Akko has good ones. They are relatively cheap, but expect to spend ~90 euros on a full sized 110 key keyboard. I like akko cos they genuinely look good, no need for RGB.
Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
Then look for mechanical keyboards instead of gaming keyboards.
Go with the originals. Cherry, das keyboard, unicomp. Even Logitech has backlit but non-rgb lights.
Another vote here for Das Keyboard. I've had mine well over ten years and it's still fantastic. And no flashy lights.
Yep, it's the RBG that makes a mechanical keyboard a gaming keyboard.
Build your own how you like it.
You can almost choose like Legos.
I'd be happy with a keyboard deeper than the apparent 1mm the junk is going with.
As a bonus, one that's easier to vacuum for cat hair and similar detritus.
As a second bonus, one I can frustratingly pound when fingers/coding are betraying me. I will never manage that anger.
Did Das Keyboard go RGB? That’s a (pricey) but great keyboard.
E: just had a quick look. Still expensive, backlit but not RGB, full keyboard. We’ve had one for a decade.
The Logitech K845 only has a white backlight. It's a really clean, professional looking mechanical.
WASD Keyboards
HHKB could be an option or not i use a laptop's keyboard as a main.
You can usually shut off the rgb lighting all together.
Just turn it off? Or keep it as a backlight, set it to one solid color you like with brightness turned down to be subtle but useful.
You don't need to keep it on rgb puke.
Snark aside, pick a keyboard you like for the size/feel/features and find out if its a software nightmare (razer) or not before worrying about rgb (just make sure rgb can be configured).
I don't want my keyboard to have software configuration on my PC. It's a fucking keyboard. It doesn't need and shouldn't have an app.
My Corsair keyboards do not require an app to be installed forever.
If I want to customize colors and whatnot I need the app, otherwise there are some presets on the keyboard itself.
If I customize the colors, I use the app and do it and then uninstall the app and move on. This is presumably MUCH easier than trying to do this without an interface directly on the keyboard which I suppose would be the alternative.
It WOULD be nice to just be able to edit a text file and copy it over.
Look up the Redragon VATA K580 if you are looking for modular with on-board keyboard LED controls via key combos (no software or system level lighting functionality.) I've been using that for a while with AKKO silent penguins, and I really like the thing.
Only downside I can think of is how narrow the sides of the included switches are, and how I accidentally damaged two of them while pulling the switches out. Might just be skill issue on my part, but it did come with a few spare switches anyways.
There are reasons you may want an app besides rbg: like if your keyboard supports macros, or if you have a hall sensor keyboard and you want to configure the activation and deactivation heights of your key presses.
But yeah, I kinda think rbg keyboards are lame
Ducky keyboards and most rgb mechs let you define the keyboard just with fn combinations. The software is for convenience
Install once, configure, uninstall
Razor needs the software running to remember the key map or macros. Any special keys such as play/pause needed the fucking software. Even the mouse needs the software running to remember I set it to a static color.
Don't buy Razor.
Oof, I guess Logitech is better in that regard
Are there any keyboards without nightmare software. I'm coming from a Corsair keyboard and iCue sucks, and also the keyboard somehow stops controllers from working with Steam. (This is a known issue I've seen posts about on the official Corsair forum and they just won't fix it)
Edit: Thanks for the suggestions, I will look at some of those brands and see what they look like. I was originally planning on getting a custom one from Glorious Gaming cause I tried them at Best Buy and liked how they felt along with the replaceable switches and how customizable they are. But if anyone else has used this brand and has thoughts I would love to hear them.
Keychron uses QMK and can be configured through their website or software and I believe it just flashes new firmware so you don't have to keep the software running.
Simple solution: turn off rgb. Usually can be done throigh software or theres a dedictaed fn key combination for it
Or you can go down the mech keeb rabbithole and start collecting nice boards
Ducky Origin
There are many, many non-RGB and even non-backlit keyboards. Where are you looking?
Try mechanicalkeyboards.com
Here is a basic mech kb with no added frills.
https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/products/ducky-origin-black
Both of my own keyboards have the ability to disable the backlights—which is ideal, imo, so I can change my mind later.
Damn that Ducky Origin looks good! Wish there was an 80% option.
Damn I'm bad at searching, then. Thanks!
Das keyboard - excellent for years and years.
I was about to post this.
I'm on my 2nd blank one from them now.
No RGB, not even any print on the keys. So nice
I love the blank one. It's great for everyday use apart from passwords! Maybe I need to come up with longer word-based passwords with spaces so they're easier to type. https://xkcd.com/936/
I saw the link and thought to myself "this is gonna be correct horse battery staple isn't it?"
Lmaooooo
There's a user called @horse_battery_staple. I enjoyed telling them they were correct recently.
Lol Internet
Keychron makes some. I've had two of their keyboards and love both of them.
I've never really understood why people specifically avoid buying products with RGB lighting. You can usually just set it to a color you like, or simply turn them off. Instead people don't buy the thing they want because of the "obnoxious RGB". Imo it's like not wanting to buy a nice speaker because when you tried it at the store the volume was too high or you didn't like the sample track it played.
Because avoiding more ewaste is a GOOD thing.
Because you're paying for a gimmick instead of quality, and you don't wanna support products that dont do that, and in capitalism that's the only way to vote for what products get created.
I can get not wanting to pay for a feature you actively dislike
The RGB inevitably resets itself and turns back on. Some of them are easy to turn off. Others require software (malware) you have to explicitly install to turn off the RGB.
My desktop has a lovely feature where if I turn it off the RGB turns BACK ON. And it turns out my case is just the right angle for the RGB to shine into my face when I’m in bed.
So yes I will pay more money to not get RGB.
Any decent keyboard saves the rgb profile on the keyboard itself. My ducky, nuphy and any keychrons I've used never reset their rgb or macro settings.
My Keychrons do. They really don't like being connected to my dock or something and everyone once in a while they'll randomly reset themselves. The keychron just lets me hit the backlight down key, but if I've replaced their shitty ass factory keycaps with other ones then I don't know what that key combo is.
My keyboard at home has dip switches so I can just turn off the lights from there, and they will never turn back on. That is how it should be done, not software garbage.
That's unfortunate. A few of my co workers have keychrons and they disabled/set their back lights to a static colour and they've never had issues with it resetting.
My ducky keyboard has DIP switches and it's nice to be able to swap what I want from there.
Is that software available for every platform? Whenever I hear Gamer(tm) features, I assume that the crap customization software for Windows only. I like my mouse, but I can only customize the layout in Windows.
Many higher-end keyboards run QMK, which is a custom firmware you can modify to make all kinds of customizations to your keyboard. And the best part is that it requires no client software, it's all on-keyboard
OpenRGB has support for a ton of devices; just make sure the keyboard is supported before buying it.
Das keyboard? Keychron?