Comfortable gaming Keyboard

[morlac]

Heya all with Crhistmas around the corner I was looking at askng for a new keyboard as i am currently using a super cheap one .  Lately my wrist has been getting fatigued quickly whne gaming.  Im thinking a new keyboad migh help alleviate some of this and besides my current one blows.  So i was wondering if any of yall had any suggestions?  I read about the new super flat desgn by logitech that sounds good.  Anyone try these?  

Oh I mostly play MMORPGs and FPS so keep that in mind...thanks

[disarm]

i've had a Logitech Elite for about a year now and like it a lot.  it's one of their "Zero-Tilt" keyboards and does lay pretty flat if you don't fold the little props out (i like mine tilted a little).  i've used mine for some marathon FPS gaming sessions and never had any discomfort, but i'd say that's something that is totally different from one person to the next.

[morlac]

Ohh thanks for the linkie.  I believe they have a back lit one as well for some nite time gaming.  Ill have to check that one out too.

[Hamsterball_Z]

I have a Datadesk Smartboard.  It's a true ergonomic keyboard that aligns the keys for each hand, not one that just splits the keys but still keeps the tilted layout.  The plus side for a gamer is that ASDF are aligned.  Downside is that some of the lesser used keys are in oddball positions and it uses mechanical keyswitches so it's a bit noisy.  A highly regarded old IBM keyboard also uses the mechanical switches so some people actually consider that a plus, it's supposed to provide better feedback and feel.

[MonkeyFinger]

The Smartboard looks interesting. I have a fairly old MS Natural keyboard that I've been looking to replace and it may be a good candidate. It was a little hard to tell from the website or pdfs, but it doesn't seem to have the Insert / Delete / Home / End etc set of keys... is that true? If so, how are they implemented?

[Hamsterball_Z]

Yeah, the keyboard was originally designed for Macs so they did some funny stuff to make the layout work for PC.  They put them as the top two rows of the numberpad area.  '/' and '*'  are moved to the right of 'pg up' 'pg dn' instead of being above '8' and '9'.  Numlock and Scroll Lock are combined on one key to the right of F12 and above backspace.  Pause and Print Screen are on '-' and '/' respectively on the number pad, you hit right-shift + key to activate them.  

The other odd move is that they split up the '+' and '-' keys.  '+ =' is on the left side of the keyboard between '~' and '1', '- _' is still on the right by Backspace.  The reason is to keep a balanced layout, the alternative would have been to make Backspace a small key instead of being double-size like it is now.  It's the only thing can be really bothersome but it's hardly an issue, you get used to it.