Keyboard saga

(expanding on this)

The keyboard I bought was Fantech Fighter II K613:

Actually, before this, I bought a cheaper smaller keyboard, just to see whether I can make do with such a cheap keyboard. Problem with it was that the spacebar slowly became stiff i.e. it got harder to press it. So I bought the above keyboard at a computer shop, upon the staff's recommendation after my complaint about the previous keyboard. This keyboard has warranty of a year.

Sadly, not even close to a year (think it was like 4 months), its USB connection became unstable: it could suddenly stopped working. Switching USB ports didn't solve the problem. The shop gave me a new one as replacement.

The new one worked for almost 6 months before the same problem occured. This time, not only did I tried a different port on my laptop but I also used ports on a USB hub and ports on Ban's laptop. Well, at least we managed to confirm that it was the keyboard's problem.

I started researching on the internet for good external keyboard. At first I was attracted to the wireless keyboard but changed my mind over concerns over latency issue as it matters when I play games like Overwatch and Paladins. I checked reviews and prices. Incidentally, Lazada simply couldn't compete with Shopee on prices, even after I filtered out those sellsers from China.

I started researching after 7pm and didn't really stop until about......past 10am the next day 😬 Ok, I slept about 4 hours in the middle. Crazy, hor? 

At first, I settled on Royal Kludge RK61. I placed the order and chose COD payment because there wasn't an option for online banking payment and I didn't like the credit card option because its details had to be stored in Shopee. Then I changed my mind again after coming across a much cheaper (wired only) keyboard and started researching almost all over again. Meanwhile, I canceled the RK61 order.

However, those cheaper keyboards had only Blue switch option, whereas I was aiming for Red switch or I might even consider Brown switch as a compromise. So I re-ordered RK61.

Later, suddenly I thought of RK61's keyboard layout. I reviewed videos and read other people's comments and concluded that I would prefer to have a few more standalone keys (rather than overlayed with other keys, activated by pressing Fn). In the course of my long research, I came across RK71, which is a TKL (ten key less) keyboard but more compact (and so smaller) than the usual TKL keyboard. The Fantech keyboard is a TKL keyboard too.

Once again I canceled the RK61 order and ordered RK71 which has all the keys that I need and is still small enough to be comfortably portable.

It has both wired and wirelss function. The wireless function works via bluetooth and can connect to up to 5 devices but I doubt I'll be connecting to anything other than my laptop. I chose Red switch and boy, it feels great when typing and supposedly helps with reaction time in gaming too.

I hope this one will last for a long time. It costs me RM 179.90 (free delivery with e-voucher).