Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

drink_n_drive · 2016-01-27 10:45:52

Hi again, as the title says, I'm saving up for a good notebook, and I need a really good keyboard. I type a lot, and got used to a Toshiba Satellite L455 (2008 or so). Now that it's time for an upgrade, I was curious and wanted to know what do you use/recommend.
I tested an X series ASUS (I think it was the X455LJ). Overall a great laptop, but the keys are too "shallow" compared to my Satellite (thumbnail). I guess people call them 'chiclet style' keyboards.
IDK if new Toshiba laptops keep the same keyboard style as mine, I guess they don't.

EDIT: I learned my old machine has the "scissor switch mechanism" for its keyboard.

Last edited by drink_n_drive (2016-01-27 10:49:58)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-27 10:49:35

ThinkPads are great for typing.

My X201 has a superb keyboard, best I have ever used.

Perhaps wait for our resident keyboard troll to offer an opinion though

drink_n_drive · 2016-01-27 10:51:27

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

resident keyboard troll

what a title! ^^

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-27 11:00:48

He's earned it, that's for sure

pvsage · 2016-01-27 11:20:23

inb4 C#Coder4ever:
MSI GT80 Titan with mechanical keyboard

EDIT: On a more practical note, if you mainly use your laptop as a desktop replacement, you could of course plug in a separate mechanical keyboard. If you need the built-in keyboard itself to be decent, I'd recommend auditioning laptops in-store.

Last edited by pvsage (2016-01-27 11:31:19)

Horizon_Brave · 2016-01-27 15:05:52

pvsage wrote:

inb4 C#Coder4ever:
MSI GT80 Titan with mechanical keyboard
EDIT: On a more practical note, if you mainly use your laptop as a desktop replacement, you could of course plug in a separate mechanical keyboard. If you need the built-in keyboard itself to be decent, I'd recommend auditioning laptops in-store.

It's hard to find a store with a good selection of true mechy keyboards though. At least in my area, there's only big box stores like Best Buy, Target, etc... we have a few mom n pop places, but they have very old, limited crap. But I do suggest going with a not so good keyboard on the laptop, and splurge a bit more on a mechanical keyboard and plug it in to use. Especially if you're not traveling with it that much.

C#Coder4ever · 2016-01-27 16:10:52

pvsage wrote:

inb4 C#Coder4ever:
MSI GT80 Titan with mechanical keyboard
EDIT: On a more practical note, if you mainly use your laptop as a desktop replacement, you could of course plug in a separate mechanical keyboard. If you need the built-in keyboard itself to be decent, I'd recommend auditioning laptops in-store.

This could work, my suggestion though is just get whatever laptop, and then get a mechanical keyboard to go with it.

Or you could get one of those keyboards that are similar to your toshiba's, either way you'll need to get an external keyboard.

ohnonot · 2016-01-27 16:42:50

another review for the msi gt80 titan:

Make no mistake, the Titan is freaking huge. The 9.9-pound, 17.95 x 13 x 1.9-inch laptop makes the Origin Eon 17-S (8.6 pounds, 16.3 x 11.3 x 1.8 inches) and the Asus G751JY (9.2 pounds, 16.4 x 12.5 x 0.9~1.7 inches) look small by comparison.

doesn't sound very practical to me (as in carrying it around).
the review then goes on praising the keyboard...

drink_n_drive · 2016-01-27 16:53:10

pvsage wrote:

inb4 C#Coder4ever:
MSI GT80 Titan with mechanical keyboard
On a more practical note, if you mainly use your laptop as a desktop replacement, you could of course plug in a separate mechanical keyboard. If you need the built-in keyboard itself to be decent, I'd recommend auditioning laptops in-store.

Forgot to mention that I would shop in Argentina, and perhaps Chile. Availability is always an issue around here.

I do prefer a Spanish or at least Latin-American keyboard layout since I translate with it. Imagine having to 'Alt-Gr + N' every time I need an 'Ñ'... I'd go insane.

Sector11 · 2016-01-27 18:04:41

@ drink_n_drive

Uruguay? Of course Chile might be closer to you. Argentina isn't exactly 'tiny'.

If you want a Latin-America keyboard Argentina won't do, nothing but Spanish keyboards here now. At least that I can find in Buenos Aires. Also note that most things 'electro domestico' have different model names / specifications for the South American market. But I'm sure you are aware of that too.

I have both layouts here, I use my 15 year old 'latam' MS Internet KeyboardPro keyboard. I'm so use to it, I tried to like the Spanish layout ... the slight differences caused a few blue streaks! I am a look at the keyboard, three finger typist highly dependant on the spell checker as I am convinced that my keys move around just to confuse me. ]:D

  $ cat /media/5/Documents/Keyboard_latam.txt
SEE: /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst
  latam

1 - normal letters
2 - [Alt Gr] + lower case letter
3 - [Alt Gr] + [Cap Locks on] + letter
4 - [Alt Gr] + ^
5 - [Alt Gr] + [Shift]

                               NOT # Pad
1  2 3 4 5     1  2 3 4 5     1  2 3 4 5
=  =======     =  =======     =  =======
a  æ Æ â Æ     ñ  ~ ~         |  ¬
b  ” ”   ’     o  Ø Ø ô Ø     1  |   ¹ ¡
c  ¢ ¢ ĉ ©     p  Þ Þ   Þ     2  @   ² ⅛
d  ð Ð   Ð     q  @ @   Ω     3  ·   ³ £
e  € € ê ¢     r  ¶ ¶   ®     4  ~   ⁴ $
f  đ Đ   ª     s  ß ß ŝ §     5  ½   ⁵ ⅜
g  ŋ Ŋ ĝ Ŋ     t  Ŧ Ŧ   Ŧ     6  ¬   ⁶ ⅝
h  ħ Ħ ĥ Ħ     u  ↓ ↓ û ↑     7  {   ⁷ ⅞
i  → → î ı     v  “ “   ‘     8  [   ⁸ ™
j  j J ĵ J     w  Ł Ł ŵ Ł     9  ]   ⁹ ±
k  ĸ ĸ   &     x  » »   >     0  }   ⁰ °
l  Ł Ł   Ł     y  ← ← ŷ ¥     '  \   \ ¿
m        º     z  « « ẑ <     ¿  ¸
n  N N   N

[Alt Gr] +^ +^ = ^

Also - [Alt Gr] + tap ´ once (to right of ñ) then a key
     - See column 4 in Spanish Keyboard laypout
     - can be achived as seen below: Accents

Accents:

^ + letters: â ê î ô û ŷ - ĉ ĝ ĵ ŝ ŵ ẑ
` + letters: à è ì ò ù ỳ - ǹ ẁ
´ + letters: á é í ó ú ý - ć ǵ ḱ ḿ ń ṕ ŕ ś ẃ
¨ + letters: ä ë ï ö ü ÿ - ẅ ḧ

=====     =====     =====     =====     =====
Spanish Layout

1 - normal letters
2 - [Alt Gr] + lower case letter
3 - [Alt Gr] + [Cap Locks on] + letter
4 - tap ´ once to right of ñ then key
5 - [Alt Gr] + [Shift]

                               NOT  Pad!
1  2 3 4 5     1  2 3 4 5     1  2 3 4 5
=  =======     =  =======     =  =======
a  æ Æ à Æ     o  ø Ø ò Ø     º \ º   \
b  ” ”   ’     p  þ Þ   Þ     1  | 1   ¡
c  ¢ ¢   ©     q  @ @   Ω     2  @ 2   ⅛
d  ð Ð   Ð     r  ¶ ¶   ®     3  # 3   £
e  € € è ¢     s  ß ß   §     4  ~ 4   $
f  đ Đ   ª     t  ŧ Ŧ   Ŧ     5  ½ 5   ⅜
g  ŋ Ŋ   Ŋ     u  ↓ ↓ ù ↑     6  ¬ 6   ⅝
h  ħ Ħ   Ħ     v  “ “ ǜ ‘     7  { 7   ⅞
i  → → ì ı     w  ł Ł ẁ Ł     8  [ 8   ™
j  j J   J     x  » »   >     9  ] 9   ±
k  ĸ ĸ   &     y  ← ← ỳ ¥     0  } 0   °
l  ł Ł   Ł     z  « «   «     '  \ '   ¿
m  µ     º     <  < <   ¦     ¡    ¡   ~
n  n N ǹ N

[Shift] +^ +^ = ^
[Alt Gr]+[¡]+[¡]= ~

Accents:

^ + letters: â ê î ô û ŷ - ĉ ĝ ĵ ŝ ŵ ẑ
Shift ^    : â ê î ô û ŷ - ĉ ĝ ĵ ŝ ŵ ẑ
` + letters: à è ì ò ù ỳ - ǹ ẁ
´ + letters: á é í ó ú ý - ć ǵ ḱ ḿ ń ṕ ŕ ś ẃ

The "latam" section: Printed, laminated and on my desk all the times. Fo For most things I don't need to look at it anymore.

EDIT: See the Fo {sigh}

drink_n_drive · 2016-01-27 19:05:37

Sector11 wrote:

@ drink_n_drive
Uruguay? Of course Chile might be closer to you. Argentina isn't exactly 'tiny'.
If you want a Latin-America keyboard Argentina won't do, nothing but Spanish keyboards here now. At least that I can find in Buenos Aires. Also note that most things 'electro domestico' have different model names / specifications for the South American market. But I'm sure you are aware of that too.

I am still not sure who the mythical keyboard troll is, but I might guess he's not too far

Uruguay is not an option, since I'm living/working in the far South right now, so I'd go for Chile as a second option.

My Satellite has the ES_es layout, which I'm comfortable with.

And yes, I'm aware of the model names, I would just search for the specs in this case.

Having said that, I think Dell are really good for heavy typing, but they seem to be a little too short on HDD storage for their elevated price... Except for the XPS L502X (good screen size, btw).

Anyone tried XPS series? What can you say about them?

PS: It sounds odd, but it's electrodoméstico

C#Coder4ever · 2016-01-27 19:06:53

I posted in here earlier.

drink_n_drive · 2016-01-27 19:18:37

C#Coder4ever wrote:

MSI GT80 Titan with mechanical keyboard

I wasn't aware of the existence of such beast! Though I'd mainly use it for translation, my main concern is to take it here and there... I don't think the MSI would meet my requirements... Besides the fact that if I play at all, I am a retro-gamer... a SNES emulator would do the trick.

pvsage wrote:

EDIT: On a more practical note, if you mainly use your laptop as a desktop replacement, you could of course plug in a separate mechanical keyboard. If you need the built-in keyboard itself to be decent, I'd recommend auditioning laptops in-store.

I was already thinking about trying every laptop out there with an online typing-test... The thing is, if I like the KB, but the maching doesn't meet my requirements (ie: i5, good storage, 6-8 GB RAM, and maybe that's all), I'd feel overly frustrated.

I know I can't always have it all, but hell, I'm trying hard.

Last edited by drink_n_drive (2016-01-27 19:21:30)

drink_n_drive · 2016-01-27 19:25:10

I have seen you around here like a zillion times, but I'd never looked past your name... Mystery solved.

Temetka · 2016-01-28 00:12:50

This post is being brought to you by my Thinkpad X301. I've been using Thinkpads for almost 2 decades now and for my money, they provide they best keyboarding experience on a laptop.

Horizon_Brave · 2016-01-28 01:36:41

Temetka wrote:

This post is being brought to you by my Thinkpad X301. I've been using Thinkpads for almost 2 decades now and for my money, they provide they best keyboarding experience on a laptop.

Do you still think they have the same quality under Lenovo as they did under big blue?

drink_n_drive · 2016-01-28 02:33:26

@Temetka I have heard only words of praise for ThinkPads. The only issue here is that they are fairly expensive for their specs here in Argentina, IDK in other countries.

Today I tried a Dell XPS 15 and I felt fine with it... The only issue is that the arrow keys are relatively small, but apart from that it is a comfortable laptop with very good specs and as a bonus, they appear to be the most Linux-friendly laptops out there.

Any opinon on XPS series?

C#Coder4ever · 2016-01-28 02:55:32

If you like it/find it okay/etc. then go with it lol

Last edited by C#Coder4ever (2016-01-28 02:55:50)

Sector11 · 2016-01-28 03:20:54

drink_n_drive wrote:

PS: It sounds odd, but it's electrodoméstico

Well, just tossing in my dimes worth. If I make typos in my language you can bet it's worse in castellano.

BTW, that Dell keyboard looks nice, I bet the arrows keys would be small for less than a day. It also looks to be latam.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-28 07:28:58

drink_n_drive wrote:

Any opinon on XPS series?

You need lots of tweaks to get the newer versions working.

Dell's Project Sputnik has most stuff working but uses Ubuntu

Arch users are battling with it: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=205147

OTOH, ThinkPads are Intel-based and should be easier to get up & running as long as you don't mind needing non-free firmware for the Skylake GPU...
https://packages.debian.org/jessie-back … sc-nonfree

EDIT: In case you go for a Skylake device, the backported kernel & xserver-xorg-video-intel will also be needed in Debian jessie/BunsenLabs for full performance.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2016-01-28 08:07:53)

#1 2016-01-27 10:45:52

Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#2 2016-01-27 10:49:35

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#3 2016-01-27 10:51:27

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#4 2016-01-27 11:00:48

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#5 2016-01-27 11:20:23

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#6 2016-01-27 15:05:52

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#7 2016-01-27 16:10:52

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#8 2016-01-27 16:42:50

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#9 2016-01-27 16:53:10

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#10 2016-01-27 18:04:41

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#11 2016-01-27 19:05:37

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#12 2016-01-27 19:06:53

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#13 2016-01-27 19:18:37

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#14 2016-01-27 19:25:10

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#15 2016-01-28 00:12:50

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#16 2016-01-28 01:36:41

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#17 2016-01-28 02:33:26

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#18 2016-01-28 02:55:32

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#19 2016-01-28 03:20:54

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

#20 2016-01-28 07:28:58

Re: Can you point out some laptops with good keyboards?

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