Most keyboard reviews are about gaming. Can any of you recommend a good keyboard for coding/programming?
Here’s some criteria for selecting the keyboard:
- Comfortable keys, easy to click and write coding quickly
- Must be a bluetooth keyboard
- Prefer using replaceable batteries instead of charging port
- Full keyboard keys including function keys, arrow keys and numpad
- Size can be compact or full-sized
- Doesn’t matter if back-lit or not
- Doesn’t matter if loud or quiet clicks
- Budget around USD 50
Make sure to buy one with a dedicated button for each letter you want to use. Really, I would recommend something QWERTY just for standard compatibility.
Scarastic jokes over, it literally doesn’t matter at all. Just look online for the cheapest keyboard with the features you want. Type on a cellphone touchscreen keyboard if you are so inclined. If you are typing so much that it really starts to hurt your finger joints or muscles, then you can maybe start to look at ergonomic keyboards and see if they’d be right for you. Beyond that, your time is better spent actually coding than worrying about the proper type of keyboard to use.
Counterpoint, the only way you’ll be able to write efficient and clean code, that’s both terse and readable, that earns the respect of influencers and CTOs alike, is with the Happy Hacking Keyboard, Type S. It’s $300, but you’re serious about coding, aren’t you? And you’ll need some after market keycaps; the stock ones are decent – dye sub PBT – but you’ll look like a noob, you’ll need to get a few sets of colorful blanks and create a pattern from them that defines your coding aesthetic. You have a color scheme that defines your coding aesthetic, right? If not, you need to take care of that, before you even write a single line of code.
I’m just kidding, literally anything. I don’t even use one, I just use a mouse, since I’m just copying and pasting from chatGPT anyway – or, I used to, back when I was a junior dev. Now I just use a magnetic needle and a steady hand
I use a single key and morse code
Any keyboard you want really. Most of the time spent coding is thinking not typing.
I have been using “gaming” keyboards for coding for ~10 years now. The only thing to be wary of imo, is keebs that have “extra customizable keys” on them and break conformity from a standard layout. Depends on the device, but Logitech will call them “G keys”, for example, and often stick them on the far left of the board, left of tab/caps/L shift. Makes life a lot more difficult if not gaming.
Outside of that, I think calling something a “gaming” keyboard is more of a marketing tactic to up the price. It’s hard to not recommend mechanical, but that sounds out of budget and often hard to do wireless/bluetooth, but personally I think mech is the top priority.
What I have seen a lot of peers do is wait to see whatever keyboard the get in office, then buy the same one for home for consistency, rather than dragging a personal one back and forth. Often companies will offer basic boards like logitech K270, K350, or K650. Not amazing, not terrible, and most likely fit in your described criteria.
I like your comment. Reasonable feedback to recommend logitech K650 fits nicely into my needs. Going to explore if there are more choice just like this keyboard.
Thanks for your insight. Gonna avoid the G keys Logitech keyboard.
Actually, I have it the other way around. I bought the same keyboard I use at home for work as well. Imagine, you have to switch employers and get a new keyboard in the office. A nightmare!
I am using a Planck keyboard (40% of the keys a regular keyboard has). This is way outside your 50,- €$£ price range, but I think, it is worth it: Fully customizable key layout and different more silent switches for work.
I never would go wireless for a keyboard that is not connected to a TV. That reminds me, that I hate the mouse I have to use at work, it is wireless! I guess I buy a second G203 for work, too (without RGB). [=
I’d go with an ergonomic one to avoid pain on the outside of the wrists.
I might be totally wrong, but I firmly believe these ergonomic risk factors are not the root cause of these health problems, and instead they are indirect factors that are correlated with fundamental problems affecting a person’s activity.
For example, tennis elbow isn’t caused by a particular model of a tennis racket, nor is jumper’s knee caused by a shoe model. Interestingly, I stumbled upon a post somewhere in the past that pointed out that Emacs users had a higher incidence of repetitive strain injuries than vi users. One of the most basic treatments of RSI is a combination of working on the patient’s overall posture and rest, regardless of keyboard format.
If you’re experiencing wrist pain due to keyboard usage, the time you spend typing is a far more important factor than what keyboard model you’re using.
Wouldn’t wrist position be considered part of your overall posture?
There are far more factors determining wrist position than the size of the keyboard, and only a very small fraction of all keyboard users end up developing any form of issue.
Moreover, I’d wager that the number of people enduring bad laptop keyboards greatly outnumber those developing any kind of RSI issue, let alone those who feel strongly enough to buy ergonomic keyboards.
It would be interesting to see how many ergonomic keyboards end up being snakeoil preying on people with more disposable money than good judgement.
