Gaming Keyboard?

Amazon Prime day is here, and a bunch of Razer keyboards are on sale. Since my old one from like 13 years ago seems to be wearing out, I thought maybe I should get a new one. A little googling tells me I have the Razer Lycosa from 2007, and Wikipedia says it has "dome" type keys. I really prefer keys that are low to the keyboard and soft so that I don't have to press hard to get the key to make contact, as I have pretty serious hand, arm and wrist issues, and the Lycosa has always been fine for that.

I get the sense that modern gamers prefer big old keys that make a lot of noise and are harder to press, and that is definitely not what I want. Any recommendations on a gaming keyboard that is more like a laptop keyboard with keys that are closer to the keyboard surface and not hard to press? Thanks for any thoughts. In case it is useful for folks, here are a few links to current razor keyboards on sale for today and tomorrow if you are a prime member:

https://www.amazon.com/Razer-Cynosa...ct_DLandingS_D_89b45e32_70&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

https://www.amazon.com/Razer-Huntsm...ct_DLandingS_D_89b45e32_68&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

https://www.amazon.com/Razer-Ornata...ct_DLandingS_D_89b45e32_80&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

https://www.amazon.com/Razer-BlackW...t_DLandingS_D_89b45e32_120&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

https://www.amazon.com/Razer-RZ03-0...t_DLandingS_D_89b45e32_130&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I have the Deathstalker, which is a flat keyboard like you seem to prefer.. Reviewed here: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/razer-deathstalker,review-2318.html

Don't know if it's still available.

I've been happy with it, however now I'm using an Asus Claymore (mechanical) keyboard, which offered the possibility of moving the numeric keypad to the left side, allowing a convenient position of macro keys.

Thanks - I saw the deathstalker one during my research but it isn't for sale anywhere anymore, sadly. I am considering the Razer Ornata Chroma. I really hate researching hardware purchases... I am usually fine with whatever I get in the end, but I feel obligated to do lots of research before pulling the trigger.

The Redragon K502 seems to be getting OK reviews: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LSGKEC...&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1&keywords=Chiclet Key

a pibbur

I love the Lioncast LK 30
https://www.lioncast.com/en/product/lk30-gaming-keyboard/

Jaguar said:

A I really prefer keys that are low to the keyboard and soft so that I don't have to press hard to get the key to make contact, as I have pretty serious hand, arm and wrist issues, and the Lycosa has always been fine for that.

Click to expand...

If wireless is ok for you, get a Microsoft Sculpt. If not, get a Microsoft LXM-00001 (less than ideal key layout, but very comfortable). Unfortunately, the king of ergonomics, the Microsoft 4000, has been discontinued.

Thanks very much, folks. I have used the MS ergonomic one at work before, actually. I think I'm going to try the Ornata Chroma - I like the price and the features, and it will be somewhat, but not totally, of an entry to the world of mechanicals.

Personally use the Arctosa and I am not a fan of mechanical keyboards at all.
The issue I got with these is that contact is usually not made at an distinctive point you can feel, which makes very fine movements actually harder than on rubberdome.
What I mean is that mechanical keyboards usually have one point of highest resistance when pressing them, but after that there is still wiggle room, until you reach the point of contact. And some of this room is "no-mans land" with unforseeable results.

So try this on a mechanical keyboard:
Go into a text editor.
Press a key for any letter and hold it - you will have continous contact and the letter will keep appearing.
Now lift it very slowly. At some point, before the point of highest resistance, you will reach no-mans-land. A minimum of more or less resistance will make the differnece of letters showing or not - in this reagion you can basically not control if you make contact or not.
Lift the key further. Depending on the type of keyboard you will now hear squeking noises. You reach the point where you got maximum resistance when pressing the key. You will slowly leave no-mans-land and lose contact.
Lift the key further. Now you are past the point of most resistance. And everything is fine.

Do the same on rubberdome instead:
Pressing the key and holding it is the same result ofc.
The very moment, you do not press it to the maximum, you lose contact.
If you lift it further, you will directly jump over the point of most resistance as with rubberdome it doesn't make much difference regarding the side your are coming from. Whether you are pressing the key or releasing it - you will be pushed over this resistance point.
Now you are in the normal position again for a new keypress.

So mechanical might be nicer for typing. But if you want to have super fine controls or do something which comes close to what you call "hypertapping" in tetris, you will most liekly not be able to achieve this with mechanical keybards as the state of a clear 1 and 0 are too far away and the state of uncontrollable 0/1 is too big.

I used to play racing games on the PC a lot and back then I didn't quite understand why you wouldn't want to play it with a keyboard as you got super fine controls. Obviously analogue controls have an additional advantage in also making a differnece in how strong you go into one direction, but usually on a keyboard you wouldn't just turn left or right and hold they keys, but you would hit the keys with a different "frequence". So if you want to slightly turn left for a longer turn, I might hit the "left" key 10-30 times.