As Apple and others struggle to understand and define the future of computer keyboards, I ventured into the evolving world of hacker keyboards. I learned a lot once I discarded the mainstream keyboards I had used for over a quarter of a century.

I recently upgraded my input instruments.

Mouse

The most straightforward upgrade was to my mouse — I upgraded to the Surface Precision Mouse. The contoured shape feels very natural and satisfying in the palm of my hand. It couldn’t get simpler as far as upgrades go.

Surface Precision Mouse, perfectly contoured.

Historically, Microsoft¹ has designed some of the best mice in the business, and evidently, the business hasn’t changed much. The Precision mouse has everything I liked about the original Microsoft Mouse 2.0 and the game-changing IntelliMouse designs from the ’90s, with all the modern accoutrements and design refinements to be expected a quarter of a century later.

I had initially purchased the popular Logitech Master MX 2S. It’s a looker and includes a mesmerizing hyper scroll wheel with a free motion spin. The thumb buttons are awkwardly placed, the gesture implementation is unusable, but the real dealbreaker for me was that the mouse was ultimately uncomfortable and tiring, subjectively, feeling too heavy.

It’s worth noting that the Surface Precision Mouse doesn’t have a free motion wheel, but it still provides inertial scrolling via firmware, and the loss of gestures is no loss at all. The main thing the Master has that the Precision doesn’t is a dedicated horizontal scroll wheel, although the Precision implements horizontal scrolling via a button toggle.

The Apple Magic Trackpad 2 is most enticing in its native macOS environment but lacks sufficient support for Windows. Nonetheless, it’s a magical piece of glass. Apple design and engineering at its finest.

Keyboard

The keyboard upgrade was more of a bender.

My reference keyboard was the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, which I still consider to be one of the best keyboard designs on the mainstream market. This version of the Natural keyboard was released nearly 15 years ago and stands the test of time.

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 7000, the wireless version of the 4000. [credit]

It’s a contoured split keyboard that does basically everything right for a mass-produced product at an affordable price. It’s one of the most comfortable and uncompromising keyboards you can find with all the keys and functions you might ever need, and it is 100% free of Apple’s retrograde² industry influence on keyboard design.

The newer Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard isn’t my cup of tea, primarily due to the laptop-like scissor keys³, but many consider it an improvement over the Natural. Marco Arment has a review of it.

While we may have reached peak keyboard design by mainstream metrics, there is certainly more to aspire to in terms of keyboard ergonomics and functionality.

It’s especially noteworthy when coders feel the need to custom build their keyboards, hand soldering mechanical switches to custom circuit boards with custom firmware, or often just adopting traditional mechanical switch keyboards (sometimes with all-blank keys) for the ultimate typing experience.