deskthority

In my search for a Swedish silent Topre keyboard I have emailed The Keyboard Company and Verkkokauppa but neither of them have any plans to stock one at the moment. But after emailing back and forth with Bruce at The Keyboard Company he is willing to order one if I am able to find 10 orders for the same model.

The requirement for the model is that the configuration is exactly the same for all orders (model, color, switches, language). So this is a interest check for the following model:

Model: Tenkeyless 88 keys. Basically the same as the non silent version: Swedish Realforce 88UB @keyboardco.com
Color: White/gray. Example: Realforce 87U Tenkeyless "Silent" (White/Gray) @elitekeyboards.com
Switches: 55g uniform silent
Language: Swedish/Finnish
Price: There is no price yet as the model is not firmly set until we have 10 interested. I assume it will be more expensive than but in the vincinity of the non silent version that costs £192. I will ask Bruce to find out the price when we have interest for 10 keyboards. A commitment to order is not final until that point but obviously it will be easier if you only report interest if you intend to buy one.
Payment: Bruce has asked for payment up front to avoid people dropping out before the keyboards arrive. I am guessing that a custom order from Realforce will take some time to arrive so we will have to wait a bit (or maybe a lot) between paying for the keyboards and receiving them. Do not order one if you do not want to comply with this condition.

I have also posted this on the Swedish forum sweclockers.com. Now on geekhack as well. If anyone knows of a Finnish forum for keyboards and wants to help out and collect interest from there, please feel free to post there and report back to me so I can add it to the list. Order on one forum only so I do not add you several times.

Number of interests so far: 10

2x Se7en (Se7en @geekhack, SevenFour @sweclockers) (I am willing to order 2 if it is needed to get us to 10 orders)
1x Triffid @sweclockers
1x bigfatmc
1x test0r @sweclockers
1x Naku
1x Ghostpixel @geekhack
1x huttala @sweclockers
1x Exiphi @sweclockers
1x guilleguillaume

Edit: The MOQ from Topre was higher than Bruce expected so this attempt is now cancelled.

I would actually prefer to get 55g ones.

bigfatmc wrote:I would actually prefer to get 55g ones.

There is a lot of love for 55g on Geekhack. I wonder if the combination of silent and 55g works though?

Se7en wrote:

bigfatmc wrote:I would actually prefer to get 55g ones.

There is a lot of love for 55g on Geekhack. I wonder if the combination of silent and 55g works though?

Maybe you can ask over at thekeyboardco, but I am not so concerned about noise. You could check if we could combine 55g and 45g silent to get 10 orders.

bigfatmc wrote:Maybe you can ask over at thekeyboardco, but I am not so concerned about noise. You could check if we could combine 55g and 45g silent to get 10 orders.

I want the silent version because I want a silent enough keyboard for the office (where I am using a Filco TKL brown at the moment which I consider too loud). I wonder if it makes any difference in noise between the 45g and 55g?

About asking the keyboard company Bruce was very clear about that it needed to be the exact same configuration, including the switch weight. Are you interested in a Swedish/Finnish version?

Yes since I am swedish it is the obvious choice.

I could certainly be swayed to 55g if there is a majority that wants to go that route.

I have used a variable-force non-silent Realforce at the office. I find it silent enough, at least compared to other rubber dome keyboards there.
If I were to order, I would prefer 45g over 55g because I feel fatigue in my index fingers after having typed a long time on my variable Realforce -- where the index finger keys are supposed to be 45g. If they were 55g, that would be worse.
Edit: It seems that the index finger keys on my variable Realforce are closer to 55g than 45g.

However, as much as Realforce is incredible in terms of quality I still much prefer Cherry MX blue and clear switches' force curve over Topre's rubber domes'. Also, not a huge fan of white/grey. Don't count me in, sorry.

Findecanor wrote:Also, not a huge fan of white/grey.

I cannot stand the black on black version. If there was a black version with white letters that would be all the same to me, but I have not seen any Realforce keyboard like that.

Also I could post this on geekhack but I think most nordic people are here aswell.

Se7en wrote:

Findecanor wrote:Also, not a huge fan of white/grey.

I cannot stand the black on black version. If there was a black version with white letters that would be all the same to me, but I have not seen any Realforce keyboard like that.

The full ISO topre has black keys with golden letters.

Both colour variations exist with full-sized Swedish/Finnish layout. The Keyboard Company sells gold-on-black, Verkkokauppa sells black-on-black.
Realforce have also made full-white keyboards with black letters.

I have not seen the gold-on-black so I can't comment on that. The black-on-black is so dark that you can not distinguish the legends when the light is just a bit dim.

bigfatmc wrote:I would actually prefer to get 55g ones.

I am changing the weight to 55g and putting you on the interest list. I am a bit curious about the 55g after the buzz on geekhack.

We currently have interest for 4 keyboards out of the 10 needed. Check your bank account, ask your interested friends to join in and we will get to 10 in no time. These keyboards are going to be awesome!

I am going away on one weeks vacation and I do not plan to use the Internet while I am away. I will update the thread when I get back.

Model: Tenkeyless 88 keys or full 105 keys layout
Color: White/gray (or black with visible key markings)
Switches: 55g uniform silent or non silent, non variable
Language: Swedish/Finnish

If all these requirements are filled, then I'm interested to get one. Of course I would like to know full price with postages first

I don't think 55g silenced is going to be much different to 55g. Interested to hear how they sound though; if this goes ahead you guys will have a unique switch type

This would be so much easyier with blank keycaps hahah

So if I understand things correctly, the only thing missing is the correct legends? Wouldn't it be easier to get a swe/fin topre board and a random ISO one of the particular model you want, switch out the key caps and sell the one you do not want?

The easyest way would be to buy a Swedish/Fin Topre and dye the Caps till they are blank!
As long as you are a touch typist and like blank caps ofcourse

Tbh most ISO layouts are pretty similar.
Now get in on this !!

Will it have embedded numpad?

Damn! Silenced 55g Topre! If only it was ANSI

Naku wrote:If all these requirements are filled, then I'm interested to get one. Of course I would like to know full price with postages first

I have added you to the interest list and this brings us to 6! Only 4 to go to get to price check point. As for shipping all buyers will pay and buy directly from the keyboard company so I assume that their standard shipping prices will apply.

cookie wrote:This would be so much easyier with blank keycaps

I have tried the blank white Ducky PBT keycaps for my Filco TKL. The keycaps are really nice, but I am not quite as skilled in finding the correct keys as I would like, especially the number row.

damorgue wrote:So if I understand things correctly, the only thing missing is the correct legends?

I have started this because I want a silenced Topre. I believe some on the list are in it for the 55g switch weight. So that makes 2 characteristics that are non existent in todays ISO Realforce models, in addition to readable legends on a TKL model.

guilleguillaume wrote:Will it have embedded numpad?

I want a TKL because I do not need the numpad. But if there is interest among those on the list to add this feature we could certainly do so.

We are now at 7 interested. Swedish tax refunds are in, you know you want to spend them on this keyboard .

Se7en wrote:
I want a TKL because I do not need the numpad. But if there is interest among those on the list to add this feature we could certainly do so.

Actually I would rather take keyboard with numpad, but I'm okay with TKL too if nobody else want that

I definitely wouldn't buy this if it was fullsize as I do not have enough space for that on my desk.

We are refering to the Numpad included in the Realforce 87U. It would be cool to have that feature in a ISO Realforce because this have never done before

A nice white Realforce TKL of any description would make a change from the Keyboard Co. It's like buying a Model T Ford over there. Any colour. So long as it's black, black, black.

(Or the beige one. No!)

Is there a way around this with caps? Perhaps if we were to order a whole batch of grey and white UK or blank ISOs, and make a separate arrangement for Nordic caps?

Naku wrote:Actually I would rather take keyboard with numpad, but I'm okay with TKL too if nobody else want that

Are you talking about an embedded numpad or a full size keyboard?

Muirium wrote:Is there a way around this with caps? Perhaps if we were to order a whole batch of grey and white UK or blank ISOs, and make a separate arrangement for Nordic caps?

There is an old thread on geekhack with an interest check for a Topre red alert keycap set. Even though it reached almost 100 orders it did not go through. So I doubt we can get something like that arranged.

But in theory that would be really nice if they could carry a basic keyboard with say UK keycaps and then offer addon/replacement caps for the various countries.

Absolutely. Foreign language cap kits are just money in the bank.

Meanwhile, apparently I'm alone in disliking the black mamba style Realforce over here. Wonder what it would look like with brighter caps…