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posted by Fnord666 on Monday February 03 2020, @12:05PM   Printer-friendly
from the money-to-burn dept.

The Twitch streamer behind Tfue's custom $3,500 mechanical keyboard:

When Tae Ha Kim began streaming himself constructing mechanical keyboards on Twitch roughly two years ago, he didn't think it would be a viable replacement for his San Francisco programming career. And he never imagined it would lead to designing custom accessories for some of the top video game players in the world. But the 24-year-old California native has found a unique niche on both Twitch and YouTube that combines bespoke product design with a growing interest in the broader gaming community for high-end, personalized peripherals like keyboards and mice.

Now, under the banner of Taeha Types, Kim designs and assembles high-priced keyboards on commission by sourcing rare and limited-run components from across the globe. "If you're a streamer or someone working in the video content creation space, nobody sees what car you drive or what house you live in," Kim tells The Verge. "But you are showing off the tech you use most of the time. So it makes sense when you think about it. These high profile streamers, gamers, and content creators want to have high-end gear they show off while they're streaming and doing their jobs."

Most recently, Kim put together a custom mechanical keyboard for Turner "Tfue" Tenney, one of the world's most popular Twitch streamers and among the most famous Fortnite competitors currently playing the game.

If you could rock a custom keyboard built to your specifications for a reasonable price, would you go for it?


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday February 03 2020, @02:14PM (2 children)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday February 03 2020, @02:14PM (#953116) Journal

    What would buying a custom keyboard do for me? I'm not a gamer (in the competitve sense) and while sometimes I miss the click-click-click of a mechanical I don't miss it enough to want one every time I have to type. I want a good keyboard by my definitions, and I managed to snag a couple of non-mechanical IBM keyboards that work very nicely. I also liked a couple of ergnomic keyboards I bought back in the day but they did not hold up to the usage I put them through.

    No, I'd spend $100 at most on a keyboard after I've been drinking. And then I'd put the other $2900 into my system proper. (Actually, although I didn't spend $2900 on it that's exactly what I did in my last build - got a top end motherboard and i7 processor because that's where I felt it would do the most good and it has. Because it fit my use case.)

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 03 2020, @02:42PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday February 03 2020, @02:42PM (#953127)

    I spent about $100 about 5 years ago (I forget exactly) on a Quickfire TK CM Storm mechanical mid-sized keyboard for my (small) home office desk. Mid-size has the number pad, but not the full 104 layout with arrow keys inbetween the letters and numbers - it's a good fit for the home office, and the lighted, mechanical keys really do help my typing accuracy and speed. I also got an Anker programmable mouse - I'm not a big fan of the million buttons on it, but I do like the adjustable reaction speed and even use it once in a rare while.

    A year or so later when outfitting my work desk, I went ahead and bought an identical keyboard and mouse for there, even though I have the space for a full 104, it's nice for the home muscle memory to function at work too - when I'm not hopping around using whatever piece of junk is available.

    $150 for a keyboard/mouse pair is pretty easy to get approved at a workplace that pays for standing desk monitor brackets, ergonomic chairs and such. $3K? Never. But... if I started a streaming career and found myself making even 2x what my day job pays on streaming - hell yeah, why not? That $3K isn't a waste, it's a luxury perk, and I'd honestly rather give $3K to an individual craftsman than $100 to Amazon and a mass market manufacturer. Not every day, not all the time, but a one-time every 5-10 years thing that I use for hours every day? Why not?

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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by nitehawk214 on Monday February 03 2020, @08:20PM

    by nitehawk214 (1304) on Monday February 03 2020, @08:20PM (#953278)

    For $100 I got a Logitech g910. While it has all kinds of goofy gamer features it also has the features I wanted.

    -Mechanical Keyboard - I guess I type hard or something, those bendy spring ones always eventually jam.
    -Reasonably Quiet - I don't need to sound like I am important, especially when I am at home. I didn't buy a quiet computer for nothing. The Model M is not for me.
    -Easy to clean - With one of those keycap pullers [mechanicalkeyboards.com] its easy to remove them and clean it.
    -Lights - I want the actual symbols to light up, not the whole fracking keyboard. While all I needed was a subdued red, it is nice to be able to customize it. This was the one feature that I couldn't find on cheaper keyboards. The lights were just a big backlight pointing up at the keys, which causes a bunch of obnoxious light-leak around the keycaps. There probably is one that does what i wanted for cheaper, but $100 is fine for something that will last years.

    Some extra features that I enjoy but are not necessary.
    -Lights out button - 1 press toggle to turn the light off.
    -Programmable Macro keys - I don't use these a lot, but occasionally they are handy.

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