This is a quick review of the X-Bows ergonomic mechanical keyboard.

The short story is that it's a fantastic keyboard. Especially if you're used to split keyboards, 10 finger typing and using a mac.

The long story:

I have a history with ergonomic keyboards over the years I've used

• Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000
• Microsoft Sculpt
• Logitech K350 Wireless Wave Keyboard

I have less experience with mechanical keyboards having only used a cheap straight mechanical keyboard with blue switches that I bought on Amazon.

The X-Bows that I have is a 2nd hand Nature model with silent brown switches. Which helps to keep my home environment more comfortable with both myself and my wife working from home.

There is a learning curve

Despite the fact that I've used ergonomic and split keyboards before, and that I learned to type as a child, I found the transition to the X-Bows difficult but in the end manageable.

Why does 10 finger typing matter? The X-Bows is a split keyboard and so if your fingers like to jump the centre line and do things like using the left index finger to type n then you'll find any split keyboard difficult.

The layout of the standard keys on the keyboard is different in a bigger way to the previous ergonomic/split keyboards I've used, adding extra keys between the two halves. This has led, and sometimes still leads to, some erroneous keypresses. The biggest issue that I have faced as I was adjusting to the layout was the additional enter key in the middle of the keyboard. For my first few weeks messages that I sent in Slack often ended at the first B. This was a result of me over reaching and hitting enter as well as b. It made for some odd messages as I started a new job, but nothing that couldn't be laughed off.

Mac Vs Windows

The other thing to note is the layout is much better suited to working on a Mac than a Windows machine. I regularly switch between the two operating systems having a Mac for a work machine and a more budget conscious Windows machine for my personal use.

The large Alt keys are great when working on a Mac as I have my Mac set up to map external keyboards to map the command key to the keyboard Alt key. I do this so as to maintain the same keyboard layout as the laptop keyboard.

For windows the I've found that the lack of home and end keys on the keyboard is problematic. It turns out the weather in code or a text editor I want to got the start and end of a line quite often. This is far from a critical failure for the keyboard just a mild inconvenience.

Overall

The X-Bows has found a long term place on my desk. The silent brown switches are fantastic. The keyboard layout is learnable and feels efficient once it has been learned. Other niceties like the rgb backlights make it a fun keyboard to use.

These days 90% of my typing is done on my work Mac so the lack of home and end keys isn't more than a mild inconvenience most of the time.