Listen, I want to be honest with you. I’m not much of a gamer. I like and appreciate computer games, I just don’t have the time to dedicate to them anymore. I am, however, on a computer all day for work. And over the years I’ve used a variety of keyboards.
Wired, wireless, bluetooth (with and without dongle. Oh how I hate the dongle), noisy, quiet-key, etc. I’m also old enough to remember typewriters, and my family even had 
one. For those of you who have used a typewriter, there’s a very satisfying “KA-CHUNK” every time you hit a key and stamp the paper. I miss those sounds and tactile feedback. Well, I’ve found the next best thing. Mechanical Keyboards.
Mechanical keyboards offer a number of advantages over membrane keyboards. If you want to read an awesome piece about the differences, check out this piece on “How-To Geek” by Chris Stobing. He does a better job walking you through the differences than I ever could. If you want a tl;dr (to long; didn’t read): They’re better, but they cost more.
If you’re a serious gamer you’re probably going to buy an expensive keyboard ($100+). If you’re ultra-casual (like me) or just going to use it for work because you like the feel (also like me), then you don’t need to spend nearly that much. The SOONGO is perfect for my needs, and is priced around $40 on Amazon.
It’s a full-sized keyboard including a number pad. The drivers are self-installing, so it’s completely plug-and-play. Literally. You plug it in and within a minute or so it works. The keys feel great and have an extremely satisfying “click” when you press them. Additionally their font is unique and gives the whole keyboard a very space-age feel. The function keys are dual purpose, and will let you control your media, screen, and other things.
Is that it, you ask? Nope. Each key is back lit. There’s a rainbow array of colors. You can leave them all-on, all-off, or what the instructions refer to as “breathing” which means they slowly fade in and out. That’s my favorite.
So there you have it! A great mechanical keyboard for the casual user, as an awesome price. I should also point out that you get 932 style points for using a keyboard like this at your office when everyone else is using their dumb old dell keyboards that came with the computer and were assigned to them. SPRUCE UP YOUR WORKSPACE!
Here’s a video I made of the keyboard so you can see the lights and here the clicks. If you want to feel the keys you’re going to have to buy one yourself. Enjoy it, I certainly am!
Live the Dream,
-Humble Dave
Amazon Product Link: SOONGO Mechanical Keyboard
left/right click buttons. Cool. A mouse missing those is not a mouse. It also has your often-standard scroll wheel which is also a button. You know what that does. It scrolls and scroll-locks. “But Dave, what are the two other buttons in the middle?” I’ll tell you. The uppermost button is a triple click. For gaming you can use it to fire multiple shots. At work (and yes, I use this at work. More on this later) I use it to conveniently open files I’d normally double-click. Why? Because I can. The bottom-middle button controls sensitivity. How fast does the cursor move when you move the mouse (really it’s dots/inch, but it amounts to the same thing). There are 4 settings from “slow and steady” to “fast and furious”. I generally keep it on the second slowest. I call that “nice and smooth.” The two buttons on the side, you ask? Forward and backward. I’m not going to lie, they take a bit of getting used to. But it’s all about convenience, isn’t it? No more clicking the back button in Chrome because I’ve got it right on my mouse. BOOM.
Humble Dave 