I disagree that it’s not attractive.

https://i.postimg.cc/NtDfpJX5/Screenshot-from-2023-11-18-09-03-56.png

I’m surprised that makes you want to move back to Windows instead of moving to another hardware platform. I guess it’s cheaper to go back to Windows but I’d just rather support a company that supports what I do.

Yeah, was a nice stroke of luck.

Yeah. I work in commercial lending and do a lot of financial analysis so I need a numpad. This board was a treat to myself for getting a new job that allows 3 days remote work where my last job had to be in the office 100% since I was managing the lending department. But this is a perfect compromise on space since really narrows down the navigation key area from a 3 wide section with arrows/home/pg up/pg down/del/insert/etc and bumps the arrows into the main section and then just gives a couple keys for navigation. I have them set to Pg Up/Pg Down/Delete for the three keys between the numpad and letters. The purple key at the top of that section is Home. FN+Purple key is end. And the bottom one (the blueberrys) is delete and FN+delete is Print Screen.

I was between the Q5 Pro and the Zoom98 which has a very similar layout but I didn’t want to wait for the group buy on the Zoom98. Super happy with my purchase though on the Q5 Pro.

Yeah someone had it for $10 + free shipping on eBay and I noticed oddly enough they were about 8 miles from me so I just messaged them if they’d take $5 and I’d come pick it up so no fees or hassle with shipping.

Thanks! I had on some cheapo GMK knockoffs from AliExpress while trying to find a keycap that I wanted. Keycaps are a pain to find since so many of them are group buys or super expensive especially if you need a number pad and want accent colors. GMK’s base sets are like $125 but their base doesn’t include a numpad so you need to add that for another $40 and then accent keys are another $30. I will say that the AliExpress are decent but they weren’t uniform keys and they definitely don’t feel as good or quality as the NovelKeys.

Thanks. Never used a Stadia though. My old DS4 controller was seeing some stick drift and I didn’t have a ton of cash at the time to replace it and saw someone selling a Stadia controller for $5 since the service was shutting down. They didn’t realize it could be unlocked for bluetooth use on PC. It’s a nice controller though.

Just got a Keychron Q5 Pro and love it. It and the Zoom98 were the only two that had layouts that would really work out for me (wanted a 96%/98%) since I need a numpad and wanted a volume knob instead of just media keys.

Even if we were thirsting over it, what’s wrong with it? Apple makes some impressive silicon that’s really efficient. The problem is that it’s tied to their products and closed off. You can marvel at what they’re doing on the production side while not liking their business practices.

Yeah. It’s not perfect but is it the end of the world? Nope. Especially at $18 and change for the set just to have something to have the board up and running. Now I can be patient when looking for keycaps and find the ones that I want. I really like the looks of the Osume Dusk keys but also really digging the blue color scheme here so we’ll see.

The right key just seems to be sitting up higher or it doesn’t come down as low.

https://i.imgur.com/MaT8vcO.jpg

Yeah. That was my thinking. Since a lot of keycaps are group buys or out of stock, I wanted something that looks good and is serviceable for now until I can figure out the true end game.

The Zoom98 might be cheaper if you can wait. I debated between this, the Zoom98 and the James Donkey RS2 v2 but decided against the James Donkey because I wanted a metal case. I’m spending more than I would on the keyboard, I wanted a durable build.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_msFKZTe - Here’s the link if interested. They do have some slight flaws where the right arrow seems slightly off. I can post a close up if wanted. But for under $20. They got here in 10 days too.

I can’t go TKL. I need the numpad but don’t want a separate one. Working in commercial lending in type a lot of numbers doing financial analysis. I was between the Q5 Pro and the Zoom 98 but that wouldn’t ship until Q1 and I can’t wait that long.

Excel is vastly more complicated than Word. Word is just basic word processing. Excel has lots of data manipulation, formulas, tables, charts, plus when coupled with visual basic, scripts and macros. I could do all that stuff in LibreOffice if I only worked in LibreOffice. But having to work in Excel at the office and LibreOffice at home would’ve been a NIGHTMARE.

I think a lot of the issue with mainstream adoption to Linux is the software suite and not the operating system. I refused to switch to Linux because of needing MS Office (specifically Excel). I needed it for work at my previous job until they provided everyone with laptops during the pandemic. And before you say just use LibreOffice or OnlyOffice, they are fine options for personal use for me. But for my productivity, switching between the two with different shortcuts was miserable. LibreOffice still pisses me off for formula auto completion. If I hit tab while making a formula, I want to go to the next parameter in the formula not the next cell.

And you can get a cheap enclosure for the old m.2 or SSD to copy files you need off the old one.

Oh yeah, for sure. I was just throwing out some other ones to check out if they had a different preference on DE or just wanted to check out something different from GNOME. Just adding on to the options!

Could also look at Linux Mint (Cinnamon/MATE/XFCE) or Feren OS (KDE).