Well, Perfected Keyboard would like you to think so. It’s a new type of infrared mechanical USB keyboard with a minimalist design that works for Mac or PC.
Perfected Keyboard (website here ) is still a concept and in the Indiegogo crowdfunding stage. What that means is if it gets the support it needs (and that is likely) it will ship to customers by October this year. If not, backers get their money back – no risk.
The makers claim Perefected Keyboard fixes what everyone dislikes about keyboards.
- Dual programmable spacebars, able to reprogram either separately.
- Extra‑Wide Ctrl and Alt keys.
- Dedicated Cut‑Copy‑Paste keys.
- Multiple Media keys at your fingertips.
- Minimized Windows and Menu keys.
The infrared (IR) key switch is interesting. This emits and senses IR light. It says this is superior to other mechanical switches that rely on metal‑to‑metal contacts or shameful rubber domes. Not only that but each switch is replaceable – good idea.
The theory is that, unlike standard mechanical switches that have bounce that adds latency to performance, an infrared switch has no such delay because it’s optical, not physical.
Actuation point is 1.9mm, half the total travel distance of 3.8mm – perfect. It gives a fast bounce time of only 0.3ms, compared to most others at between 5.0ms and 20.0ms. This allows you to type quickly while all key presses get properly registered. Gamers may like it as it has 100% Anti‑Ghosting, 1000Hz polling rate with Full N‑Key Rollover.
It has Bright White LED Backlight, 10 Brightness levels, and 8 Customizable Backlight profiles.
Keys float on an aluminium based allowing you to clean under them and are water, dust and snack resistant. The caps are fully compatible with Cherry Cross mount keycaps.
The keyboard layout follows standard QWERTY but where the numerical keypad would be is set of new function keys, and a perfect diamond layout of the up/down/left/right arrows. The extra keys are great for cut and paste and more. Onboard memory saves custom key allocations
Three key types are available
- Tactile and Clicky (Blue) ‑ recommended if you like a soft-click sound per keypress.
- Tactile and Silent (Brown) ‑ recommended if you like Silent keypress.
- Linear and Silent (Red) ‑ recommended for Gaming.
GadgetGuy’s take – mechanical key switches are vastly superior to all others
If you are a typist, there is no other type to use. These increase speed and accuracy and reduce keyboard fatigue and RSI.
Laptop and may standard keyboards use a short throw of 1-2mm, and light actuation forces giving indistinct typing feedback and slowing down speeds.
For example, I use a Logitech G613 wireless keyboard with Roamer-G mechanical 4mm throw switches. I can get 100 words a minute with 95% accuracy. On a membrane keyboard that drops to 60 words and 75% accuracy. On the Surface Books (chiclet 1.5mm scissor keys) I get 80 words a minute and 90% accuracy.
Mechanical key switches come in different styles. Cherry brand has a 4mm throw which is ideal.
- Black is a full linear 60g key press – needs more force. Great for thumping gamers and ham-fisted typists who want to press the key down fully to avoid accidental key presses. It produces an audible click.
- Red is a full linear 45g – but uses less force to get there. No tactile bump. No click.
- Brown has a two-stage 45g keypress – designed for typing and gaming with a soft tactile bump at mid-stroke meaning you only need to press half way (2mm) to activate. It is the quietest of the four types – no audible click.
- Blue has a two-stage 55g press – as per Brown (2mm), and an audible click.
We are looking forward to getting a review unit of the Perfected Keyboard.
