I would’ve never imagined how hard it is to find a mechanical keyboard with a Spanish ISO layout.
Sure, you can find crap on Amazon but I’m looking for a mid-level entry. I have a budget of 100€ and let me tell you, it’s hard.
First, because most of the already manufactured/built are ANSI layouts. There’s almost nothing ISO, and when you find an ISO keyboard usually is not Spanish. When you do find it, well then pray you like the design, the size…
I don’t want to change to another layout
The easy thing to do is just get used to write/code in a common layout. I don’t want to do that. My personal laptop, my work laptop, and my two external Apple keyboards are Spanish ISO. I want a mechanical keyboard, I don’t want to lose productivity when I change device. Especially if they’re paying me to deliver.
My wishlist
- 60% or 65% form factor, I need arrow keys.
- Must work in Mac.
- Mac system keys or blank keys for those. No Windows button.
- PBT keycaps.
- Blue switches, I want the clicky sound. I’ll use it at home, so no concern for office colleagues.
- Aluminum body, if possible not plastic.
- No box design, for easier cleaning. I want it slim, not very tall (as close as I can to the current Apple keyboard height)
What I’ve found, not great
WASD has Spanish ISO and you can customize a lot. The builder is good but not good enough. The command key doesn’t seem to be in the right place and the typography of the keycaps is not great. Plus, it sells for 170USD.
They do have very cool designs already built but they’re not Spanish ISO.
The GMMK looks great but it has no arrows. I need the arrows when I’m coding. I know you can probably use the Fn key but it’s not as intuitive or as easy.
Lastly Keychron has a beautiful lineup, all in very similar design (which I like). Again, they promise Spanish ISO is coming at some point in 2021. They’ve already pushed the date back once, I’m not very confident. The price is great, around 75USD. I’d buy in a blink of an eye if they had Spanish ISO and has out of the box Mac support ❤️
What’s left for me?
Have I reached the point where I need to build my own? Buy the separate components, switches, and keycaps? I would but I feel I need quite some research to understand how everything works together. Like what board do you need, for what case, and what switches? I know I want the blue clicky ones. Do all keycaps work for all switches? Where do they sell PBT keycaps with Spanish ISO that look good? I either need blank OS keys or Mac. I will not build a custom mechanical keyboard just to have the Windows key in it.
I’ve found this thing from KPREPUBLIC and it looks good but the lack of Mac support stops me. Plus I couldn’t find anywhere nice to buy keycaps with Spanish ISO, all links point to AliExpress.
It’s hard. I don’t want to give up but I don’t know if I’m motivated enough to build one myself.
Any recommendation?
Update (May 1st 2022)
I have bought the Ozone Mini Teclado Gaming Tactical on Amazon.
Pros:
- Red switches 🔴 (no click!)
- RBG lights 🚨
- Small format (no num pad)
- Not expensive 💰 🙅♂️ (around 50€)
Cons:
- It’s a little bit tall 🤏
- Not having the Media control / F keys rows might need to getting used to 🤷♂️
Overall happy with the purchase 😎
Ricard
I stumbled on this looking for a mechanical LatAm keyboard (which I can’t find), but Keychron now has Spanish ISO. I think I’m going to go that route and then order a custom keyset from Goblin keysets. It will cost a small fortune when it’s all said and done!
For anyone else with money to burn:
https://goblintechkeys.com/
“a small fortune” 😂
Thank you for the link, Levi 💸
You think you have it bad? Try finding PBT backlit keycaps in ISO LatAm while living in the United States. I did reach the point in which I’m building my own keyboard. Screw it.
Not easy 😁
I even tried switching my layout to Colemak in an effort that could open up possibilities to buy more common mechanical keyboards
https://ricard.blog/weeknote/week-5-2022/
A bit late but it seems that Reddragon sells a keyboard model with spanish layout. https://redragon.es/products/best-seller/magic-wand-pro-k587/
I have the 588 variant with US layout and coudn’t find it with ES layout, for me the quality is acceptable and the best of all is that it has 9 macro keys that help me a lot.
Never late! Thank you for the recommendation Rodrigo
I guess you have your solution: buying a keycap set on Aliexpress. Be sure to buy from an item that has already been bought by a lot of people, from a vendor with a high satisfaction rate, and you should be fine. Full ISO-Spanish key sets are around 42€, like this for example: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003163252269.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_groupList.8148356.2.7cad36807jgbBs
I know, these 42€ will take a lot on your budget… good luck.
Thank you for the input Gabriel! I’ll check it out.