On the plus side, I got my case and RAM installed just fine. On the minus side, we lost the SD card for our camera, and it turns out that making a guide up to snuff with my own expectations on building your own computer is much more difficult than I'd have thought. This was slightly compounded by a rather tight fit on my CPU cooler, which has in turn given me reason to upgrade that as well.

On another note, I thought I'd share something that's had me hooked and I finally obtained as well - the joys of a mechanical switch keyboard. For those of you who grew up in the '80s these were the loud, possibly obnoxious keyboards usually made by IBM. I can't speak for everyone, but while I did like the feel of the old Model M units, I can't say I cared much for the noise. I had forgotten all about the great feel though, until I was reminded of it by a review of the Das Keyboard Professional. While further reading has revealed that the Das Keyboard itself revealed it to be plagued by a poor controller, the soundness of its design and the feel its keys almost certainly offered had me tempted. After a bit of searching, I finally came across a wealth of knowledge regarding mechanical keyboards from a variety of sources. Most exciting for me was the realization that mechanical keyboards do not necessarily have a "click" in the middle of the keystroke, the one thing I wasn't really sure I wanted. Some switches only feature the tactile response, and some keys don't even feature that much.

So to make a long story short, I recently blessed myself with a Deck Legend Frost. At $176, this is NOT a cheap keyboard, but the feel of it is amazing. The spring of the keys as they pop back up is incredible, and the tactile bump is amazing for typing - I'm still adjusting, but I don't have to fully bottom out my keys in order to complete a keystroke. As soon as I get that tactile response, I can let up on the keys, which helps relieve stress from long periods of typing. It's not loud either - well, compared to my old G11 it is, but all things considered this isn't a board that's going to keep any but the most anal of housemates up during late night keyboard sessions.

To anyone that does a lot of typing, I cannot stress how great the feel of a mechanical keyboard is. If you're interested in knowing more, feel free to let me know and I'll set you up with some links. For basic typists you could just get a used IMB Model M off Ebay for a song, so you don't have to spend big like I did to find a keyboard that you just might fall in love with all over again.

If you doubt me, I got rid of my Logitech G11 without a second glance. Macro keys? Anti-windows switch? Media controls? Bollocks. I use them once in a great while, but the sheer joy experienced every time I press a key on this board makes up for all those gimmicks a thousand times over.