Truly Ergonomic Keyboard (Review)

Xah Lee, 2012-01-01

This page is a armchair review of the “Truly Ergonomic keyboard”.

This one is from trulyergonomic.com. Selling for $200. It comes with a attachable palm rest (not shown).

Key Layout Design

This is a superb keyboard. It has the best layout design, fixing all the traditional PC keyboard's problems. Here's a summary of advantages:

• Key columns are no longer jagged. e.g. look at 1 Q A Z, it's straight. You finger moves straight up/down.
• Symmetric for both hands. No bunch of extra keys for right pinky at the backspace key position.
• Frequently used special keys, such as Enter key, moved to the middle, to be operated by index finger, instead of on the side for pinky. Same for Tab ⇆, ⌦ Delete. The most frequestly used ⌫ Backspace is now by your most strong finger the thumb.
• Key groups are angled for each hand, so you don't have to huddle your wrists and bend each wrist outward. (called ulnar deviation)

For detail about these problems, see: Keyboard Hardware Design Flaws.

One extra point for this keyboard is that it kept the {F1, F2, …} keys, and in 3 separate groups. Many other exotic ergonomic keyboard fucked this one up. e.g. the Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 fucked it up by making it 2 continuous groups, so you have F1 to F5 adjacent, and F6 to F12 adjacent. If you want to press any of F8 to F10, now it's harder by touch; you have to look. The Kinesis made it worse by replacing them with tiny rubber buttons. (See: Computer Keyboard: Increase Productivity Using F1 … F12 Keys.)

Key Switch Mechanism and Hardware Quality

Asides from the key layout and design, this keyboard is also quality build. It uses Cherry MX mechanical key-switches for the best tactile feel. (See: Key Switch Mechanisms Guide.) The keyboard is also full n-key rollover. (See: Keyboard Ghosting ＆ N-key Rollover.)

Size Comparison

Note that sizes from photos can be deceiving. The TrulyErgonomic is very compact, because it doesn't have the number pad. (the TrulyErgonomic has a Num Lock key that turns the right hand side keys into a number pad. Similarly for the Kinesis)

The design of this one seems one of the best. It fixes all the conventional PC keyboard flaws, yet remains in one simple elegant piece. It isn't so huge as the Microsoft Ergonomic 4000, which is also cheaply built for the mass market. The “truly ergonomic” also isn't so radical as the Kinesis Contoured Keyboard. The Kinesis will take a while to get used to, and is a bit inconvenient for casual use because of the bowl shaped key surface.