Do you wear out your keyboards?
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So my trusty Dell XPS1530 seems to be getting cranky with its 4th keyboard. It's my main development machine, 4 yo next month, and the best thingI ever did for it was to put an SSD in it. But keyboard #5? Maybe I type to emphatically? Any of you beat your keyboards to death?
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
On my main dev pc, I am using an HP keyboard that came with my first windows PC back in 1998. I take it apart about once every three years for a deep cleaning. I dislike working around loud typists...it's just not necessary. The sound of fake nails against plastic is probably the worst, though I might be able to tolerate it depending on whats on the other end, but only for so long.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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The letters 'P' 'R' 'O' and 'N' are totally worn on my keyboard, the rest of the keys seem fine though.
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So my trusty Dell XPS1530 seems to be getting cranky with its 4th keyboard. It's my main development machine, 4 yo next month, and the best thingI ever did for it was to put an SSD in it. But keyboard #5? Maybe I type to emphatically? Any of you beat your keyboards to death?
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
I don't beat them to death, but I've worn away many a letter and actually wore my way through a ctrl key to the point where a hole developed in the surface. Luckily the key tops are easily replaced:-)
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No, not really. I'm on my second keyboard in about 25 years, and that only because it came with the computer and was black instead of beige. I don't eat over my keyboard, try not to drink over it, and take it apart for a deep clean about once a year (if I remember). The old one was in pretty good shape when I retired it, but a few keys were blank but still working fine, where the legend had worn off. What kills keyboards? Sugary drinks, cat pee and testosterone. The first two rot PCBS, the last one cracks them.
Ideological Purity is no substitute for being able to stick your thumb down a pipe to stop the water
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So my trusty Dell XPS1530 seems to be getting cranky with its 4th keyboard. It's my main development machine, 4 yo next month, and the best thingI ever did for it was to put an SSD in it. But keyboard #5? Maybe I type to emphatically? Any of you beat your keyboards to death?
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
You do not type too emphatically. You are using the $5 keyboards that modern PCs and laptops are shipped with. You're screwing yourself every day. Every key you hit. Key caps on usable keyboards never lose their labels. Ever. Google around. There's a place that sells IBM 101's. pckeyboard.com. I don't like the little Return key on a 101, but YMMV. Taste. You may not like the short throw. You may not like the loud click. My current keyboard, the second in ~35 years, was made in 1991. The other keyboard I've used is an IBM AT board. It still works fine, but doesn't have F11, and you can't connect it to USB (draws too much power). There are good boards out there. Buy a real keyboard. If you're like most people here, you make your living with the thing. You could easily justify a buck a day for a good board just from how much better you'll type, not to mention how your hands won't be damaged. And yeah, you can pound a good board's keys. And yeah, turn it upside down and shake it ever few years. No harm done.
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So my trusty Dell XPS1530 seems to be getting cranky with its 4th keyboard. It's my main development machine, 4 yo next month, and the best thingI ever did for it was to put an SSD in it. But keyboard #5? Maybe I type to emphatically? Any of you beat your keyboards to death?
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
I don't wear them dead, am at mine 3rd i guess now, could be fourth, replaced cause of color and the other to move to ps2, my old big plug didn't fit any longer. Though my latest, my logitech keyboard is about i guess 5 years old, half the keys don't have letters on them any longer, but it still functions fine.
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So my trusty Dell XPS1530 seems to be getting cranky with its 4th keyboard. It's my main development machine, 4 yo next month, and the best thingI ever did for it was to put an SSD in it. But keyboard #5? Maybe I type to emphatically? Any of you beat your keyboards to death?
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
I have a son-in-law whose every line of input must be followed by a crushing thumb whack to the space bar. I assume as a sort of exclamation point like look at my fine input. When at my house I asked "What is it about my humble keyboard you don't like"? Do you suffer this same ill?
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So my trusty Dell XPS1530 seems to be getting cranky with its 4th keyboard. It's my main development machine, 4 yo next month, and the best thingI ever did for it was to put an SSD in it. But keyboard #5? Maybe I type to emphatically? Any of you beat your keyboards to death?
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Hey Charley, what SSD did you use?
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Hey Charley, what SSD did you use?
Three so far - I have multiple systems: Plextor PX-256M2S (SATA-3, but my laptop is only SATA-2) very very fast. Paid $414, now can be had for $310. Plextor M3 Series PX-128M3 2.5" 128GB SATA III for my "server". It's really a backup development system in case my laptop goes down. This system does have SATA-3, and I mean whoosh, it's ready to go. I have another 64GB SSD running around somewhere. This was my trial drive, and I ran out of room on it. All have worked fine. The laptop's SSD is about a year old now. Prices are about to fall below $1/GB right now they are hovering around $1.25. For me, it allowed me to easily extend the life of my system another 2-3 years. I added a year to the warranty support from Dell, tossed in the SSD plus Windows 7 Pro, and I get to keep my WUXGA display for 3 more years. I keep pricing out new laptops, and a Core I5 is going to set me back $1500+ when it's all said and done. More bang for the buck. cg
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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You do not type too emphatically. You are using the $5 keyboards that modern PCs and laptops are shipped with. You're screwing yourself every day. Every key you hit. Key caps on usable keyboards never lose their labels. Ever. Google around. There's a place that sells IBM 101's. pckeyboard.com. I don't like the little Return key on a 101, but YMMV. Taste. You may not like the short throw. You may not like the loud click. My current keyboard, the second in ~35 years, was made in 1991. The other keyboard I've used is an IBM AT board. It still works fine, but doesn't have F11, and you can't connect it to USB (draws too much power). There are good boards out there. Buy a real keyboard. If you're like most people here, you make your living with the thing. You could easily justify a buck a day for a good board just from how much better you'll type, not to mention how your hands won't be damaged. And yeah, you can pound a good board's keys. And yeah, turn it upside down and shake it ever few years. No harm done.
:thumbsup:
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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So my trusty Dell XPS1530 seems to be getting cranky with its 4th keyboard. It's my main development machine, 4 yo next month, and the best thingI ever did for it was to put an SSD in it. But keyboard #5? Maybe I type to emphatically? Any of you beat your keyboards to death?
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
I haven't broken any keyboards, but I have worn some of the letters off the keys. Being a touch typist, it doesn't bother me in the least. The IT guys have tried to replace it several times. I won't let them, since my kb is ergonomic and I'm used to it. Besides, I consider it a badge of honor and enjoy their consternation when they can't hunt and peck. :)
