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A comment on New Model M Is an American-Made Keyboard That Puts a Spring Back in Your Typing. Parent comment

Re:New Model M Is an American-Made Keyboard That Puts a Spri... by thereddaikon on Thursday February 18, 2021 @11:19AM (#26181715)
It sounds to me like you have used one particular kind of mechanical keyboard. What you describe sounds a lot like either a buckling spring like the Model M or a clicky tactile switch like the Cherry MX Blue.

One of the cool things about mechanical switches is they can be built in such a way to have different characteristics. Much like how a car's suspension can be tuned to be soft or hard and with high ground clearance or low down you can build switches to be loud of quiet, clicky or soft, long or short travel.

As for why they are appealing, many people like tactile interfaces with positive feedback. In a world where everything is a touch sensitive slab of glass its nice to interface with something mechanical and responsive instead of a lifeless slate. Its the dexterous equivalent to ASMR. Its why people like manual transmissions, bolt action rifles, physical switches and knobs.

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Re:New Model M Is an American-Made Keyboard That Puts a Spri... by macNchz on Thursday February 18, 2021 @12:20PM (#26182608)
Yeah I think like anything there's a spectrum of how people perceive and react to tactile things. I'm really into all the things that feel nice in your hand. I love the weighted shift knob on my manual transmission car, my topre keyboard, the click-feel of my Intellimouse, the mechanical feeling of my various pocketknives, any heavy well-built hand tools, twiddling a nice wood pencil while I think. I'll often favor buying products that have really nice knobs or switches–I just bought a microwave that has a nice knob for setting the time instead of a flat button panel.
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Re:New Model M Is an American-Made Keyboard That Puts a Spri... by MengerSponge on Thursday February 18, 2021 @03:31PM (#26185067)
May I introduce you to one of my favorite niche youtube channels? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4VfzMbn28E
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Re:New Model M Is an American-Made Keyboard That Puts a Spri... by s_fischer on Friday February 19, 2021 @10:09AM (#26193963)
I just want to thank you for this discovery, I was waiting for the over analyzed description of the scroll wheel and nearly had a spit take upon hearing his review.

In an age where everyone and their mom (literally) are doing sponsored product reviews on youtube, and also as a lifelong hardware nerd, this parody really appeals to my inner soul.

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Re:New Model M Is an American-Made Keyboard That Puts a Spri... by visarga on Thursday February 18, 2021 @07:15PM (#26187723)
> you can build switches to be loud of quiet, clicky or soft, long or short travel

I'd like to add actuation force to this list. It's one of the most important characteristics.

[ Parent | on HN ]