Silent, wired, keyboard for use with a PC.

Tony Norton

Hello all you PC experts,

since I had my hearing aids upgraded I can no longer stand the "clack, clack, clack" of my "cheapo" PCline keyboard, so I am looking for a silent, or nearly silent, wired, standard layout, non-gaming, extended keyboard that still has a reasonable "feel" to it.

I thought I had found the answer when I came across the Topre Realforce R2 PFU Limited edition. That is until I saw the price of it. Round about £250 for a keyboard, you're having a laugh!

I don't expect to find anything similar for £10 to £15, which is the going rate for a common or garden, noisy, keyboard. But I don't expect to have to go to over £100.

There is talk online about the "squishy" feel of membrane keyboards, which doesn't sound to me as though it would be an acceptable alternative.

Has anybody found a reasonable "Silent, wired, keyboard" that doesn't break the bank?

I will be most grateful for any suggestions, preferably based on experience, that readers may have.

Best Regards to all, and thanks in advance,

Tony Norton.

EndlessWaves

You seem to have run across a stronghold of keyboard snobbery.

The insult 'membrane keyboard' is a silly one. It applies the term for the very flat keyboards you find on appliances like microwaves to normal rubber dome keyboards that has been the standard technologies used in PC keyboards for the last couple of decades.

The top rubber dome keyboards like the Topre you mention are great keyboards. Your current one is likely one too, and it sounds like your only complaint is the noise rather than the feel.

What are you not a fan of feel-wise? The very light, short travel low profile keys like you find on a laptop?

Tony Norton

I'm sorry, I don't fully understand the import of this phrase. Perhaps you meant "Why are you not etc.".

You are right about the fact that my only complaint is the "clack, clack, clack" of this keyboard, the "feel" is fine. At this moment I have no quarrel at all with my current keyboard, but perhaps that is because I have removed my hearing aids prior to turning in.

I haven't yet investigated this problem fully, but I have noticed that there are quite a lot of keyboards purporting to be for use with a desktop PC, that are very flat and only the size of a laptop keyboard. These, I guess, are the ones that are what I would call "membrane keyboards". I do not particularly like using a laptop, or, for that matter, a "smart" phone which insists on interpreting my "touch to scroll" as a "press to open". I started using a PC as a design tool in 1985 and I like tools I am used to. My personal preference, therefore, is for what I would call a "full-size", what used to be known as an extended keyboard, having 12mm square keys pitched at 19mm approximately.

I was hoping to get a reply along the lines of "I use a Bloggs XK which, whilst not absolutely silent, is pretty quiet". I was a tad disappointed that you, being a distinguished member and therefore very experienced, would have chosen to decry my description of a product about which I admit to not having a great deal of knowledge. Which is why I asked the question.

I looked at the Topre and was very impressed with the construction of the individual keys, and can fully understand why it commands a high price. A price which, unfortunately, is beyond the limit to which I am prepared to go.

Regards
Tony N

Tony Norton

Hi All,

I have done some more research on the keyboard subject and found the Qwazar Red Shift Mechanical Keyboard at a price that I can, just about, justify.
Is there, on this forum, a user of this keyboard who can tell me whether or not it can reasonably be considered to be "quiet".
I am not interested in the gaming mode as I am not a "gamer", but it does, apparently, have a typing mode which I guess would suit me.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Tony N

EndlessWaves

You specified you wanted something with a reasonable feel, which implies there are keyboards on the market that you don't like the feel of. As feel is at least as much personal preference as anything objective it's hard to give an answer without knowing what sort of keyboards you wish to avoid.

Laptop and low profile keyboards don't use a membrane to provide feedback but a mechanism called a scissor switch.

This is a pure membrane keyboard:
                                                                                                                                                 

This sort of keyboard commonly found on waterproof or food safe appliances and children's toys. The term started being used by the sections of the keyboard enthusiast community that don't like rubber dome/scissor switch keyboards because they use a membrane beneath the rubber domes to register the key presses, even though it doesn't affect the feel of the keyboard at all.

Linear MX switches aren't particularly nice to type on due to the lack of feedback, and when I had a keyboard that used them I found myself bottoming out the keys which won't help the quietness.

If that model is well constructed with extra damping it might be tolerably quiet, but it is fairly cheap overall for such expensive switches so I wouldn't consider that a particularly promising candidate.

I'd go down the route of a quiet rubber dome keyboard, something like this:
Low noise, non-reflective black USB keyboard : KBC-115BNRU : The Keyboard Company
Or looking through QuietPC's shop the Asus Cerberus might suitable if you can live with the look (the glow can likely be disabled):
Keyboards and Mice