Peripherals

Basically all my life I have been using the generic keyboard, and the generic mouse - smaller, bigger, but pretty much the same thing.

Some time ago, I started to have a little discomfort on my right hand after using the mouse for a while.

Since I spent a lot of my waking hours in front of a computer, and interacting with it, I decided to spend a bit of money on some fancier peripherals… but not too much! I wanted to see if I could find a better mouse, and check if there is any truth behind all that hype about mechanical keyboards.

Mouse

I read online reviews about trackballs, ergonomic mice, and, something I had never seen before, vertical mice.

I have to admit I have been pleasantly surprised. At first, you feel sort of clumsy. And, in any case, it may not be the best mouse if you need good control of the pointer. But for clicking from time to time without great precision, it is, after a while surprisingly confortable.

What is more, the discomfort has gone away.

To be honest, at first it just switched places, since instead of having one on the top of my hand, I had it on the base on the thumb, probably because I started grabbing the mouse. After a while, I do not grab any more, I just rest my hand, and push it around, so it is way better.

Still, I could see it being uncomfortable for some people. So far, it is fine for me.

Mechanical keyboard

For the keyboard, I didn’t want to spend a lot, because, honestly, I thought it was probably not worth it, and just as good as a membrane keyboard.

I went for a MasterKeys L with thick PBT keys. No leds, nothing fancy. I saw good reviews about it.

Also, I wanted brown switches, which seemed to be the go-to type for a beginner who doesn’t want to be killed by the office mates. (Here you can find a comparative of switches if you don’t want to search for it now).

But was I wrong about the hype. Definitely worth the buy, at least for me.

Of course, you are not going to be more productive or anything, but nevertheless typing feels great. When I go back to a membrane keyboard I miss the clickety-click.

And, anyway, I spend a lot of time typing, so I would say it is worth spending some extra money on a tool that is used at least 5 days a week, several hours per day (depending on the meetings you have!).