Which Peripheral to upgrade?

[zokudu]

Hey there. I'm looking to upgrade my peripherals next for my PC. I'm happy with my performance but I fell like at least my monitor and keyboard need to be looked at.

Right now I have an old Logitech G11 keyboard. I want to look at a mechanical option. I do mostly gaming and coding for school on the desktop so I am considering Cherry Brown or Blacks. Mostly looking at the Filco Majestouch-2 that comes with Cherry Black switches or the Leopold with Browns. Any feelings on these? I'm leaning toward the Filco because the Leopold apparently has an odd spacebar layout and it makes it not comparable with standard keycap sets. It is a lot cheaper though.

As far as monitor is concerned I'm looking to go with an IPS in the 300-400 range. Probably the Dell U2412M but there is also the HP ZR2440w. Or one of those 27 inch Catleaps off eBay. Which would you go for. I do want a 16:10 resolution but it seems 27 inches only come in 16:9? Why is that? I'm going to be upgrading from an LG W2061TQ I got a while ago so anything really will be a major upgrade.

Would you look at swapping the keyboard or monitor first and which model in each category?

 

[stargazr]

Probably the Dell U2412M but there is also the HP ZR2440w.

+1 for 16:10 on a 24" panel. I use a 24" Asus 16:9 monitor at work for CAD-CAM, and it seems so much smaller than my Dell. I updated from an old 5:4 IBM monitor to the Dell so it was the best upgrade so far with my current setup. Amazon has one for $299.99 (through another vendor).

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraShar...8204720&sr=1-1

 

[vbuggy]

If you're counting the pennies forget the keyboard - there's no real practical benefit in it apart from nerd bragging rights. Buy a Microsoft Sidewinder X4 instead. By the time you've worn it out the chances are your misguided-peer-group-lauded mechanical itself will be having more than a few issues.

The Dell 2412 will probably be a better value quotient. As a product it does feel a lot cheaper to me than the previous Dells - I recently replaced some 2408's/2407-HC's with 2412's - but on the plus side, the image is decent and the much lighter weight means a lot more options in terms of multi-display mounts.

 

[Dbdynsty]

Right now I have an old Logitech G11 keyboard. I want to look at a mechanical option. I do mostly gaming and coding for school on the desktop so I am considering Cherry Brown or Blacks. Mostly looking at the Filco Majestouch-2 that comes with Cherry Black switches or the Leopold with Browns. Any feelings on these? I'm leaning toward the Filco because the Leopold apparently has an odd spacebar layout and it makes it not comparable with standard keycap sets. It is a lot cheaper though.

I'm currently in the middle of my own keyboard hell trying to decide on the right board for me. I've been through quite a few so far and your thinking is 100% accurate. My feeling was I wanted blacks because I like the stiffer resistance when pressed which is perfect for gaming. I have also typed quite a bit on them and they don't fatigue me at all, but others may disagree.

As for Filco vs. Leopold...absolutely spend the extra money on the Filco. The spacebar ont he Leopold (and the other bigger keys) use cherry stabilizers and they are mushy...they don't feel anything like the other keys. Filco which uses boards by Costar, use a much more uniform stabilizer and it feels like the rest of the keys.

Right now I've got three board at my house and I like them all for different reasons.

I've got a Filco Tenkeyless Cherry Black Majestouch 2 which I love. However, I just can't get over the fact that it doesn't have any media controls on it. It's my work board so I need to be able to mute music/podcasts or whatever on the fly without having to find the media player and pause it. A simple keystroke would be nicer.

I've also got a Mionix Zibal 60...which right now is probably my favorite cherry black keyboard. It too is manufactured by Costar so it uses the good stabilizers and it is quite a bit quieter than the Filco. It also has a greenish yellow backlight for gaming/coding in the dark which is pretty nice. It's the most solid feeling board of the four I've got at the moment and I may actually contemplate returning the Filco and just getting another Mionix because I like it so much. The problem is at work I just don't have a TON of deskspace so I like the tenkeyless if possible.

I've also got a Cherry Black Ducky 9008G2...which is good overall, but it uses the cherry stabilizers like the Leopold and it annoys the heck out of me. It's got the PBT caps so the keys feel really nice and they are extremely quiet but I just can't stand the spacebar and shift keys which I use all the time. So it's out.

My last keybaord is a Cherry Red Monoprice LED Backlit board. It's a rebrand of a QPad mk-85 keyboard. It's really nice and I like the way it feels but it just is a tad too easy to hit other keys when gaming due to the red switches. One other complaint...it does NKRO over USB...which is a bad thing if you use a Mac of any sort. For some reason the OSX OS doesn't recognize the boards correctly and you essentially blue screen your mac if you use a KVM switch or anything to go back and forth between PC and MAC like I do. The Ducky is also NKRO over USB so that's another reason it's out.

So anyway...to LONG answer you...between Filco and Leopold...spend the extra few dollars and get the Filco. Your spacebar thumb and shift pinky fingers will thank you for it! If you'd like to have backlighting too for the same price as the regular Filco...check out the Mionix...it really is a fantastic board and all of the manufacturing stuff is done by the same company (costar) as it is with the Filcos so you know you're getting quality.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

Less expensive options include Rosewill and Cooler Master boards as well. These are all costar boards and feature the Filco-compatible spacebar row configuration. If you were blindfolded, you'd be hard pressed to find a difference between these and Filco.

Rosewill: Comes in blue, brown, black, and red. Some people have reported shoddy soldering on the USB connectors with the red boards, but the blue and brown models (going by the reviews) seem to be OK.

CM Quickfire: If you're willing to consider blues (my own favourite Cherry switch), you can get a TKL for around $70. The drawback to these is the ugly branding, but that can be addressed by replacing the keycaps (which, if you develop a proper mechanical keyboard addiction, you will do anyway). Don't get the "pro" CM boards, as these are not made by costar and not Filco-compatible.

 

[Pia]

If the old keyboard works, swap display first. Display makes a world of difference for user experience. I'd go for the Korean 27":s. No reason to consider a 16:10 24" anymore (note: my own display is one of those) when the 27":s give you more pixels in every direction. Also, the 16:9 ratio is better for games and video.

As for Filco vs Leopold: I own a Filco and a Topre, and would actually prefer a Leopold to another Filco if I somehow needed another board. Looks are better with status lights on keys instead of the hull, and I suspect I might like the Leopold spacebar stabilizers better also. Incompatibilities with swappable keycaps do not matter to me, I buy my boards blank in the first place. (And tenkeyless. Always tenkeyless.)

 

[zokudu]

I went with one of the 27 inch Korean monitors earlier today. Thanks for the tip on the Rosewill keyboards. I'm really tempted to just get one of those over the Filco and save a few bucks. Kinda wish it had media keys

 

[Dbdynsty]

If you do not need the number keys on the side, as Birthdaymonkey mentioned, here's a great alternative to the rosewill boards...and includes media keys:

http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=3060&product_name=CM Storm QuickFire Rapid

You can get it with whatever type of switch you want direct from CM (http://www.cmstore-usa.com/quickfire-rapid/)...it's a costar board as well so it's essentially has the same internals as the Filco does. I ordered one the other day so I should have it in a day or two and I can compare it to my Filco tenkeyless. As birthdaymonkey mentioned it's not that great looking in anything but Cherry Reds...the black on red scheme of the red version is just awesome IMO. The other three versions is like a grey and black combo. Not bad, but the black on black is just sweet, especially when I get my engraved all black filco keys next week.