What is a good portable keyboard to go along with a laptop?

April 29, 2009 1:47 AM

i need to a good portable (light, compact, preferably wireless) keyboard, so that when i travel with my laptop, i can still maintain a decent overall posture. with just the laptop either my neck or my upper arm is in a bad posture, and they hurt. apple keyboard is one option i am aware of, but eral world experience based suggestions would be very helpful. suggestions?
posted by shalam to computers & internet (6 comments total)

The Apple one is very nice, if you can live without a numeric keypad. The mini cursor keys are easy to find and use without looking, which is not true from many small keyboards.

I use one with a sort of kitchen PC, pulling it out when needed.
posted by rokusan at 2:37 AM on April 29

You just want a small, portable keyboard?

I have a laptop, but I travel and type at home with my beloved and precious Happy Hacking Lite 2. It is nice and tiny—it's only 11.6" x 4.7", less than a foot by five inches—and although it does have a cord, it has the benefit of two different USB ports on it, so it makes plugging in easy. More importantly for me, the Control key is in the right place, right where every other keyboard likes to put the "Caps Lock" key. (Who uses the Caps Lock key often enough for it to be in one of the most convenient spots on the keyboard? Of course, you can change that with a switch on the back which switches that 'Control' key to a 'Caps Lock' key, and there's another switch that converts the Backspace to a Delete and the Delete to a Backspace, if you prefer.)

The chief draw of this keyboard for me is that it has good, solid, gold-plated buckling-spring type keys... in plain English, it's nice and 'clicky,' just like a Model M only small enough to be quick and very useful and ergonomic. It's remarkable how much better my hands work on the keys when they don't have to stretch for distant keys. It was also quite affordable; after taxes and shipping, I spent about $75 on mine.

I think the Happy Hacking Lite 2 is the absolute perfect keyboard—if, that is, you're the type of person, like me, who loves to actually hear and feel his keyboard, and prefers the 'clicky' action. This is, of course, the complete opposite of the Apple keyboard, which seems to attempt to completely remove any resistance. I find that I can type a good deal faster when I can feel the keys under my fingers and when I can tell that I've pushed one of them.
posted by koeselitz at 3:37 AM on April 29

The wired Apple keyboard has a numeric pad, if that's more important to you than being wireless.

In either case, the Apple keyboard is impossibly light and thin, which makes it great for portability and travel, and is just fantastic to type on. Of course, the feel of a keyboard is a very subjective thing, but for me, the Apple keyboard is the best I've ever used.
posted by The Deej at 5:23 AM on April 29

Thirding the Apple keyboard. As a former Model M user, it's the *second* best keyboard I ever used, and a huge improvement over the previous Apple keyboard.

Nothing will ever top the Model M.
posted by SansPoint at 6:05 AM on April 29

The recent thin Apple keyboards (I have a corded at work, and wireless at home) are the best pieces of hardware they've ever made.
posted by anildash at 3:44 PM on April 29

thanks all.

It appears that my option is an Apple keyboard! The Happy hacking one will require harder taps of the keys, and given my repetitive stress injury, in any case i do not want to go the path of 'clicky' keys, which require punching somewhat harder.

i like the numeric keypad and have the wired apple keyboard at home, but it is too big to lug around.
posted by shalam at 4:41 PM on April 30