I definitely prefer the lower travel distance. Personally I find it much less tiring / RSI-inducing than a normal mechanical keyboard / cherry MX switches. I'm not heavily bottoming out or anything that are frequent "have you tried...", and "just don't bottom out lol" doesn't work for me - I've experimented for nearly a decade now, I'm pretty confident. Long travel distances are definitely not for me.

I've got a custom keyboard with choc low-profile switches, and I like it a lot better. It's about mid-way between an Apple and a cherry MX, and I'm not sure I notice or care to get any lower distance since these are so easy to find. Unfortunately I'll have to go a lot more custom to get that in a Kinesis Advantage/Dactyl-like setup, and I haven't done that yet.

I do prefer MX key caps though (DSA profile, or roughly), the smaller center and deeper curve seems to help me calibrate better. Choc caps often lean hard into the low-profile thing and are very flat, and I'm not super fond of that.

If you like those kind of keycaps try MT3 MiTO keycaps, I have the same preference - sculpted keycaps with smaller centers center and those are my endgame

Do they have choc versions? All I'm seeing is MX... though google's fu has grown weak so it might just be that it's being drowned out by Drop at the moment.

Agreed 100%. The best keyboard for me is the one on my MacBook. It adds a grand total of 0 dollars to the cost of my system, and a grand total of 0 grams to the weight of my backpack. It's there for me when I stand, when I sit on a sofa, or when I check something on an occasional train. It needs no cables, and its batteries are never empty. The distance between the keyboard and the pointing device control area is so short that I don't need to move much when switching between the keyboard and the pointing device; I can also position the hand in a manner where some fingers can type at the same time that other fingers can control the pointing device.

It doesn't help that most mechanical keyboards also start by tinkering with the layout, for reasons I can't even begin to understand. For example, I don't look at my keyboard much, relying on fingers to position themselves, and on some tactile feedback from the keyboard. Arrow keys, for instance, are these with some negative space above them, so my fingers can use that negative space to nail the position. Most mechanical keyboards just slam the arrow keys into the bulk of all the others, so if I use that I need to look at the keyboard every time I want to use the arrow keys. (There was some unfortunate period in Apple's history where they made the left and right arrow keys full-size and eliminated the negative space, rendering that keyboards harder to use for me; I skipped these machines until they got back to sanity.)

If you wanted to try again, take a look at the Nuphy Air75 v2. Maybe with the Aloe or Cowberry switches.

I feel like you can always find a mechanical that you like, no matter how particular you are. It's just whether or not you want to go down the rabbit hole.

It's a very preferential opinion because keyboards can be such a personal thing. I used the Nuphy Air75 v2 for a week, and it is the best keyboard that I've ever used. I really like that particular layout: Ctrl Opt Cmd,the arrow keys tucked into the right Shift key and the Del key just to the right of the Backspace key. https://nuphy.com/products/air75-v2?variant=40635218133101

Stuffing things to the right of the Enter key? So the Enter key is not "in the vertical middle of the right-most area" anymore? This would mean I can't position my finger reliably over the Enter key anymore, and would need to either guess or look?

That would be a hard "No" for me (with an addition of "Why would anyone ever want to use that?", but I understand that tastes differ).

P.S. And don't even get me started on the arrow keys smashed into the rest so not only Enter/Backspace/Right Shift positioning is gone for me but the arrow keys positioning is gone too.

P.P.S. If people like it it's fine, not everything in the world should be conforming to my personal taste, but that picture where they have the keyboard positioned over the MacBook keyboard and the top of the trackpad (and a mouse to the side) just leaves me completely flabbergasted.

Why are you picking your hands up to hit the enter key? Use your pinkie. It doesn’t move.

My pinkie is what I use for Backspace, Enter, and Right Shift. It resides half on the aluminum, half on plastic. Plastic is a bit taller, and aluminum is a bit cooler -- if I feel that, I know it's in the right spot horizontally. When I move it for an occasional apostrophe (e.g. a moment ago for typing "it's"), I need to put it back in the right position. With an additional set of keys on the right, I can't position it properly without looking at the keyboard.

I also use an Nuphy air 75, it’s really nice. Would upgrade to a mechanical, 75%, low profile, split, Hall effect, wireless, kmq-via keyboard but haven’t found it yet…

Indeed, that does not appear to exist. NuPhy Air75 HE is probably closest, but it's not split.

https://keeb-finder.com/keyboards?ms_layoutSize=75%25%2COthe...

I agree with this… mostly.

A couple times I have tried doing some engineering related task on my desktop with a mechanical keyboard and it just felt wrong. It felt like I was moving my fingers too much. Kinda the same if I do any amount of serious typing.

On the flip side though, the couple of times I have tried gaming on a laptop it also felt wrong.

So I have come to view keyboards the same way I view gaming controllers, it all depends on what I am doing and I will use the best input method for a particular task/game/etc.

I got into the hype and bought multiple mechanical keyboards a couple years ago. Finally went back to Apple’s magic keyboard. Touch id was a large factor but apparently I love those chiclet keyboards.

Apple keyboards: yes. I so rarely see a preference stated that matches my own that I am compelled to spend a full comment in agreement.

I think part of it is that the keyboard itself is thin. There’s less of a physical object to raise forearms and contort wrists over.

Likewise, spending another comment just to agree. Both on the low profile and the low travel distance.

I've tried low-profile chocs and they still have too much travel! But I'm stuck with them as split keyboards are important for me just for the usual collection of wrist health reasons.

So I'm just waiting for Apple to make a split keyboard I guess :)

I have sincerely been considering a bandsaw and a soldering iron! To find out how hard it is to split a keyboard that’s already in one piece and have it remain working.

M1242 but it has too much travel by modern standards.

Every few years I try a mech keyboard, but I always come back to the Magic Keyboard. It's just way more comfortable, quiet, and I feel like my fingers are more nimble and less strained when I use it.

> the Apple Magickeyboard b/c it's exactly like a laptop and clicky

I'm being super pedantic, but it's not, the switches and especially keycaps are different from what they use in e.g. a Macbook Air (and not just in size). For 99% they'll be close enough, but for me this makes the magic keyboard a no-go.

I'm still looking for the holy grail, an external keyboard that's a near copy of the Macbook keyboard. I'd be willing to spend $500+ on it, but haven't found anything. Or, similarly, a keyboard that is even softer and lower travel than the Macbook keyboard. Nothing seems to have a similar actuation profile. I once found a website that showed actuation profiles through graphs, where you could pick from dozens of switches - none of them had a similar profile. Wonder why, is it hard to make? Is there really no market? Patents?

The second version of Apple wireless keyboard is closer than the newer ones, to my tastes anyway. It's softer than current MacBook keyboards but has slightly more travel so I'm not sure it's what you're looking for.

have you tried the logitech mx keys mini? it's really similar for me

After years of using only laptop keyboards and the Microsoft Sculpt keyboard (which looks and feels like a laptop keyboard on a desk), I could not get comfortable with standard mechanical keyboard travel lengths again.

I picked up a Keychron K15 Pro[1] and have found the low profile keys and travel easy to adapt to. Recommend you give one of theirs (or maybe someone else's) low profile keyboards a try.

[1] https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k15-pro-alice-lay...

> Wish there was one with standard/Windows keys

Same. Anyone find a low-travel non-mushy keyboard for Windows? Ideally with spacing between every 4 function keys?

I'm quite happy with Dell wireless keyboards, that I got as cast-offs. One is a KM7321W. A drawback is that their peripheral manager (which allows you to do things like reassign keyboards and mice to the little dongles) only seems to run on Dell machines. They've also got Bluetooth.

If nothing else, they come with Dell machines, so if you're in a typical corporate environment, somebody might have one and let you try it.

I recommend trying out Redragon Horus K261, it took a while to get used to but I like it a lot now. It's a low profile keyb.

Even the low profile switches? I, too, have acquired the taste for laptop keyboards, but I think the LP switches are nice.