Advantages: easy to clean, not sticking nails.
Disadvantages: small keycap
It's nothing new that a man with thick fingers can't use an island keyboard. As early as 2004, Sony VAIO X505 used this keyboard structure, which Sony called an isolated keyboard, but when chocolate became fashionable, this keyboard structure was chocolated. Therefore, when it comes to chocolate keyboards, everyone should have some common sense. The founder of this keyboard should be Sony. Then, the whole line of Apple notebooks adopted this design, which led some people to mistakenly think that the chocolate keyboard was invented by Apple. Needless to say, the raised texture of the island keyboard has the strongest chocolate flavor, and the raised chocolate keycap makes this keyboard look very eye-catching. At the same time, the island keyboard has the advantage of low overall thickness, which is obvious in ultra-thin models and small-screen netbooks. But there are obvious gaps between the keycaps, which look beautiful (for girls) and are much more convenient to clean. At the same time, the gap between the key caps of the island keyboard is large, which is easier for beginners, especially girls, to get started, which can not only reduce input errors, but also avoid the embarrassment when nails get stuck in the gap between the keyboards. Therefore, the island keyboard has become a symbol of fashion and ultra-thin books. However, the buttons themselves are small and the gap is large, which is not so easy for men with thick fingers. In fact, this is also the reason why many male users don't like to use Sony notebooks.
2 curved island keyboards
Advantages: easy to clean, not sticking nails, good curved surface feeling.
Disadvantages: the keycap is still small.
In Lenovo's new ThinkPadEdge series and X 100e series, we have seen the unique design. Although the keyboards of these notebooks are typical island keyboards, they are different from Sony and Apple keyboards in details. It incorporates more elements of the traditional keyboard, such as the curved keycap appearance of the island keyboard, and the 2.5mm long keys are closer to the traditional keyboard. It is also more comfortable to knock, and the excellent rebound feel makes the keyboard feel comparable to the traditional ThinkPad classic keyboard, which greatly relieves the trouble that some users, especially the old ThinkPad users, are difficult to adapt to the flat keycap of chocolate keyboard, and increases the application scope of isolated keyboard.
But strictly speaking, this key design still gives people the feeling of "too small" visually. Of course, if the fuselage is enlarged, the keycap can also be enlarged appropriately.
3 plane duckweed keyboard
Advantages: cool appearance
Disadvantages: the keycap is not stable enough, and it is easy to touch other keys by mistake.
Acer's timeline series first proposed the concept of duckweed keyboard. This keyboard has a floating structure and a chocolate keycap. But as long as you look closely, you will find that the key cap of duckweed keyboard is just a flat piece, not a cube like an island keyboard. Because of this, the bottom surface of duckweed keyboard does not need to be slotted to match the key cap.
The duckweed keyboard gives people a very cool first impression. Because the keyboard surface is only a flat structure, the central support point is hidden under the keycap, which makes people feel that the keyboard is supported by a piece of duckweed on the C surface of the notebook, which is full of sci-fi flavor. This special structure also makes the duckweed keyboard feel special, with small triggering force and quick response of the key cap. Of course, who will pay for such a design depends on the preferences of users.
The duckweed keyboard also has some problems. Because the gap between the keycap and the bottom of the keyboard is very large, and the gap between the two keys is also very large, not only dust, but even some large sundries, such as food scraps and small screws, may be thrown into the gap between the keycap and the bottom. This will not only affect the cleanliness of the notebook, but also cause the keycap to get stuck once there are large sundries entering.
At the same time, because there is no limit function between the key cap and the card slot, the keyboard still has the feeling of shaking left and right when used; Also, if the keys are too tight, it is easy for users with big fingers to touch other keys by mistake after pressing the keys. From this point of view, the key stroke of this duckweed key must not be long, otherwise there will be many problems (in fact, there are also plane duckweed keyboard models with long key stroke in the market), which also puts forward higher requirements for the design strength of manufacturers.
4-step duckweed keyboard
Advantages: large keycap and comfortable feel.
Disadvantages: it's a little hard visually.
Recently, another duckweed keyboard has become popular in the notebook market. However, unlike the traditional Acer duckweed keyboard, this duckweed keyboard is also an improvement. Take this product in the picture as an example, its keyboard part is more like the improvement of the key cap on the basis of the traditional keyboard. The flat keyboard on the traditional notebook is changed into a square stepped chocolate shape, and the curved surface on the key surface of the notebook is changed into a flat design.
The advantage of this design is that it will not only make the keyboard appear flat and clean, but also the gap between the keys is very small, which is not easy to accumulate dust; In addition, compared with Acer's small and smooth plane duckweed keyboard, the stepped duckweed keyboard artificially increases the distance between the key caps touched by fingers, thus avoiding the situation of touching other keys by mistake when pressing. In a sense, this kind of ladder duckweed keyboard can make the key stroke bigger and feel better.
However, there are too many squares on this keyboard, and the vision is a bit stiff. Of course, it also depends on personal preferences.
5 curved duckweed keyboards
Advantages: the curved keycap fits the fingers and has a stable touch pressure.
Disadvantages: You still need to control keystrokes.
HP also brought us improved duckweed keyboards, such as those used on HP 2 140. Like the traditional duckweed keyboard, there is no C-plane substrate, but the keycap is arc-shaped.
The advantage of this keyboard design is that it not only ensures the density of the keyboard and avoids the entry of dust, but also relies on the curved surface to concentrate the touch points of fingers in the center of the keycap, so as not to make the keys "stagger" when pressed. Generally speaking, the advantages of this curved duckweed design are that it fits more fingers, the touch pressure is stable and the shape is very beautiful.
But similar to the traditional "Acer duckweed keyboard", it does not solve the key position problem: if the key position is slightly longer, it may encounter other keys, and the manufacturer still needs to accurately control the key position of the keyboard.
6 wide touch and beautiful keyboard
After evolution, Toshiba gave its chocolate keyboard a good name-full touch, beautiful keyboard. This keyboard is as easy to understand as its name. Wide touch: the key surface is not a regular square, but a wider rectangle, which makes the contact surface of fingers wider. Lori is divided into "neat" and "bright color": neat shows the characteristics of easy and crisp key rebound, while bright color is Toshiba's preference to use enamel-like paint as key coating, which makes the whole shiny and not sticky, reflecting nobility and brightness.
This keyboard is also based on chocolate keyboard, and the key to the change is the word "wide touch". In view of the defect that it is easy to touch by mistake, Toshiba first designed the buttons wider, and then drew a thin slot on the left and right sides. In this way, the width can still fully support the strength of the fingers and remain stable, while the narrow groove next to it is not as flat as the middle, which will send a message "Hey, this is the boundary, pay attention!" In this way, every time the finger leaves the position, it will be subconsciously and consciously adjusted, and the probability of making mistakes next time is greatly reduced. This design is exquisite. In fact, we didn't think so much when using it, but naturally made adjustments, which was completely subconscious.
Although there is no information that this keyboard design belongs to Toshiba's patent, there is no other manufacturer to imitate or apply it in the market. Good things have not been copied and should be protected by intellectual property rights.