I touch type, and I have a heavy touch from starting out with manual typewriters. As a result, my keyboards always have the letters wearing off, usually on the left side only.
It doesn’t bother me, but my wife can’t see what the letters are to type,* so I keep having to get new ones.
What’s the best keyboard with keys that won’t have the letters worn off?
*Several years ago, someone at work wanted to type something on my computer and half the keys had the letters worn away. I hadn’t noticed.
My Delll Latitude with black keys is showing no signs of wear after four years.
Look for any keyboard with “Double-shot” keys.
Mine too, especially the E, A and S. I wonder why that is.
I saw a case where this would really be a good thing to think about.
In a supermarket, I saw a cash safe built into a wall with a twelve-key numeric keypad on the wall next to it.
Four of the keys had their numbers worn off.
Gee, if you were inclined to break into that safe by trying to “brute force” find the combination, do you think there’s a helpful clue there? :smack:
Another case I saw where the much-used lettering gets worn off, where it would really be nicer if it didn’t:
A typical airplane cockpit has all (or at least most) of all those switches and buttons clearly labeled. See this photo of a Cherokee Archer cockpit. Note the row of rocker switches just below all the radios. These mostly control various lights, but some other things too.
The switch just to the right of the red ones is quite commonly used, and in the plane that I got to fly a few times, the label was totally worn off. It’s an on/off switch for the auxiliary electric fuel pump, and it is turned on rather regularly at certain times in flight. Really helpful if you know which switch that is (and don’t go poking the red ones by mistake!)
I’ve got a friend who’s been using the same Apple Pro Keyboard every day for the past 19 years, every key is still clearly labled and none have ever been replaced.
On eBay, the same model is 10-20 bucks.
you got a myriad of options … just gotta’ think outside the box.
[ol]
[li]get a keyboard cover … not only will the keys not get worn off … crumbs and finger sweat/grease will not build up either.[/li][li]get yourself a backlit keyboard … the characters are actually laser-cut into the keys … allowing the light to show through. these keyboards prove invaluable in low-level light conditions … such as when the baby/spouse is asleep.[/li][li]remove all the keys … get a spray-can of polyurethane and spray all the keys.[/li][li]if you don’t wish to remove the keys … get a brush-can of polyurethane and brush it on the keys (tooth-brush or roller-brush). an alternate to the polyurethane would be nail-polish(clear).[/li][li]lastly … you can always purchase key-appliques … and afix them on top of the worn-out characters.[/li][/ol]
remember to wipe the grease off the keys before applying any coating … and test one or two inconspicuous locations before committing to the whole keyboard.
I have a Logitech K120 wired keyboard. Lots of use for 4 years and no wear. OTOH, it has those gawdawful white letters on shiny blacks keys that are not easy to read under some lighting conditions.
Give me an off-white keyboard with black letters on a matte background any day. But apparently those aren’t considered “cool” so they don’t make them anymore.
If that were the only question, I would say this one. There are/were also keyboards where the caps were OLED displays, also laser-projected virtual keyboards, but those are just gimmicks really.
I was noticing that I have a few letters that have worn off too. S, N, L are totally gone. Getting faint are D, C, E. I can see why the home row keys would wear off, but N?
As a data point I have a Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard model 2000 (I really like the comfort of the curve) and a lot of the keys are worn off. So, not this one.
I bought some stickers on Amazon to replace the missing keys. Although I’m primarily a touch typer, sometimes those keys come in handy.
On my home office PC it’s the WASD key that are worn out. I wonder why? …:rolleyes:
I think this might be the best answer. “Double-shot” means the letters are molded plastic, with each key consisting of the base color (typ. black) and the letters (white).
Painted-on letters will wear off, being no more than perhaps 0.05 mm thick, but not plastic molded letters that have a depth of a mm or two.
Better yet, double-shot (two tone plastic) keys can easily be backlit, if the letter material is transparent. Nice for working in the dark, as so many of us like to do.
I recently was looking for this exact thing. The easy option were mechanical keyboards with laser etched keys, but these were slightly expensive ($30-$40) and had loud, clicky keys and were from off-brands.
But then I stumbled upon the Cherry Whisperkey Economy keyboard on Amazon. For $10 bucks from such a reputable company (the one that makes the best keyboard switches) and it had “fade resistant keys.” When I got it, I found the letters were actually raised up from the keycaps and in a light gray.
The bad thing is that this was recent, so I can’t tell you how well it doesn’t fade. But the raised lettering seems like it wouldn’t fade, unlike the stamped on ones of other models. And it is actually a bit quieter than a standard keyboard when I type at full speed.
I am a fan of Das Keyboard products. For years I used one of their blank keyboards, liking its cool factor, until I finally got fed up trying to find the ampersand.
These days I’m using the Das Keyboard Prime 13, and I love it.
Not only does it have those awesome mechanical switches, but it has illuminated keys (that shouldn’t wear out).
The thing is built like a brick dunny, with the top of the keyboard body feeling like painted metal instead of the traditional plastic.
If you could get one like the ones we had to use in typing class in high school you wouldn’t have to worry about the letters wearing off.
No backlit keyboard is going to have this problem. That’s what I’d recommend.
Not necessarily true. My Logitech G510S is backlit but the key tops are basically painted (with the letter glyphs left unpainted so the backlight comes through). WASD keys are worn through so that the letters are just clear illuminated blobs.
I’d look very specifically for double-shot keys.
Okay, correction, no backlit keyboard I’ve ever used. 
