I’ve found that one person’s dream keyboard is another person’s nightmare. Every one has a different touch and feel—you’ve just have to go to a store with lots of choices like Fry’s or Best Buy and try ‘em out for yourself. Even that may not work the first time because like clothing, a keyboard may seem to “fit” perfectly in the store but not so much at home or work. Personally, I like Logitech keyboards in general, but right now I’m using a Dell with my Mac that I like a lot. Good luck!

Exactly, when I go to the store and try them out they seem just fine, but I don’t get to test them for 8 hours straight at the store! :P Return policy I guess is the solution then to this problem.

Just be sure to keep the receipt and original packaging if you’re planning to use the return policy :)

@LocoLuke is right. Both the stores I mentioned will take back almost anything with a receipt and original packaging (which, by the way, I never throw away for just that reason). Keep trying—you’ll find the right one.

You can try ergonomic keyboards.

If you are in a mood for experimentation and have time to spare, you may also check out the alternative keyboard layouts like Dovark’s keyboard. (the QWERTY layout was created in the Typewriter era apparently to SLOW DOWN the typing speed so that the machine doesnt get jammed)

You could also experiment with speech recognition / dictation software i guess?

Alternatively, some handwriting recognition / OCR software might also be worth a whirl. Most should have a trial version.

Whatever you do, please don’t hurt yourself.

If you end up typing with hand, look up the guidelines on ergonomics of using a computer—sitting posture, arm positions, keyboard and monitor height, wrist angles, etc—so that you minimize any chance of injury.

Also, keep a regular schedule and take regular breaks to flex your muscles, give your hands and eyes a rest, remember to drink fluids, before resuming.

Take care!

GA, @albert_e !!!

@albert_e I’d like to add to that that you should make sure you’re using the right fingers to hit each key and stuff. I know that I used to use only one “Shift” key, that made my hands hurt.

I am a keyboard spaz.

Unless someone types for me. I do not think there is a keyboard that is easier for typing then another.

Good typing is a gift. :-) Like playing the guitar.

@ChazMaz different keyboard have different feels to the keys. Some are soft, some stiff, some clickey, some mushy. Depression depths, amount of pressure required to press the key down, amount of distance the key has to travel before it registers a click, amount of time it takes for the keyboard to register the click, anti-ghosting features (ghosting is when you press two keys and the keyboard thinks a third key is being pressed due to the layout of the wiring and how the keyboard interprets a key press, or it doesn’t register more than a certain number of keys pressed at the same time), and thats just for how the keyboard keys function.

Layout of the keys (try typing on a netbook keyboard, that’s a sure way to get a hand cramp if you’re writing a report on something), size of the keys, fancy stuff like backlit keys and specialized macro keys.

Keyboards can be quite different :)

I (and a number of my good friends) have been very pleased with the Kinesis Keyboard. It’s much more ergonomic than normal keyboards, and it doesn’t take as long to get used to as you’d think. Expensive, but totally worth it.

For me, typing slow, taking breaks, using dvorak (I wouldn’t recommend this for the casual user) and mostly importantly: stopping if you have any discomfort, have pretty much prevented me from RSI problems over the years.

To reinforce what @albert_e said, whatever you do, please don’t hurt yourself.

It would be much better to quit this job tomorrow than spend years in physical therapy, unable to play music, cook, or do other things you take for granted. It simply isn’t worth it. I have a close friend who got in serious RSI trouble after only a few months, because he tried to push through a little pain for some arbitrary deadline. If your hands are hurting, you have to stop now, or you will create serious nerve damage. I promise you, no matter how important you think this job/project/whatever is, it’s not worth your health.

Great response, @ben—I guess it applies to all of us. Thanks!!

I will seriously give dvorak a try. I type up to 100wpm on qwerty but if dvorak means less movement (i.e. range across the keyboard) I think that would be a good thing from a health perspective as well.

Thansk everyone for your great responses, I’m no going crazy looking at all the different ergonomic options. I even saw a keyboard online yesterday that has a motor in it and moves the keys around, haha.

I too would like to recommend Dvorak. The layout is much more logical, in every way. I have occasional aches in my wrists, so in February I made the switch. My QWERTY speed, at its fastest, was 85 wpm. My Dvorak speed, at its fastest is 72. I don’t think that’s too bad, since it took me many years to reach the QWERTY speed I was at before the switch. I have transparent blue-lettered stickers on my laptop keys so that I can see both my new Dvorak layout, and the old QWERTY. But I haven’t used QWERTY at all, except for at the Windows log-in screen.

After about a month with Dvorak I was at 30 wpm, which felt to me like the slowest possible speed where I could still function as a typist. It might be tough for you to make the switch with the job you have, but I’ve heard of some people who manage to be fluent in both layouts.

Word of warning: If you use key board shortcuts a lot with your typing, be very careful! I lost a lot of writing when I first made the switch because Ctrl+A (select all) is the same on Dvorak, but Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V (copy and paste) aren’t.