Once upon the SteelSeries keyboards were pretty good, I had a split one that I swore I’d use forever. One day a windows update flagged the driver as suspicious, and I was left with a keyboard that clicked and clicked but did nothing. MS support said it was up to SteelSeries to update their drivers, and SteelSeries basically told me to get fucked.
I don’t want pretty lights on my keyboard. I want all the keys in the wrong spots so people who don’t touch type have an aneurysm when they use my computer.
My problem is less whether they work OOTB, more the fact that the switches tend to be poor quality and soldered to the motherboard. If one breaks, you have to break out the soldering iron. Finding exact replacements for some proprietary switches is also almost impossible short of getting a broken unit for parts. A pack of your preferred switches will always feel better to use and easier to replace. WS Morandis and Gateron Milky Yellows are my favorites and 104 of those clost less than 95% of premium keyboards from big brands.
Some even come with proprietary keycaps for some keys (looking at you Razer). That means if their shitty ABS caps fade or smooth out, you’re stuck with them unless you buy replacements directly from them.
Anyways I’m just a keyboard nerd so your mileage may vary.
Once upon the SteelSeries keyboards were pretty good, I had a split one that I swore I’d use forever. One day a windows update flagged the driver as suspicious, and I was left with a keyboard that clicked and clicked but did nothing. MS support said it was up to SteelSeries to update their drivers, and SteelSeries basically told me to get fucked.
I don’t want pretty lights on my keyboard. I want all the keys in the wrong spots so people who don’t touch type have an aneurysm when they use my computer.
My problem is less whether they work OOTB, more the fact that the switches tend to be poor quality and soldered to the motherboard. If one breaks, you have to break out the soldering iron. Finding exact replacements for some proprietary switches is also almost impossible short of getting a broken unit for parts. A pack of your preferred switches will always feel better to use and easier to replace. WS Morandis and Gateron Milky Yellows are my favorites and 104 of those clost less than 95% of premium keyboards from big brands.
Some even come with proprietary keycaps for some keys (looking at you Razer). That means if their shitty ABS caps fade or smooth out, you’re stuck with them unless you buy replacements directly from them.
Anyways I’m just a keyboard nerd so your mileage may vary.
I had a steel series mouse.
The build quality? Excellent.
Design quality? Great
Software? Almost seemed intentionally insultingly bad.