'Why the Amazon Basics Keyboard Is My Favorite Keyboard' (nickjanetakis.com) 183
Full stack developer and teacher, Nick Janetakis, says the Amazon Basics keyboard is one of his favorite general purpose/programming keyboards. "It hits all the major points that make a keyboard good and it also happens to be only $14," he writes. From his blog post: Quiet as Possible: I have one freelance client (ahem Ryan!) who has really loud mechanical key switches. Every time we hop on a screen sharing session that involves typing I can't tell if he's lighting off fireworks in his office or writing code. [...] I tried a bunch of keyboards and [the Amazon Basics keyboard] is really very quiet while having tactile feeling keys. (You can listen to this YouTube video to hear what the keyboard sounds like.)
Tactile Feeling Keys: The Amazon Basics keyboard fits in between with mid-height keys. They have a decent amount of resistance to them so you can definitely feel each key press, but it's not so much that it hurts your forearms after long hours of coding.
Easy to Clean / Avoids Stuck Keys: After a quick wipe down it looks pretty much as good as new -- even years later. The mid-height keys are excellent for avoiding dirt and stuck keys because it's almost impossible to get anything stuck under a key. Only dust particles get caught under there.
Scratch Resistant Key Cap Labels: After ~5 years of extensive use and abuse only 3 keys had minor chips in their label. I lost the upper part of the L's label, a third of the O's label and half of the ,'s label. Not too bad IMO. I've seen a lot worse with less usage. The labels look like very tightly pressed stickers that are flat to the touch. They almost look like maybe they were heat sealed onto the surface of the key. It's hard to say. Even if I take my nail and try to scrape off a label, it doesn't budge.
Useful Media / Extra Keys: Speaking of keys, it's a nice perk to have a keyboard that has extra keys that you can configure without bloating the size of the keyboard. Amazon has done a fantastic job here at maximizing the usable space of their keyboard. That's 9 distinct keys or 13 if you count the media combo keys. That's really useful. You can always remap any of them to other actions if you prefer. It's a dream come true if you plan to use something like i3wm on Linux which is heavily keyboard shortcut driven.
Compact Size but Sticks To Standards For Key Placement: Everything is where you expect it with this Amazon Basics keyboard and you get the full size backspace / backslash keys.
Caps Lock / Num Lock / Scroll Lock Have Lights on Their Key Switch: With this keyboard, each lock key has its own light which I animated below.
Robust Wire / USB Cable: I have to say the Amazon Basics keyboard is solid in this area. Even on my old keyboard from years ago, the wire has zero signs of wear and tear.
Solid Rubber Feet to Avoid Slipping: There's 4 pretty large rubber grips on the edges of each corner so there's really no reasonable chance of it ever slipping from pressure or normal usage.
Tactile Feeling Keys: The Amazon Basics keyboard fits in between with mid-height keys. They have a decent amount of resistance to them so you can definitely feel each key press, but it's not so much that it hurts your forearms after long hours of coding.
Easy to Clean / Avoids Stuck Keys: After a quick wipe down it looks pretty much as good as new -- even years later. The mid-height keys are excellent for avoiding dirt and stuck keys because it's almost impossible to get anything stuck under a key. Only dust particles get caught under there.
Scratch Resistant Key Cap Labels: After ~5 years of extensive use and abuse only 3 keys had minor chips in their label. I lost the upper part of the L's label, a third of the O's label and half of the ,'s label. Not too bad IMO. I've seen a lot worse with less usage. The labels look like very tightly pressed stickers that are flat to the touch. They almost look like maybe they were heat sealed onto the surface of the key. It's hard to say. Even if I take my nail and try to scrape off a label, it doesn't budge.
Useful Media / Extra Keys: Speaking of keys, it's a nice perk to have a keyboard that has extra keys that you can configure without bloating the size of the keyboard. Amazon has done a fantastic job here at maximizing the usable space of their keyboard. That's 9 distinct keys or 13 if you count the media combo keys. That's really useful. You can always remap any of them to other actions if you prefer. It's a dream come true if you plan to use something like i3wm on Linux which is heavily keyboard shortcut driven.
Compact Size but Sticks To Standards For Key Placement: Everything is where you expect it with this Amazon Basics keyboard and you get the full size backspace / backslash keys.
Caps Lock / Num Lock / Scroll Lock Have Lights on Their Key Switch: With this keyboard, each lock key has its own light which I animated below.
Robust Wire / USB Cable: I have to say the Amazon Basics keyboard is solid in this area. Even on my old keyboard from years ago, the wire has zero signs of wear and tear.
Solid Rubber Feet to Avoid Slipping: There's 4 pretty large rubber grips on the edges of each corner so there's really no reasonable chance of it ever slipping from pressure or normal usage.
