Shiny new keycaps
Out of the ways to customize your keyboard, changing out your keycaps is probably the best way to show your personality. When I first brought my keyboard to the office, I had a lot of looks and questions on the blank DSA keycaps I put on my first Planck keyboard. I have since updated my keycaps a couple times and honestly it's pretty fun to change up the look every so often.
There are plethora of different types of keycaps with different typing profiles, legends and sizes. Luckily, for ortholinear keycaps - it's mostly pretty simple. There are many that offer kits specifically for ortho keyboards and below our some of our recommendations for some budget start keycaps!
YMDK Carbon
These are another great budget option for your keyboard to give it a bit more color. The YMDK Carbon set contains enough keys for the Preonic but can also be used on the Planck as well. These are PBT keyccaps with OEM profile similar to the acute keycaps above. The YMDK Carbon set is also available in the same color scheme with blank keycaps if that's your preference. Coming in at an affordable $23 at the time of writing on Amazon, these are a great deal to give your keyboard a pop of color.
Drop Planck & Preonic Acute Keycaps
These are the classic keycaps designed by the man who made the Planck, Preonic and QMK: Jack Humbert. These feature slim legends and acute angles on the keycaps. These are dye-subbed PBT (meaning they won't just rub off) and are in a OEM profile which are a more standard layout that vintage and common keyboards have. Both of these sets are affordable with the Planck set coming in at $35 and the Preonic set coming in at $40.
XDA Blank PBT Keycaps
These XDA blank PBT keycaps include 104 in total meaning that you'll have plenty extra for another keyboard to mix and match. The profie is a XDA which has a slight contour bowl in the middle giving your fingers a better way to hit the middle of the key. Of course, these keycaps are blank, meaning they have no legends on them. Consequently, these are great for touch typers that don't need to look down at the keyboard. At the time of writing these keycaps are $28.99 on Amazon.
EPBT PBT Blank Ortholinear Keycaps
These cherry profile keycaps are offered by KBDfans with 88 blank keys for those ortholinear keyboards that are perfect for bigger keyboards like the ID75.
1u Blank Keycaps (10pc)
If you want to mix and match different colors and keep it pretty cheap, you can't go wrong with just buying sets of blank DSA profile keycaps like the ones from KBDFans. They offere several different colors in packs of ten and might be the way to go if you want some color on your board while keeping it simple.
Summary
There are a bunch more keycaps that you can customize your keyboard with and you'll find that it's hard to stop looking for new ones! These are just a set of the most popular budget keycaps on Amazon but you'll find that there are a bunch more that are out there. Drop especially has limited deals on keycaps and always seem to have some in stock for ortho keyboards. You can easily check if a keycap set has a ortho set if you go into the drop page and see if they offer a ortho variant set within the add to cart options.
Remember, you don't have to break the bank on your first set of keycaps. You also have to have something to type on while you look for your end game keycaps!
Here are some articles you might be interested in:
- Best Keycaps on Drop for your Planck or Preonic
- What to do after getting your first Ortholinear Keyboard
- Configuring your Planck or Preonic
Planck
The latest version of the Planck keyboard supports hot swappable switches, LEDs, a small speaker and even rotary encoders. There are several offerings for baseplates: EOTW (easy on the wallet), hi-pro and low-pro. These keyboards usually come in as a kit with some light assembly required.
Buy on Amazon Buy on DropPreonic
The Preonic keyboard is the Planck's big brother with an extra row of keys for those really missing the number row or want more keys to customize. The newest version of the Preonic is almost identical the Planck in terms of features.
Buy on Amazon Buy on Drop