See, it's weird, but I feel the opposite. The high-rise of mech keyboards forces me to put my wrists in an awkward position. The long distance of the keys makes my fingers tired quickly and type slower. With low profile keyboards my hands flow over the keys very quickly, with mech keyboard I find myself having to delay myself a bit with each key to make sure it's pressed.
Unpopular opinion: I really like the new MacBook keyboards. I can't speak for their durability, but I like the typing experience on them.
I'm using both mechanical and MacBook built-in, and I'm not sure if I like mechanical better.
It's kinda cool to type on it, but the keys are just so huge, it feels like I'm using a typewriter. Using the Apple keyboard is the opposite, it's like I'm just slightly brushing the surface.
Funny, I always feel like I’m about to get injured using really low travel keyboards like the new apple magic keyboards. Hence I prefer mechanical ones.
Guess it varies from person to person. Good to find what works for you.
I never understood regular mechanical keyboards either - the fact that the switches are so thick, makes the whole assembly thick, which forces your wrists into a stress position - which is uncomfortable and I'm pretty sure will lead to wrist problems down the line. This also applies to thick "gaming" or "workstation" laptops as well. Call me an unwashed casual, but the most comfortable typing experience for me is on a Macbook. The fact that it's thin, the keys have little travel depth, and take very little to actuate allows me to comfortably type for extended periods of time.
I felt the same and loved the stock macbook keyboards. Now I have a keychron k7, which is "slim" for mechanical keyboards and that's what I prefer. I still don't like proper mechanical keyboards with full height. Feels weird to me. Whatever floats your boat I guess!
I really like Apple keyboards because they allow for an economy of movement. With most keyboards, the keypress has a lot more travel in it and the keys are much thicker, and they're U-shaped on the top, which means I have to expend a lot more effort to move my fingertips horizontally from key to key. Typing on an Apple keyboard is like shooting a rifle with a hair-trigger; there's an economy of motion and effort. After using Apple keyboards for a long period of time it's extremely awkward for me to go back.
People sing the praises of mechanical keyboards, and I guess it's satisfying for them, but I don't want to have to punch the keys like I'm using an old typewriter. I just want my fingertips to dance across them. I think the preference for mechanical keyboards is half nostalgia and half machismo.
Mechanical keyboards should provide much less fatigue if you avoid "bottoming out", which is much easier to do when a key has lots of travel and a dampening force curve. Most people suffer fatigue from these very low travel Apple keyboards as fingers will come to an abrupt hard stop. It's almost like typing on a hard surface.
The Apple keyboards were designed to be thin at the expense of everything else, reliability, maintainence, longevity, and comfort.
I've tried many mechanical and on-mechanical keyboards, but always come back to Apple's magic keyboard, simply because it's the thinnest of all. It's virtually flush with the desk, and I can't for the love of god get used to anything else. Mechanical keyboards are often quite thick. Palm pads don't help, I'd still feel my hands are uncomfortably elevated.
Maybe I have just developed a certain habit, but after having compared mechanical keyboards with the standard Apple external keyboard, I definitely prefer the flat profile of Apple keyboards over the deep clicky travel of mechanical keyboards, especially if one uses an external touchpad rather than a mouse.
I've found mechanical keyboards start to give me a touch of RSI, where the slim Apple keyboards don't. Maybe I'm just hitting the keys too hard or something. I always give up using them, which is a shame because they feel nice to the touch.
I find the slim Apple keyboards more comfortable too.
I understand the appeal of mechanical keyboards and I’ve owned an Ergodox EZ, Planck EZ, and Atreus, but the Apple Wireless I use is faster, quieter, easier to transport, more comfortable without a wrist rest, identical to the MacBook keyboard layout so easier to switch between, and even customisable via Karabiner (I put a numpad over the right home row with a modifier so I don’t have to stretch to the number row, and it works the same way on the MacBook keyboard too).
Failing to fall in love with mechanical keyboards can feel like a personal flaw because so many people in hacker communities fetishise them (and because I’ve spent hundreds trying them out only to sell them on or leave them in a drawer), so it helps to hear of others with the same experience!
Is there a science to the biggish-feeling keys on most, if not all, of those mechanical keyboards?
I personally use the latest model Apple Magic Keyboard and the thin size seems nice. No need for a wrist support and the keys feel like hair pin triggers when I type. I personally haven’t experienced anything comparable, yet.
I tried some mechanical keyboards back in the day for the "benefits". I never got it and my hands would be strained from typing on the high travel, high resistance keys. The Apple Keyboard (I use the UK/English International) is so much easier on my hands. They're easy to find, well-supported and robust.
Everyone seems to have a different idea about what's comfortable. I use an Apple keyboard because I like extremely short key travel. Every time I use a 'normal' keyboard now, it feels like I'm typing on an old manual typewriter.
Definitely a matter of taste, I have the newer style Apple keyboard on all my keyboards for the same reason, my hands get tired almost immediately when I have to use something else. The key travel (especially on the ergonomic ones) seems excessive.
While I was using MBP keyboard, I used to think that shorter key travel was better and more ergonomic, because it required less finger movement. After using mechanical keyboards for years, I’m very surprised to discover how much strain bottoming out puts on my muscles.
In particular my main mechanical keyboard is a 35g electro capacitive one, so I'm been pretty adjusted to lower key weights. The new Macbook keyboards are just too stiff and have
too much travel for me to type fast/not get fatigued.
I think even if one is accustomed to heavier keys, all things being equal, if they learned to type on lighter/shorter travel they can get faster at typing.
In the end it is just personal preference. Try it on your own and then decide. A friend of my spent a decade typing on an old mechanical IBM keyboard and then switched to a standard Apple keyboard. I am the other way around. I started with a 'soft' keyboard and now switched to a mechanical one. Both of us just prefer how the respective keyboard feels.
I am much more relaxed typing on a thin keyboard like the Apple ones.
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