foreign
if you buy a Mac Studio or a Mac Mini
you get nothing no display no Magic
Mouse and no keyboard as Steve Jobs put
it it's byodkm on one hand it's a little
Annoying that your brand new computer isn't usable out of the box in the other
you a Mac User can now Venture beyond the magic keyboard and choose or make
something much much better what a dream
this should be easy meet Nicholas plutfe he's a writer from
the orange Channel who loves keyboards I
like how expressive they can be and how customizable they are he loves keyboards
so much he's the go-to guy for ShortCircuit videos on the subject he loves
keyboards so much he set up a workstation in his home devoted entirely
to the making and modifying of them oh here it is it's one of those things
where you see a picture of something on someone's desk and you're like wow that
looks really cool once you experience it and you feel the jump in quality that
comes with a much nicer custom mechanical keyboard it's just like a
rabbit hole he loves keyboards so much that's what he streams about God
watching that sounds like something second only to paint drying this is why
he's going to be helping me out in this journey to find the perfect keyboard
because there are a lot
hey you're the keyboard guy sure and
there are a couple of new Macs that don't come with keyboards that's crazy
so I'm wondering if you can help show me
the world of mechanical keyboards what do you need on your keyboard I want it
to sound exactly like the keyboard from The Sims one
that's like really mechanical and funky and it sounds like buckling spring like
a model M or something like that I don't know if that's possible okay so where do
we how do we start keyboard from The Sims sounds like an
Abomination what do you mean it doesn't sound like an Abomination yeah it does
it sounds amazing no I hate it but the game was so good yeah the game was good
that doesn't mean the keyboard sound is good oh so like these things no
don't use those are there more yes even Mac users are spoiled for Choice wait
what are you doing I'm not done yet there's a lot to consider if you're
looking to get into keyboards the feel of a mechanical keyboard is largely
driven by the switch you choose these are Browns you don't want these what
kind of switches do you like The Sim switches We're not gonna find those I
don't like that Vulcan I don't like it no there's also a layout what about this
layout where they're all aligned that's Ortho linear like Teeth the numb pads on
the left side yeah why are there two space bars because if you want two space
bars why not it's just not Mac layout but that's kind of nifty looking and
then there's the endless variety of qualities like case material and color where's the white keyboards this should
be good right no this is full mechanical
those feel like rubber Dome the type of plate you want to use how it's mounted I
may put that on the bottom and even wait that's heavy these are all things that
help contribute to how the keyboard feels under your fingers that's it one
of these drop boards a drop board where's the new fee we use a mountain a
mountain yeah this is a mountain there you go and then we'll do a tea kale
because maybe you like the tea kale I picked the blues for you kale Blues
because I like the clicky stuff is that gonna sound like The Sims no what's in
that suitcase oh you want this so you want the Cyber board okay don't drop
this it's expensive yeah you're good yeah cool where are we going oh my God
ah why is this lit up
now before Nicholas and I take a look through all of these let me tell you
about this video's sponsor War Thunder yes that's right War Thunder is a video
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start playing War Thunder for free today and you get a free premium vehicle just
for signing up this is the group of keyboards ploof has piled on me to take
to the lab it's a diverse lot and as interesting as they look I want to start
off by getting his thoughts on Apple's option to give ourselves something to
compare to let's start oh with the magic keyboard I think it's 200 what 200 did
you watch that episode of ncax oh yeah the double hacking yeah that's not
because Chiclet style I hate the
fingerprint reader stuff it's great the clickiness of it for what it is is
actually pretty decent I think it's perfectly fine being the
keyboard person and considering all the keyboard options there are yes would you
suggest to a Mac User to skip this and go elsewhere the only reason I would
ever tell them to get this is if they want like the ultimate importability
take this out of here I don't want it out of my sight I don't want to look at it you're like so like nice about it and
now it's fine I'm just being elitist this is the grand irony is that the PC
people particularly in keyboard circles yeah are elitist
so what I think most normal people are going to do is they're going to go
straight to their Logitech store and they're going to get one of these yeah I
don't like Logitech keyboards for the most part which is crazy because I love
Logitech mice and I love Logitech headsets as well this is literally the
MX for Mac Wow crazy I should note that
they just expanded the lineup of Mac specific keyboards in mice and it comes
in a nice silver to go with your it's not space gray I like the silver I like
the silver and the like off-white I don't like the typing experience though
no not at all it feels gross it feels
great what okay what about the compared to the magic keyboard I take the magic
keyboard over this really yeah thanks for those options Jonathan but I want to
show you what a really nice keyboard looks sounds and feels like so how much
is that one this one's about five or six hundred dollars and this one's also
about five or six hundred dollars for this you're really paying a lot for the
screen here and this one is kind of just pure quality this is I know I love it
that's my favorite right now it's eight pounds 8.2 yeah this is a similar like
what are these Ivory no those are ceramic those you buy separately you buy
the keycaps separately I've ruined it with my driving hands
pretty nice keyboard still it doesn't sound like The Sims though no no no no
this is a linear keyboard like this is also linear so these are all linear so
these are probably all linear yeah so what is linear linear is a type of key
switch there are three types linear tactile and clicky if you're looking at
Cherry switches the linears are going to be red the Browns are going to be
tactile and the blues are going to be clicky and this kind of works for other
brands as well the linear ones you can press down on the key and it moves
smoothly to the end they're also good for typing I like typing on linear
sometimes it's good for people who don't want anything getting in the way of
their kills I guess what could be getting in the way of their kills feel
there's no bump to worry about with a tactile switch there's a detent that you
can feel as you type so what does this mean for my Sims keyboard like the
closest thing we're going to get is either a clicky or a very heavy tactile is my guess the other ones are probably
going to play better with your Mac because they're like specifically made
to work with Apple products so do you
think I should just make my own keyboard well let me tell you these days it's
only intimidating because a lot of people fear taking apart or putting
together small electronics but since you're putting it together yourself
you'll know all the ins and outs of how it works and what's inside of it it's
just a few extra screws and maybe a ribbon cable or two unless you want to
go to the trouble of lubing switches it should only take an hour or two to put
together your own mechanical keyboard easy peasy this one has Blue switches so
you might actually like it because it's got clickies oh this is a Mac layout
that's great and they probably have a little switch on the side somewhere that
lets you like turn it from Windows to Mac yeah there you go so I mean you know
you have options whoa what's with all the colors you get that sweet sweet RGB
oh my goodness can I change the color if it's not a function then you can find
software that'll let you change the color is this linear this is tactile but
it's brown they're annoying because the bump is incredibly minor it feels like
it's it feels like it's broken it's linear no no it's not broken it's just a
cherry Brown I think I can safely say that I do not like brown switches
this is probably closest to your magic keyboard yeah but it like has a cookie switch
it's not the Sims one the new fee one of
my favorites the backlight on this just lights around the keys it doesn't
actually tell me where the keys are yeah so these are not double shot so you
can't see through them but it is nice to see this Mac layer and the colors are
fun a bit Google though here's the thing okay Apple users have a
bit of history of good keyboards there's one keyboard I want to show you there's actually two keepers there's one keyword
I want to start off with excuse me you're gonna be so amazed you're gonna
be like this is the best keyboard I've ever tried
foreign foreign
this is Apple's equivalent of the IBM
extended how is it acceptable extended
keyboard too this keyboard uses the famed Alps switches
feels gross I genuinely hate this I would never type
on this in my life you like this maybe you should just buy a memory keyboard
also why are the home row keys on my middle fingers that's gross these Alps
keys are legendary in the Apple circles and that's cool I don't like them yeah
the bump is so mushy and I don't like the recessed caps lock why is this so oh
it just sticks that's old that's fine that's what they used to be like don't
you remember using these as a kid like I do remember using these because I grew
up using like apple twos and stuff because my school was broke so you can't
get this keyboard anymore okay but there is a Canadian keyboard manufacturer that
manufactures or else key switches maybe I like Alp switches that aren't 30 years
old maybe they're just old maybe if
they're fresh they're not this mushy mati this is a small outfit based in
Canada they have worked to keep the spirit of the Apple extended keyboard
alive for instance when the ELP switch was at risk of going out of production
they bought a million in switches to keep their keyboards alive and when
production eventually did end they loved the feel of the Alps switch so much that
they design and manufacture their own this is the Matthias tactile Pro wow and
then the laptop Pro which has the quiet click key switch what makes it a laptop
Pro it's small it's wireless oh it's wireless and does it use lightning no no
it uses micro b what oh my God they told
me it's based off of simple Alps I like these a lot more than I like these
because these are snappier and they don't feel as mushy on the very bottom
out this is pretty close to the Sims
oh my God
it is it's like exactly the same it's
all a lot in the space bar you get that Chunk in the space bar
I am so amazed I found it I can't
believe it but do you want to type on this all day yes I have a choice that's
the beauty I always wanted to be a Sim it really did this threshing it'll whip
out of snow yeah that's pretty good it's silica for the Mac User like what do you think
is the best keyboard for them so there's no perfect answer everyone's gonna have
different needs so really this is the sky's the limit it's sky's the limit
it's a giant rabbit hole that you can just Dive Right into and get lost
completely the mechanical keyboard world is full of
a dizzying array of choice it can be quite overwhelming but also very
personal it's nice to be able to choose for yourself and if you know what you
want you can find the perfect one like this I can't believe it sounds like the
Sims
thanks for typing out this Mac Address if you like the sound of this keyboard
give this video a like and if you would rebel against the magic keyboard and get
any of the Alternatives you might as well subscribe now in the comments I'm
curious what keyboard would you choose or is there one you really like that we
didn't try out pop it down below