Quiet Keyboards?

[Loren]

I was wondering if there was a good keyboard some one might recommend.

My biggest problem is noise. I have some sort of aversion to the sound of keys clicking. It drives me crazy.

I use a mac and I have their sleek aluminum keyboard which is quite enough, but I find I get a lot of sloppy key strokes that produce errors. I'm not a very good typist (two fingers).

I was wondering if others had recommendations worth considering?

 

[mtzGr]

I'd recommend a mechanical keyboard, of which there are a couple quiet switch options. Stiffer switches tend to help my accuracy, but you may find them fatiguing after long sessions of typing. I would suggest Cherry MX Browns (light) or Clears (heavier); they are fairly quiet and have a really nice tactile response when you hit a key (most people really like them).

I really like KUL keyboards. They are very well made, appropriately priced, and look very nice and unassuming.

Here's a photo of mine with clear switches and an aftermarket keyset:

If you need it even quieter you can install o-rings underneath the caps, but it will change the way the switches feel, which you may not like.

If you need a fullsize keyboard, or want things like backlighting, I'd consider Ducky.
If these are out of your price range there are cheaper options like the QFR which is still very good.

You can find a lot of great used deals on reddit...
As well as lots of discussion and ideas.

Besides buying on Amazon, you can find keyboards here:
Mechanical Keyboards Inc - The Ultimate Catalog and Guide.
elitekeyboards.com - Home

It really is a rabbit hole that will eat up all your money if you aren't careful.

 

[tinkerdan]

I have a chromebook laptop made on an Acer and the keyboard built into that is pretty quiet. In fact, it drives me up the wall sometimes; because I learned touch typing on an old Smith Coruna and got used to the: Tap tap, tap tap tap tap, tap tap tap, tap, of the whole experience. Slapping the carriage return at the end of each sentence was an easy habit to lose but I still like to hear myself typing.

 

[Loren]

mtzGR,

Thanks for the links! I am checking those out now.

tinkerdan,

Yes, then you should try the DasKeyboard. I think you will like that. I bought one and the noise drove me insane.

 

[tinkerdan]

No. Thank you though.

They actually have a place on the website where you can listen to the two different types of switches they use and the one they consider soft is much louder than what I prefer. Of course it also sounds like a gorilla is pounding on the keys.

 

[Inca_UK]

Do you not work with music playing? I usually have something playing through speakers or have headphones on, either way I can't hear any key clicks. Most people I suggest this to have an issue with concentrating, but the key is not to listen to music with words. I find electronic music works best for me. Something with a good beat and tune which you can just bob your head to as you write. Alternatively try classical or epic music, they both work well. I wouldn't dream of doing any work (or anything really) without music unless I was listening to something else. My ears need occupying.

 

[Loren]

Do you not work with music playing? I usually have something playing through speakers or have headphones on, either way I can't hear any key clicks. Most people I suggest this to have an issue with concentrating, but the key is not to listen to music with words. I find electronic music works best for me. Something with a good beat and tune which you can just bob your head to as you write. Alternatively try classical or epic music, they both work well. I wouldn't dream of doing any work (or anything really) without music unless I was listening to something else. My ears need occupying.

I'll give that a try. I have a nice set of Sennheisers that I could employ. Bought them when I worked in a cubical farm and the overall noise was distracting.

Speaking of which, that reminds me of a story, if you will allow me to drivel on...

When I was working for a BIG company a colleague approached me sporting a new set of headphones. The two of us were charged with taking a business trip, so he went out and purchased a set of noise-cancelling headphones for the plane ride.

I feigned dull interest in his new toy, nodding approvingly at the new fangled contraption in his palms and wished him to go away.

The next day we are off on our business trip and we each take our seats aboard the aircraft, stuffed our junk under our seats, kicking and pushing coats and bags under the seat since the overhead bins were full of elephant trunk sized luggage.

Takeoff! we are in the air and wheels go up. Finally the engines cut back and we enter cruise mode. Ted, my traveling companion is located one seat behind me. Double luck! Not only can't he talk to me, but he has those new headphones to keep him occupied. I can't believe my good fortune.

Let me digress a bit and explain Ted. Ted is a remarkable person. He is extremely bright and a most capable engineer, but the running bet within our team is how long Ted will keep talking after you have cut his head off.

Mid flight things begin to fall apart. The steady, and what I consider meditative drone of the engines, suddenly is interrupted by someone singing. This off-tune singing goes on for several minutes.

I begin to notice a change in what the Japanese call Wa. Essentially Wa is a subjective measure of harmony. I am not sure if there is an actual scale for Wa, but if there was it appeared to be hovering somewhere near zero.

I unbuckled my seat belt so I could turn around. The first thing that caught my attention as I pivoted in my seat was the number of sour faces that were meeting mine. Ah, something is afoot!

It turns out it was Ted, eyes closed, blissfully singing, off key, totally unaware of his environment with his noise-cancelling headphones perched on his head.

I saw this moment as a call to action. Not only for my own sense of Wa, but for my fellow travelers' as well. I was about to be a hero.

"Ted! Ted!" I yelled, knowing that I would have full emotional support from those around me. Normally I am not the kind of guy that makes a scene in public, but I felt a sense of duty here.

Ted's eyes fluttered open as he greeted me with surprise.

"Ted, are those your noise cancelling headphones?" I shouted.

Ted's face lit up with a surprised glee, realizing I had recognized his new toy.

"Yes!" he said with great pride, pulling them off.

"They're not working!!!"

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I was wondering if there was a good keyboard some one might recommend.

My biggest problem is noise. I have some sort of aversion to the sound of keys clicking. It drives me crazy.

Unfortunately the quietest ones are WORST to type on. The old ones with a separate real switch for each key are best for typing, but among the noisiest. All current keyboards seem to be membrane types with mix of elastomer cup and scissor support for each key. Though even the built in laptop keyboards there is a huge variation in quality. Best I've used were Dell Inspiron 7500 (2000) and Inspirion 8200 (2002). All other laptops (inc ones I've setup or fixed problems on for others) had much inferior keys. Oddly the tiny Acer Aspire One Netbook has a much better keyboard than a similar vintage Acer Laptop.

I just have the radio on in the background as I have tinnitus in one ear anyway (the deaf one) and it helps a lot.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I use a free app called sleep machine. It allows you to mix three white noise sounds at varying levels. These range from white noise to thunderstorm, railroad, car interior etc, and a binaural beat tone that. The tone puts your brain in a receptive mode and the options are varied, too: concentration, stress relief, creativity, sleep etc.

I couldn't live in London without this app.

Here's a screen grab of my settings.



pH

 

[tinkerdan]

The old mechanical keyboards are the best for efficiency and accuracy. The newer membrane are softer sounding but sometimes require more pressure to actuate. The Tactile are somewhere in-between and that means that they could be a bit noisier.

The mechanical have switches of varying degrees of click and they are something like black, brown,blue, and red ; later some were added clear, green, white, grey, darker grey, and super black. They each have their own actuation force and stiffness; but are all basically built in with a click.

Oddly, and some people try to dispute this, some of the larger contributing factors to the noise is how heavy handed the typist is and sometimes whether they type with the pads of the fingers or the finger nail. Those sounds added to the click can make for quite a bit of racket.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

You can also try a felt mat under the keyboard in case the desk is accentuating the sound. The mechanical ones can be quieter when you get used and learn to type more gently. The modern tactile, membrane, chiclet etc all need a lot more force.
I first typed reports in my first job on a purely mechanical typewriter. I didn't learn to type, but I did realise the , . ' etc needed very gentle hit and M W etc needed thumped hard. One didn't put extraneous prose. I understood entirely the log report of the mast at Emly Moor falling down. (The replacement concrete tower is now a listed structure).

 

[Kylara]

I love mechanical keyboards. My father specifically didn't want one when we built him his computer and his keyboard is horrible for me to type on. All squishy and inconsistent. My laptop has a surprising good keyboard and makes a satisfying tip noise. My tablet keyboard is very noisy, but I blame its being tiny. It's not mechanical, but does sound like one sometimes! Although that's probably nails hitting the keys (tiny keyboard!)
My partner has a lovely mechanical keyboard, and is also very quiet. He spent a fair old bit on and it is well worth it. I can't remember what colour it is (how hard you press) but it is nice to type with. I find a gentle tapping to be quite enjoyable when typing, but not a huge noise as some keyboard have (generally the cheap ones, often also very sticky!). I have to have all onscreen keyboards with a small vibrate so that they make a noise and I can feel when I have hit the keys. Otherwise my typing goes off - it seems I need to hear myself typing in order to type. Maybe it's a speed thing...

 

[Montero]

Aren't there keyboards which are actually virtual - as in red light project on a desk and you move your fingers in the right place?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Aren't there keyboards which are actually virtual - as in red light project on a desk and you move your fingers in the right place?

Ghastly. Only moderately less bad than a touch screen due to having better size. You absolutely need a certain kind of tactile feedback hence the shaped elastomer cup on any decent all in one keyboard (layer type mambrane or clicky discs or chicklet instead of separate PCB mounted switches).

 

[Kylara]

Just asked him and got more info about keyboards than I can retain in one sitting. However he has a cherry black mechanical. Which means it is probably on the quieter end of mechanical keyboards. It doesn't have the tactile niblet under the key (which reduces sound) but does have to be pressed with enough force to get the letter out. It's a nice keyboard to type on and not particularly noisy either.

 

[DrMclony]

Wow, I am the absolute opposite. But then, I first typed on an old remington typewriter before I got into the old 8 bit delights. I need a keyboard that has a satisfying clack and feels like I am actually pressing something. A lot of modern keyboards fail at this completely. For several years I have been using a kensington washable keyboard and quite liked it. Especially when people saw me stop typing, drop it in a bucket of water, scrub it down then keep typing! Sadly I killed it recently, I think I got moisture in the USB plug and it starting acting wacky. Hence I bought a $5 cheapy in Target to keep me going until I can find a new one I like. But still, typing under water... Always good fun. If they had one like that which was wireless, it'd be perfect!

 

[Mad Alice]

I was wondering if there was a good keyboard some one might recommend.

My biggest problem is noise. I have some sort of aversion to the sound of keys clicking. It drives me crazy.

I use a mac and I have their sleek aluminum keyboard which is quite enough, but I find I get a lot of sloppy key strokes that produce errors. I'm not a very good typist (two fingers).

I was wondering if others had recommendations worth considering?

The roll it up portable keyboard is quiet as a church mouse.
I have seen a foam one with extra big keys meant for kids but it had sloppy action.
A tablet keyboard is quiet once you turn off the sound.

 

[Shyrka]

This place specialises in low noise PCs and components. I've bought PSUs and graphics cards from them before and been pleased with the results - they even list decibel ratings on them. Their keyboard selection claims to be curated so presumably they don't stock anything too noisy.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

The roll it up portable keyboard is quiet as a church mouse.

And not more usable than a real mouse as a computer mouse*. They are ghastly to use, a cheap horrible toy as is the "piano" keyboard version.

Their keyboard selection claims to be curated

For MASSIVE overpricing. Curated for what?
I have nice quiet bridge for sale.

(* My son agrees that a computer mouse is misnamed. It's a pebble; hard, shiny and sometimes without even a wire. Where are the feet, teeth, eyes, floppy ears, long nose and fur on a computer mouse?)

 

[Ray McCarthy]

It doesn't have the tactile niblet under the key (which reduces sound)

Those are not to reduce sound but improve tactile feedback. Cherry is one of the top switch manufacturers in the world. That keyboard has proper switches so doesn't need the elastomer cup/thimble/niblet thing. Only membrane layer types need those.