It always surprises me that keyboard preferences are not a bigger part of discussions among authors.
I mean, we spend the better part of our lives typing and our business depends on our ability to work fast. Having the wrong keyboard can cause serious damage to our carpal tunnels. From personal experience I can assure you that the wrong keyboard makes writing a chore. Winston Churchill had his Montblanc, Stephen King has his Waterman Hemisphere, and I have my Uniball Signo #207 Medium Point (black only). It just seems fitting that authors have their preferred keyboards.
For years I used a Logitech MK320 wireless keyboard. After awhile its keys got sticky and I decided to take my earnings from my first novel, Fowled, and invest in a premium keyboard. As usual, when I look for the best of anything in desktop computing I find out what the Gamers are using. They are power users, and if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for me.
The grocery-baggers at my supermarket assured me that I needed to look at a Corsair. The Corsair K70 model offered at BestBuy was indeed a jewel (with 3,923 five-star reviews), with good key spring an impressive backlighting selection that I never used. It is, however, not wireless and after several months I found the cross-hatched space bar irritating and the sharp platform angles jarring.
It was time to go shopping.
Staples had my Logitech MK320 on sale for $24.99, a real steal, but the keys still felt sticky. The wireless Logitech MK850 was lovely and came with a mouse for $100, and at BestBuy the wireless wave shaped Logitech MK550 ($80 with mouse) had a pleasant key response and nice cushioned wrist pad. But I never rest my wrists – old habits from 8th grade typing die hard – and other users have complained about a driver glitch that makes it miss the first few characters you type after wake-up.
To my surprise I ended up with the BestBuy Logitech K780 (currently $60 without a mouse). It is wireless with a USB portal, and the shallow round keys are delightful. It’s closer to a laptop key spring feel. It also has three function keys – F1, F2, and F3 – that let you toggle between three devices. I’ve set it up via Bluetooth to sync with my Samsung S8 and am now free of that tiny screen dashboard when I’m in the office. Posting to Instagram just got much easier.
I’m curious – what keyboard works for you?