I’m genuinely just confused what the hype is with HHKB. It sounds just like a membrane but for 250 dollars. What the hell is the hype about?

  • cursethrower@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Imagine the typing experience on a typical membrane keyboard. Now imagine the typing experience on a Dell Quietkey (the ones with sliders from NMB). The HHKB feels far better than those, and I think the NMB dome Quietkeys are perfectly fine for everyday use. Nothing spectacular, but they were made relatively well and the dome with slider implementation gave them a boost in feel. I use one on and off, when I need a full-size layout.

    Topre keyboards feel like the ideal version of a membrane keyboard. I don’t mind them being called membrane keyboards at all because they technically are just that. It’s hard to get across how nice they are to someone who hasn’t had the chance to try them.

    I do think the HHKB’s main appeal as far as Topre goes is its layout. Leopold’s Topre keyboards are sturdier and have more accessible layouts. I don’t have an HHKB anymore, but I came to love the layout and it’s the reason I still use caps lock ctrl to this day as a programmer.

    • funkmon@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Most Quiet keys used the Silitek rubber domes. Sad times.

      I have likened Topres many times to rubber domes with all the bad parts taken away.

    • BigBadBlowfish@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Topre are decidedly not membrane keyboards.

      They are rubber dome keyboards, but they don’t use a membrane to detect key-presses like standard rubber dome boards. They instead use a PCB in combination with a conical springs housed within the rubber domes. Key-presses are detected by measuring the change in capacitance caused by the compression of the spring.

      I understand what you mean, though. Most of the time, “membrane” and “rubber dome” are used interchangeably to refer to cheap, mass produced keyboards. They are not necessarily related, though.

      A keyboard can be one, and not the other, as with Topre, which is a Rubber Dome board, but not a membrane board. Then you have the legendary IBM Model M, which is not a rubber dome but is actually a membrane keyboard.