New mechs from Cougar

t!ng · 17 Mar 2014, 00:46

http://www.hartware.de/news_60212.html

What do you think about the split space bar?

Daniel Beardsmore · 17 Mar 2014, 01:24

Depends what it does.

The wear on my space bars suggests which end I use. The other end is a waste of space!

For something like a 60%, being able to use one side of space bar would really help. I'd be able to use the arrows on a Poker II with a single hand, and it would solve the problem of wanting to use the F keys with my left hand while my other hand is on the mouse in Inkscape. (I quite often only have one hand on the keyboard, if I'm the phone, drinking, writing down notes, stroking my chin etc.) The other gotcha with Inkscape is that, at work, where I am subjecting myself to a Poker II, is that I need to bind something to ctrl+num pad 5, as Inkscape DEMANDS you have a number pad to get into outline view. WTF?? Ctrl+5 doesn't do anything at all. It might be a bug, as the menu item clearly reads Ctrl+5.

The only keyboard so far to offer this is the Minila. Sadly the Minila can't turn the central space bar segment into anything, so while I can make right Fn into space (which is where I hit it -- far right), the middle segment becomes completely useless.

Grond · 17 Mar 2014, 16:43

I could use a split space bar, but not that ugly keyboard.

davkol · 17 Mar 2014, 16:47

Those keycap shapes. O_o

BTW are those compact cases a good idea in actuality? Isn't there a higher risk that the user will accidentaly break some keys like the horizontal arrows?

Grond · 17 Mar 2014, 17:01

I believe the main issue is that you may see the dirt that sticks under the keys, but then again it should be easier to clean than a classic case.
Anyway I I really wish they stopped making these "gamers" keyboard that try so hard to look badass and original but in the end all look the same and seem like they're out from a late 80s Schwarzenegger sci-fi b-movie.

adhoc · 17 Mar 2014, 18:15

Well their PSUs are quite good, but the keyboard is way too ugly for my taste. Same goes for mice.

cookie · 18 Mar 2014, 12:42

Those products are so tasteless... ugly as hell

Grond · 18 Mar 2014, 13:36

For the next DT Awards I propose a new cathegory: Ping award for the ugliest keyboard.

Muirium · 18 Mar 2014, 13:39

It couldn't be that bad.

Clicks through…

Oh.

cookie · 18 Mar 2014, 18:56

What is this cougar brand? A Roccat fake?

scottc · 18 Mar 2014, 21:36

I think they're just a budget gaming brand... I encountered them about a year ago when looking for super-cheap PC cases for a friend, they do a compact mATX case with a load of drive bays for about €30.

Muirium · 18 Mar 2014, 21:44

Well, they get points for effort. It looks "different". Which is the most bittersweet compliment of all. The split space bar is honestly commendable though.

cookie · 18 Mar 2014, 22:10

Well if the price is right, what seems true to me if you can get a case for 30€, then you can overlook some design flaws.
But I'd honestly go for an used g80 than for that :/

scottc · 19 Mar 2014, 01:57

cookie wrote:Well if the price is right, what seems true to me if you can get a case for 30€, then you can overlook some design flaws.
But I'd honestly go for an used g80 than for that :/

But it doesn't even have any LEDs! And cream is UGLY and OLD! And I want MEDIA KEYZ! Etc.

scottc · 19 Mar 2014, 01:59

Actually, on a similar note: some of these gaming keyboards are even worse crap than I thought. A friend of mine recently got a Corsair somethingorother with MX Reds and the caps were dreadful. I took one off to inspect it: it was spray-painted black!

Daniel Beardsmore · 19 Mar 2014, 02:06

Backlit keyboard? Backlit keycaps are often made of clear plastic and then painted with thick black paint everywhere except the legend, or so I understand it.

Poker II keycaps:

: Poker II keycaps.jpg (98.77 KiB) Viewed 4180 times

(The paint may be removed with a laser afterwards.)

I don't have any issue with Vortex keycaps at all.

scottc · 19 Mar 2014, 02:07

Yeah, I think it was. That makes sense.

My only issue with Vortex keycaps is that awful font...

cookie · 20 Mar 2014, 13:30

scottc wrote:And cream is UGLY and OLD!

How dare you?

Vortex are quite nice actually, but the caps are terribad

Wish they would cut LEDs and bring out some quality keycaps!

scottc · 20 Mar 2014, 13:33

cookie wrote:
scottc wrote:And cream is UGLY and OLD!
How dare you?

Vortex are quite nice actually, but the caps are terribad
Wish they would cut LEDs and bring out some quality keycaps!

Heheh, sorry.

I agree. I don't own any of their caps, but I hear that they're good, thick plastic and made very well. Shame about the ~gamer~ target.

Muirium · 20 Mar 2014, 13:50

cookie wrote:Wish they would cut LEDs and bring out some quality keycaps!

I wish they'd cut LEDs right into the cap material. There's nothing magical about LEDs that means they must be contained inside protective bulbs like tungsten lamps. We ought to be within reach of authentic lit caps.

cookie · 20 Mar 2014, 13:51

Haha I am just kidding

Fun fact is that all "Gamer" hardware is marketed as "durable", "precise", "highest quality" , <insert buzzword here>
But actually they are just bling bling versions of real keyboards!

@Mu Best way to make all happy is to produce high quality doubleshit PBT caps with transculent font so that the light can shine through!

Muirium · 20 Mar 2014, 13:57

Doubleshit, you say? Sounds like the evening after a trip to the local tandoori restaurant…

I get what you're saying. But there's always so much sacrifice to make just to get light to shine through a cap I think we'd be better trying another way. LEDs are microscopically small: the mad scientist in me says build them into the cap plastic!

Re: gamer branding: what else are they going to say? "Childish", "brash", "arrogant", "ugly". Pictures tell the truth. The words are just there for tradition's sake!

scottc · 20 Mar 2014, 14:04

Doubleshit - don't Razer already do this?

cookie · 20 Mar 2014, 15:48

Wasn't my fault! I don't have legends on my caps!

Can you remember the when the logitech g15 came out?
That was the verry first backlit keyboard I've endountered and it was verry bad compared to the backlit, keyboards have today. From there on the quality has improved greatly and I can't see how to bring backlit on a next level.

Build LED directly into the caps sounds smart but I think the biggest problem is to supply them with power.
Using wires is a bad idea I think, we all know wires and flexing won't last

Muirium · 20 Mar 2014, 16:05

Yes, we would need the contacts built straight into the switch stem (and then through the housing) so that caps pop straight on and just work. A cross mount could have four contacts on it, for the inevitable RGB lighting or even three independent legends on the same cap.

In any other part of the computer industry, this kind of thing would have been done years ago. Hell, floppy drives had to pull off similar tricks in their mechanisms in the 1970s! But as we're only getting around to transparent shells now I guess it could take a lifetime yet.