience is highly subjective. It is what I expected: a keyboard with a feeling similar to the IBM ones that I used long time ago. The size is more compact than the Classic one. Like the Classic model it is also has a curved profile.

The top and the keys have the traditional beige colour, which I like. The bottom and USB cable are black, which I don’t mind. Unlike the current picture which has a Unicomp logo, my keboard has a plain sticker over the three LEDs on the top right corner; I prefer it as I received it (with a plain sticker).

Delivery was fast (I guess this was part of the price tag).

Compared with the cheap rubber dome keyboard it replaces: this buckling spring one is not faster, it just feels better to me. It is also a bit noisier, but not much noisier; this is also subjective and depends on your environment (mine is not a very silent environment anyway).

The keyboard is relatively heavy. The build is quality is generally good and sturdy.

The only downside is that the lower edge (closer to me) has a bit of movement when pushed, about 1mm or so.