The first sign you’re spending too much time on the computer is when the “L” on your “L” key wears off!
I had no clue I was using that letter so much and, frankly, I’m a little ticked off about the new blank key because I’ve only had this box for six months!
Have any of the labels worn off your keyboard? If so, how long did it take to wear away?

22 Comments

  1. The top line of the E key is missing on my laptop. I noticed it a few months ago, so I guess it’s taken about a year to come off.
    quick glance over the keyboard
    Yep, all the others look okay! 😀

  3. I think I’ve had this keyboard at work for a few years and the L is a bit slight of color but the C, D & E are worse. Now the smoothness of the keys is pretty dramatic though especially the home keys on the left as the upper left keys. My right side doesn’t have as much shininess as the left side. I have one of those split keyboards. Even my space bar is nice and shiny in some parts instead of that dull look they usually have.

  4. I’d have to look at our desktop computer because lately I use my laptop which if I already wore a letter off of there then I REALLY have a problem.

  5. hterry! — That’s fascinating how many keys you are rubbing off — or is scraping off more appropriate? I guess we’re using a combination of sweat and rubbing and scraping to move the decals off the keys. My spacebar is also super shiny. Hmm… interesting!
    Robin! — Yeah this rubbing loss sure is strange. I wonder if certain brands wear off more easily than others?

  6. My 8-year-old son broke a key on our laptop’s keyboard playing a video game. I figured out how to snap it back into place, but I was amazed that his intense game playing resulted in a keyboard casualty.
    My keys at work are getting shiny but they are all equally shiny. I know the IT people order new keyboards because people are always wearing them out.

  7. Hi Chris!
    I remember when keyboard would last you a lifetime! People took to keyboards like they took to their favorite vinyl recordings. Some friends of mine would lots of a certain IBM keyboard model for “future generation use” because the IBM keys felt so good against the fingertips and had a far key travel for even faster typing. My how times have changed! Toshiba and IBM, in my experience, made the best keyboards with IBM getting the desktop nod and Toshiba getting the laptop kudos.

  8. I have a laptop that’s less than a year old, and whenever it’s humid, the “R” key wants to sleep
    Having only a laptop was an experiment and not a successful one

  9. Hi pia!
    I’m sorry to hear about your humid keyboard problems! That can’t be fun and it must make you regularly watch the weather. 😀 I’ve gone desktop to laptop to laptop to desktop to laptop and I’ve settled on a giant laptop that is a desktop replacement and it is working out fine… so far!

  10. Sounds like your friends were smart David, maybe I ought to buy a couple more of these ergonomic multimedia keyboards just in case. I know by the time I actually break one they’ll be out of stock for sure.

  11. Mine is new since March 2005 so all the keys are fine. The space bar does have a little extra shine in the middle though… 🙂

  12. hterry — Yeah, stock up, because keyboard models come and go really fast now. I thought it was silly 10 years ago when my friend spent $700 on seven keyboards, but now, he looks pretty smart.
    suzanne — You’re obviously not typing enough! :mrgreen: It is interesting how the spacebar gets glossy and, sometimes, worn away.

  13. L? That’s interesting. Do you occasionally type with a drawl? Instead of ‘well’, you go ‘welllllllllllll’ or ‘realllllllllly’ or, oh no, wait. Drawls are usually on vowels.
    The letters on my keyboard are embedded instead of printed so none of the letters have worn out yet although it’s a few years old. Still looks like a new one except for some not so noticable dust between the keys.

  14. No matter how much you type, you should not lose keys after a few months. I can only guess you have a really low end keyboard.
    The keyboard I have has been with me for about four years, and all the letters are just as visible as they were when I got it. The letters should indeed be (as Ambiguous W said) embedded or embossed. If they’re just transferred on (like Letraset) then that’s no good.
    I remember when keyboards would set you back a pretty penny. Nowadays they’re practically a simple consumer item. You can pick them up for less than $20 US but I reckon 6 months is a bad shelf life.

  15. A.W. — Hmm… your drawl theory is interesting! 😀 Do you have a laptop? I am unaware of a laptop that doesn’t use decals for keyboard lettering.
    fruey! — I’m so glad to see you here and I love your Avatar and I will take it your presence here means everything is going well in the new experiences of your life. 🙂 Are you using a laptop? I’m on a Toshiba. The keyboard is excellent but I don’t know of any laptop keyboard that doesn’t use decals for letting — likely for cost reasons as you suggest — since the lifetime of a laptop is considered in months and not years.

  20. Hello, I am aware of all of your problems.
    It’s an epidemic, i swear. Keyboards far and wide will be worn and depleted. Nothing can stop this.
    I recently purchased a wireless keyboard (with mouse) and it was a piece.
    My ‘J’ and ‘F’ are almost goners.
    The ‘SPACE’ is shinny.
    ‘BACK SPACE’ is quite worn out from careless typing erros.
    and…
    not to mention, my mouse’s left button is quite shinny also.

  22. I use a Panasonic tough book and it’s not so tough. At present I am completely missing the letters N, L, D, C, E and S. The letters F and A are racing toward invisibility too. Everything has a nice shine to it now; I like to think of it as a “patina”, on the up side it keeps my kids off my computer 😉

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