Last month the new graphics cards came out for PCs. They are very expensive, use a lot of electricity, and barely improve over the previous generation of cards so there is no reason for me to upgrade. However, I still wanted to get myself something new and shiny for my computer so I got a very nice keyboard and mouse to replace my old monstrous setup.

Previously I was using 2 keyboards–technically 3 keyboards. One was a RGB clown vomit mechanical keyboard that I bought a decade ago to play Quake Champions with and a small wireless keyboard to use with my phone because it had bluetooth. The third keyboard is just a numpad cause my mechanical clown vomit keyboard is a TKL (Tenkeyless) keyboard designed for try-hard gamers. I hated it cause the switches were linear and uncomfortable to type on plus I am so used to having a numpad that it forced me to buy a cheap external one. You can also imagine how cramped the desk space was with 3 keyboards giving me barely any room for my wired mouse. The mouse was also clown vomit RGB and I noticed it started to do double clicks by mistake which was annoying. It was time to replace everything.

I took 2 weeks to research the perfect keyboard. I wanted something that was silent, comfortable to touch type on, and was full sized with a numpad. It also needed to support fast switching between a wired usb connection and bluetooth so I can respond to iMessages on my phone. That way it would eliminate the need for all 3 of my keyboard devices. Surprisingly, the fast switching between wired usb and bluetooth was rare amongst keyboards. It was either you use it wirelessly or had to physically hit a switch underneath the keyboard and have it on bluetooth mode that you could switch between multiple bluetooth devices. Luckily, after a week of research–I had found the best keyboard for my needs.

Surprise, surprise! The Japanese make a killer professional keyboard called the Realforce R3. Apparently in Japan they created their own keyboard switch mechnicism. Most mechanical keyboards use MX Cherry (German made) switches or a knock off equivalent. These switches come in linear or tactile form. Linear means the keys just drop straight down when you hit them and tactile means you get bit of a clicky bump halfway through the press. Most mechanical switches are loud but there are many different versions for various preferences. There are also membrane keyboards which are the cheapest and most silent ones. Those have keys that are mushy like a cheap calculator you may had in school. A Japanese company made their own completely different electrostatic capacitive non-contact switch system in 1984 called Topre. Unlike the German MX Cherries the mechanism are rubber domes on springs. They are silent but feel similar to tactile mechanical switches which is exactly what I was looking for. The R3 model can switch between wired USB and 4 bluetooth devices on-the-fly holding down the Fn key and 1-5 depending on the device you are switching to. They keys are not in RGB clown vomit colours but I did find a rare model sold in the South Korean market with beautiful leopold blue and grey keycaps made using PBT plastic instead of ABS. My previous keyboard used ABS plastic which will wear down over time and have a gross looking shine that looks like permanent grease stains. PBT is a stronger material and the key cap glyphs were double-shot which means they weren’t simply printed on but used two pieces of plastic. This method prevents the glyphs on the keys from wearing off after extensive use. I had to order the keyboard from a small boutique keyboard shop in Tennessee but the staff answered all my questions over the phone and it arrived promptly. I couldn’t be happier.

As for the mouse, I was hesitant to replace it with a wireless mouse as I don’t like the idea of recharging more things. I keep the keyboard always wired into the computer despite it having the ability to run off batteries and I even use my gaming controllers wired to avoid recharging. I did end up with a wireless mouse after reading about the long battery life and ease of charging plus it would reclaim a lot more space on my desktop and give an overall cleaner look. The mouse I got is the highly rated Razer Viper V3 Pro. I used a website called Eloshapes which will allow you to compare the size, shape, and weight of mice and I found the Razer to be a match with the mouse I was previously using; the Glorious Model O. It fit the bill plus it was 10 grams lighter than my Model O which is unbelievable. The mouse doesn’t have any clown vomit colours and is a clean black which matches everything else and runs flawlessly.

I couldn’t be happier with this quality of life computer upgrade and it even got me playing Quake Champions again despite moving on to casual Call of Duty with a controller.

Anyways, I just wanted to get this out of my system so I don’t have to bore friends and family with my nerdy nonsense.