Recommend a quiet computer keyboard

[Evanivitch]

There seems a complete lack of quantifiable data on this topic...

Could anyone recommend a quiet computer keyboard, full size, wireless.

My "office mate" can really hit the keys with great force when she's typing up her points, and this is beginning to impact my meetings because people can hear it in the background. She just uses a fairly generic wireless keyboard at this time.

Alternatively, are there mics/headsets that eliminate mouth breathing and background noise?

[TimmyMallett]

Evanivitch said:

There seems a complete lack of quantifiable data on this topic...

Could anyone recommend a quiet computer keyboard, full size, wireless.

My "office mate" can really hit the keys with great force when she's typing up her points, and this is beginning to impact my meetings because people can hear it in the background. She just uses a fairly generic wireless keyboard at this time.

Alternatively, are there mics/headsets that eliminate mouth breathing and background noise?

I use a Jabra 75e/ It's a wireless one that has noise cancelling (and passthrough so you can hear the background if you need to, so although they are in ear, you can have a conversation with someone in the room normally with the 'I'm deaf' scenario) and a mic that is away from your mouth and picks up very little background noise (I spend all day on conference calls) It's about £160 -my employer supplied it though, however it is a specific device designed for a job, as opposed to trying to use things like my airpods which aren't close to as good. That certainly helps when the dogs bark.

Edited by TimmyMallett on Thursday 15th October 12:10

[mph999]

Logitec MX Keys

Not the cheapest, but nice weight so it doesn’t move around, backlit, wireless (incl Bluetooth) and can switch between different machines with the press of a button (can bind to 3 machines).

https://www.logitech.com/en-gb/products/keyboards/...

[Longtime Lurker]

mph999 said:

Logitec MX Keys

Not the cheapest, but nice weight so it doesn’t move around, backlit, wireless (incl Bluetooth) and can switch between different machines with the press of a button (can bind to 3 machines).

https://www.logitech.com/en-gb/products/keyboards/...

I keep thinking about one of these, i have the latest MX Master mouse and thought it would be nice to go along with it, does it feel like typing on a laptop keyboard? as strange as it might seem i prefer typing on laptop keyboard rather than an actual keyboard and i feel like it looks quite laptopish?

[jesusbuiltmycar]

I recently bought a Logitech G915 TKL keyboard which was expensive at £199 (the full size version is only £10 more)

I selected "tactile" keys which are reasonably quiet but still provide feedback They also offer it with "Linear" keys which produces no clicks (but there will be sound from the keys bottoming out).

Overall I am very impressed with it - the colours are 100% customisable which is great for programmers (I have mine setup so impportant keys in VIM have specific colours). The other bonus is it is very easy to use with 2 computers.

I believe the MX keys is a very god keyboar and it works well with 3 computers; I did consider it but I ended up selecting teh G915 because I specifically wanted a mechanical keyboard.

[Evanivitch]

Any less Gucci solutions? The keyboard isn't even for me to use, so I'm not looking to go for anything too extravagant.

TimmyMallett said:

I use a Jabra 75e/ It's a wireless one that has noise cancelling (and passthrough so you can hear the background if you need to, so although they are in ear, you can have a conversation with someone in the room normally with the 'I'm deaf' scenario) and a mic that is away from your mouth and picks up very little background noise (I spend all day on conference calls) It's about £160 -my employer supplied it though, however it is a specific device designed for a job, as opposed to trying to use things like my airpods which aren't close to as good. That certainly helps when the dogs bark.

Edited by TimmyMallett on Thursday 15th October 12:10

This is a tempting solution as I've been wanting to justify a pair of ANC headphones for a while.

[deckster]

Evanivitch said:

There seems a complete lack of quantifiable data on this topic...

Could anyone recommend a quiet computer keyboard, full size, wireless.

My "office mate" can really hit the keys with great force when she's typing up her points, and this is beginning to impact my meetings because people can hear it in the background. She just uses a fairly generic wireless keyboard at this time.

Alternatively, are there mics/headsets that eliminate mouth breathing and background noise?

Tell her to go on mute when not talking. Basic conference call etiquette.

[Evanivitch]

deckster said:

Tell her to go on mute when not talking. Basic conference call etiquette.

Read it again.

She's typing. I'm talking. We're in the same room, both WfH, but entirely different jobs.

Working in seperate rooms is possible, but we have quite a good home office. The dining table isn't as practical.

Edited by Evanivitch on Thursday 15th October 15:14

[alorotom]

this is what I really like about my Apple Magic Keyboard ... key noise is totally minimal

[deckster]

Evanivitch said:

deckster said:

Tell her to go on mute when not talking. Basic conference call etiquette.

Read it again.

She's typing. I'm talking.

Ah right...I knew I must have been missing something! In my defence, your quotation marks confused me...an actual office mate, not an "office mate"

In which case, I'm all out of ideas. No keyboard is all that quiet and noise cancelling mics don't work with clicky sounds like that. Genuinely can only suggest that you move to a different room, which I suspect you've already thought of!

[Mr Whippy]

I use a ~ 2009 vintage Apple keyboard and find the old clicky things horrible.

That Logitech one above looks very handy.
I like the 3 computer swizzle affair, beats a kvm if it just announces itself with 3 different BT ids on a toggle and doesn’t need software.
Also backlighting.
Gonna have a look at that... if it feels like my Apple keyboard I’m sold I think!

[Hanslow]

Is it a mechanical style keyboard? Is it the keycap thumping down or a microswitch clicking?
If it's mechanical and the sound of the keycap, purchase a set of small rubber o-rings, pull each keycap off, fit o-ring onto shaft and replace keycap. The o-ring softens the impact and can make quite a difference in mechanical noise.

[mph999]

Longtime Lurker said:

I keep thinking about one of these, i have the latest MX Master mouse and thought it would be nice to go along with it, does it feel like typing on a laptop keyboard? as strange as it might seem i prefer typing on laptop keyboard rather than an actual keyboard and i feel like it looks quite laptopish?

Yes, like a laptop keyboard.

[mph999]

Mr Whippy said:

I use a ~ 2009 vintage Apple keyboard and find the old clicky things horrible.

That Logitech one above looks very handy.
I like the 3 computer swizzle affair, beats a kvm if it just announces itself with 3 different BT ids on a toggle and doesn’t need software.
Also backlighting.
Gonna have a look at that... if it feels like my Apple keyboard I’m sold I think!

Having just compared the two, I'd say the Logitech has a slightly softer feel, a very slightly longer keystroke but quieter.

"beats a kvm if it just announces itself with 3 different BT ids on a toggle and doesn’t need software."

Yep, it connects to my Laptop via the 'nano' USB dongle and to the Mac via bluetooth. Given the mx mouse I also have does the same, it's a perfect setup - one mouse/ keyboard for multiple machines.

Edited by mph999 on Friday 16th October 00:03

[Mr Whippy]

mph999 said:

Having just compared the two, I'd say the Logitech has a slightly softer feel, a very slightly longer keystroke but quieter.

"beats a kvm if it just announces itself with 3 different BT ids on a toggle and doesn’t need software."

Yep, it connects to my Laptop via the 'nano' USB dongle and to the Mac via bluetooth. Given the mx mouse I also have does the same, it's a perfect setup - one mouse/ keyboard for multiple machines.

Edited by mph999 on Friday 16th October 00:03

Sounds good to me. All my machines have BT and Win10 now so should be quite seamless. I assume they all work ok at the bios screens etc too?

PS, having had a look, it looks like the toggle on the mouse is underneath? Does that work ok for you? I can be flipping between machines for just a few seconds then back again... hmmm.
Also how do you toggle the keyboard? Can they be paired so if you toggle one, the other toggles with it?

Thanks

[Longtime Lurker]

Mr Whippy said:

PS, having had a look, it looks like the toggle on the mouse is underneath? Does that work ok for you? I can be flipping between machines for just a few seconds then back again... hmmm.

Thanks

If you have the Logitech software installed on both machines you can seamlessly move between computers.

So if you had two monitors side by side by running off different PC's you can right click copy on one and move the mouse over to the other screen and paste.

[mph999]

Mr Whippy said:

mph999 said:

Having just compared the two, I'd say the Logitech has a slightly softer feel, a very slightly longer keystroke but quieter.

"beats a kvm if it just announces itself with 3 different BT ids on a toggle and doesn’t need software."

Yep, it connects to my Laptop via the 'nano' USB dongle and to the Mac via bluetooth. Given the mx mouse I also have does the same, it's a perfect setup - one mouse/ keyboard for multiple machines.

Edited by mph999 on Friday 16th October 00:03

Sounds good to me. All my machines have BT and Win10 now so should be quite seamless. I assume they all work ok at the bios screens etc too?

PS, having had a look, it looks like the toggle on the mouse is underneath? Does that work ok for you? I can be flipping between machines for just a few seconds then back again... hmmm.
Also how do you toggle the keyboard? Can they be paired so if you toggle one, the other toggles with it?

Thanks

Not sure that they 'toggle' together - I don't swap between machines for just a few seconds, so for me it's not an issue - the keyboard has x3 dedicated buttons, so that's easy. The mouse I agree, a little less convenient.