I don't know that I've ever seen a mechanical keyboard nor a vertical mouse.
Mechanical keyboard looks just like a standard desktop keyboard, but the switches are actual switches and "clicky" and a nicer typing experience than a lot of "regular" keyboards. The mouse I have is this one: http://www.amazon.com/Evoluent-Vertical-Mouse-Right-Handed/d... it looks goofy but it's awesome if you have any arm or shoulder issues, completely got rid of them for me.
Hugh, very very interesting. What are the benefits to a mechanical keyboard? Does it work well to fight against carpel tunnel?
I don't know if any research has been done on it, but in my personal experience I feel substantially less strain in my fingers when using this keyboard versus something like my laptop keyboard. If you suffer from carpal tunnel you may want to look into using an alternative keyboard layout like dvorak or colemak as well.
I had never heard of those keyboards before, I'll definitely take a look at them. Most of the stress I incur is on my right wrist from using the mouse (usually after gaming a lot).
You can use any keyboard and use those layouts, my keyboard is QWERTY but I use colemak, the labels just won't be right. I prefer colemak over dvorak because it keeps zxcv in the same place for shortcuts. If you do a lot of gaming the layouts probably aren't for you (wasd on QWERTY is wars on colemak, pain in the butt, but switching on the fly is not difficult). If you feel like dealing with that though it may be worthwhile to look into
I feel like it'd take a lot of effort, but I'm up for the challenge. Plus, it'd stop people at work from messing with my computer, haha. How does your typing speed compare to qwerty since you switched?
About comparable now, but it probably takes 2 months to get up to speed, some people become even faster after getting used to it, but I don't think that's the case for me. It probably takes about a week or so before it feels completely "normal" though, so you can expect some annoyance at that.
Yeah I bet. I'm hesitant to do it, especially with classes resuming tomorrow haha.
Yeah, if you really need to be able to type fast you are not going to be happy with changing layouts. Imagine you had to learn how to type all over again, that's what it feels like. If you can live with that, you may find it's worth it, your fingers will become way less stressed. I used to have real pain from my job with computers, but with the setup I described it no longer causes me any issues at all. It really has been a good change.
Well if it helped then more power to you. Typing hasn't really ever seemed to cause stress on my hands, it is more so the mouse.
Yeah I can really imagine it to be. I'm glad you found something that works for you though.