I need your help. When I'm worried, I like shopping. I've had a good experience over the last few years. I buy a bed – because I need a bed. Or I buy a new computer case because the old one is too big for the space there I install a computer. Sometimes, I will be investing in something really nice and useless. Keys. I like to spend more money than I should on keyboard-based outfits, too currently there is a set of keycaps that I would like to own most.
And they are about $ 1,000.
To understand why any rational person would want to spend $ 1,000 on some plastic bins let me first explain why these plastic pieces are very important.
Japanese software company JustSystems and keyboards KeyalForce have a series of keyboards usually only available in Japan. Precious keyboards whose long keyboards are in the right direction and "cups" of your fingers—and because they use Topre key exchanges.
Topre switches are very different in size, a complex world of radical change. Many of the non-Topre switches look a lot like the ones made by Cherry MX, bottom to back-signthe soundtrack embedded in the wall itself. They all have a spring inside and a small mechanical switch
Topre switches are electrocapacitive switches made with a mixture of plastic trunk, rubber cup and spring. Ymaybe you've heard about it electrocapacitive or hybrid switches in the last few years if you looked at keyboards provided by major gaming manufacturers such as Razer and Logitech. However, Topre is considered very good when it comes to that kind of change and is only available on keyboards made by a very small group of Japanese designers. PFU limited (ie it does Key Entry Keyboard), Leopold, and RealForce.
The problem with Topre is that Topre transformers use a different type of slide instead CherryMX. No small sign of consolidation. This means that CherryMX keycaps will not work with Topre keyboard. Unfortunately, the large, flourishing, keycap industry almost makes CherryMX keycaps.
Therefore, if you want to customize the Topre keyboard, you have two options. The first is, you can replace carefully the entire Topre slide with CherryMX-compatible. I did that back in 2018. It took me about six hours and a lot of filing (compatible slides are made of cheap prices and often have a few pieces of plastic that need to be removed to get a good press button). It also needs to damage the high-quality keyboard, and after it's done, I have noticed that the switches do not feel as smooth as in the original wax. So it works, but there were some issues.
The second option for making the Topre keyboard gets the Topre keys. A few companies will sell off-line specialists (meaning no print on cap), and there will, in very rare cases, be a complete set of codes purchased. But variations are not as good as in the CherryMX space.
And I’m not just talking about different colors. And I'm talking about the cap profile. Almost all of Topre's available keycaps use the keycap profile most modern keyboard users are used to. It looks like this.
But the $ 900 cap I prefer uses a higher profile, or a South African profile, of keycaps. Made, and designated, in my opinion, can hold you better fingers. If you have used keyboards or typewriters from the & # 39;70s through initially & # 39;90s, you are very familiar with the profile because it is available to all advanced typewriters and keyboards.
That's it the profile used for the JustSystems and RealForce 108UG-HiPro keycaps I want to spend $ 900 on. These 108UG-HiPro original keys it is rare, and the only listing currently available on eBay. However still $ 900—and spending a fortune on key keys is like something to add to my own to worry than to convey.
A real, and less basic, RealForce Topre keyboard with the same hair (and a few colors) it can be found on Amazon for $ 250. In the meantime, at least one company that manufactures custom keyboard parts It seems to work to produce the same keyboards – hopefully more color variations for less money.
But those missing keys are not available however, whereas keycap orders often take months — and sometimes years. So while I can save a lot of money by stealing lots of patience, seeing the exact issues I want to sell on eBay has made it very difficult for me to access my wallet. Someone bought them first and saved them from me.
