Kinesis Advantage Review: Long-Term Evaluation
by Jarred Walton on July 2, 2013 10:15 PM ESTClosing Thoughts: Advantage, Kinesis
I spent more than a month typing on the TECK before moving on to the Kinesis Advantage. The initial learning curve with the Advantage wasn’t as steep for me, and while part of that may be the similar orthogonal key layouts, I think the layout on the TECK requires more effort to learn. I don’t know that anyone can really declare either keyboard as superior, but every user is likely to prefer one more than the other. I happen to be lucky in that I got a chance to try out both.
My initial thoughts were that the TECK and Kinesis are really just different takes on the same idea—mechanical ergonomic keyboards. After returning to the TECK to do some additional use, however, I’m now convinced that the TECK requires more effort to learn, and in fact if you stop using it for a month or two and return you’ll have to retrace some lost ground. Today for instance, after numerous attempts, I managed to get no better than 55WPM on the TECK in any of the typing tests—15 to 20WPM off of what I was doing back when I finished the TECK review. On the other hand, I pulled out an MS Natural and was able to get good results within a few minutes.
A big part of the difference is in the key arrangements; TECK changes a lot more relative to the standard keyboards, whereas the Kinesis layout puts a bunch of stuff on your thumbs but otherwise leaves most keys where you’d find them on other keyboards. Maybe it’s just personal preference, but the center column of Start, Delete, Tab, Backspace, and Enter on the TECK doesn’t work nearly as well for me as the thumb pad arrangements on the Kinesis. On the other hand, I generally had a better time with the cursor keys and document navigation keys on the TECK, and while it can cause some issues at first, I think moving Shift up to home row is an ergonomically sound idea.
There are other aspects to consider as well. The TECK is definitely more compact than the Advantage, even with the palm rest attached; without it, the TECK is positively diminutive in comparison. The Advantage also has a few additional features like USB ports, macro recording/playback, and built-in key remapping. None of these are “must haves” in my opinion, but they’re all potential perks that make a good product just a bit better.
I know that I’m not a very good study in “typical” computer use—I have several desktops that I switch between, plus laptops come and go almost weekly. That means I tend to like things that don’t mix it up too much, at least in the keyboard arena (these two keyboard reviews notwithstanding), and in this case the layout of the Kinesis Advantage simply works out better for me than the TECK. It also costs more, but the good news is that both companies offer money back guarantees. If you’re looking for a good ergonomic keyboard, there’s at least the potential to give both of them a try and then keep whichever one you like the most. The Kinesis Advantage will set you back $299 for the model I reviewed, or $325 for a model with Cherry MX Red switches; the Advantage Pro bumps the price up to $359 but you also get longer macros and a single-action foot switch. The TECK rings up at $248 (plus shipping and such), so about $50 less than the base model Advantage.
There’s still one more keyboard that I’ve got waiting for some serious attention: the ErgoDox via MassDrop. I almost cringe at the thought of having to go through “keyboard rehabilitation” yet again, as just poking around at it is enough to let me know that yet again there’s a completely new layout to come to grips with. I suspect by the time I’m done I’m still going to end up back with the Kinesis as my favorite of the bunch, but there’s something cool about a keyboard that you can build on your own if you want, with the design released under the GNU GPL v3. The MassDrop option isn’t currently available, but if enough people express interest in it I’m sure it will open up again. Now pardon me while I go cry a bit before unplugging this Kinesis and starting in on a full review of the ErgoDox….
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Azethoth - Wednesday, July 10, 2013 - link
No.HisDivineOrder - Tuesday, July 9, 2013 - link
Seems like a valid question.You say it's like asking how a Tesla is for games. I say it's more akin to having a professional workstation you also game on. Like asking how a Quadro is for games. I get that you are defensive over this new product category you seem to like, but you must less biased and more objective.
ppeterka - Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - link
"What's it matter how fast you can type on this keyboard, if it's useless for games?"I use a computer for 8-10-12 hours of work. On each weekday. Sometimes a bit on weekends.
I play games average 10 minutes each day.
And so do my very own few thousand colleagues.
And so do the few million people using computers to earn money.
In this concern, gamers are a minority. A tiny rounding error. For your own balance of mind, please go and read articles about watercooled triple GPU configs - that seems to be more your field of interest. And don't forget to ask for money from dad.
geniekid - Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - link
This is a hardware enthusiast site so I think a significant number of people who come here use their computers for gaming, maybe not for its primary purpose, but at least a significant amount of the time. So I don't think it's that crazy to want a little more perspective on how well this keyboard is used for gaming purposes."For your own balance of mind, please go and read articles about watercooled triple GPU configs - that seems to be more your field of interest. And don't forget to ask for money from dad."
That was rude, unconstructive, and detracts from the argument you're trying to make.
damianrobertjones - Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - link
"This is a hardware enthusiast site so I think a significant number of people who come here use their computers for gaming" - Not exactly true.geniekid - Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - link
I don't think you have any evidence to back up that claim. Not that I have any to back up mine anyway, but do you really think a significant number of the people who read this site don't play games on a daily basis? By significant I mean at least 20%.KLC - Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - link
I'm a long time Anandtech reader, very interested in computer tech since I first got to use a dual floppy IBM PC about 30 years ago. I have zero interest in games. Broaden your horizons.geniekid - Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - link
I'm also a long time Anandtech reader, and I have lots of interest in games and how well ergonomic keyboards deal with them.Please note I'm not arguing that any content in the article be replaced with some kind of gaming test, just that a request for a little more information is not that unreasonable.
hfm - Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - link
I have been reading Anand for a ridiculously long time as well, since the late 90's if I'm not mistaken. I am 100% sure that over that time most of the content has been geared toward people who care about high performance computing, most of those people being gamers. That said, there's also plenty of content that would be of use to those who couldn't care less about games.The big problem is that these two statements are just closed-minded:
"What's it matter how fast you can type on this keyboard, if it's useless for games?"
"For your own balance of mind, please go and read articles about watercooled triple GPU configs - that seems to be more your field of interest. And don't forget to ask for money from dad."
Article like this particular one will bring out the set that doesn't care about games since they are probably the ones that care most about how many WPM they can type in a day. The cross-section is going to be much larger here than a review of the Titan or a Gaming Notebook.
Can't we just all get along? :) (never is the answer to that question... hasn't happened yet.. probably won't.. ever..)
Chapbass - Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - link
I guess I can shed some light on this. I'm a Kinesis Advantage user, I have two of them (one at work one at home) and am a relatively serious gamer. I'm of decent skill level (CAL-M CS1.6, CAL-I DOD:S, and I've played lots of MMOs, RTS, and other genres), and i actually really enjoy using the Kinesis for gaming. Theres a few differences from a normal keyboard:1. I've switched from WASD to ESDF for any and all movement. This is because the E and D keys are physically lower than W and S. Because your middle finger is the longest finger on your hand, this ends up feeling incredibly natural, and I actually like it better than a standard keyboard.
2. Your thumb is incredible on this keyboard. With barely moving, I have easy access to: Backspace, Delete, Control, Alt, Home, and End. The one issue with this is that some games don't like using Backspace and Delete as bindable keys. The way around this is to have the Kinesis remap that as a different key (any key) so that it will treat it as such (its easy to unmap and remap). The macros I would imagine could come in handy, but I almost never use them. (fighting games might be ridiculous...)
3. The one major issue I've found: With your left hand, you only have access to the numbers 1-5. This can become problematic with games like WoW where you have a ton of spells, keybinds, macros, whatever. I would've enjoyed having access to 6 or 7 with my left hand, but no big deal. There is also the +/= key to the left of 1 (where tilde normally is) so that gives you an extra key. Plus, with the extra keys on your thumb it almost balances out.
Any other questions, feel free to ask or PM me on the forums (since I'm not sure how much I'll check this).