Best keyboards for emacs? [closed]

Question

For emacs users out there, what are your recommended keyboards?

Bonus points for keyboards that:

1. Have no capslock key. Instead, a control key in that position.
2. Alt keys that are closer to the centre, and easier to use with meta key combos. I find alt keys too far to the left to be a bit awkward to hit with my thumb in some key combos.
3. Help ergonomically with emacs in other ways.

I'm not a huge fan of model M style high and clacky keys. I instead prefer laptop style flat keys; however, I'm not disqualifying either category.

A couple of interesting keyboards I'm curious if people have tried with emacs - Kinesis

Semi-conclusion:
I ended up getting an MS natural 4k, which I like a lot overall as the alt keys on both sides are easy to hit with your thumbs. This is useful for ergoemacs-mode.

However, one flaw I see with this keyboard is that the number keys are shifted to the left, so that 6 is on the wrong side of the keyboard. Aside from that 0 is left shifted enough that I accidentally hit - when I meant to hit 0 with my pinky.

Due to this flaw, I'm leaving this question open in case someone can come up with the perfect emacs keyboard.

Answer 1

Richard Stallman (which I'm sure you all know is the author of Emacs, and probably the biggest Emacs user) was seen using a HHKB (Happy Hacking Keyboard) (source)

Here's the layout of the HHKB Pro:

• No Caps Lock.
• Control key conveniently placed for Emacs users.

They're quite pricey though...