[soufron]

The main question should be: are split keyboards any better than normal keyboard?

When I gave it a look, the studies were on the side of split keyboards being the hardware equivalent of snake oil.

But whatever.

And maybe then: are keyboards the best input device in 2026?

[Fellshard]

I can speak anecdotally, at least.

My shoulders are pretty wide for my frame. When using most laptop keyboards and many standard keyboards, I have to tuck my shoulders in and twist my wrists. This was causing some serious pain and tension in my neck, shoulders, and wrists, likely leading toward carpal tunnel.

I made two different changes in succession that helped greatly (and I don't remember the order now):

1. With a split keyboard, the halves could be placed so my wrists are straight and my arms hold at shoulder-width, and this rapidly reduced the amount of tension I was experiencing and gradually eased my wrist issues. Tenting the keyboard and getting a vertical mouse helped as well, but I'd rate those as minor improvements, especially since I aim not to drive with the mouse as much.

2. With Colemak layout, I was able to gradually transition from QWERTY (there's a series of AHK scripts I found at the time that basically rotated triples of keys). This helped reduce wrist strain at the hand level.

[entangledqubit]

Another shoulder anecdote... I also really appreciated being able to open up my shoulders.

I was once amused by a friend that had never seen a split keyboard before - they were mostly delighted with having a place to put their coffee...

[adrian_b]

The shoulder problem was similar for me.

For many years I have used very cheap Microsoft ergonomic keyboards (discontinued some years ago), which were already much better for the position of the arms than standard keyboards.

Then I switched to a truly split keyboard, which is even better.

I have also switched to Dvorak a few years ago. A couple of months were needed until recovering and then exceeding the previous typing speed, but it was worthwhile, because the comfort of typing has greatly improved. Now I regret that I have not done this earlier.

[davesmylie]

completely anecdotally (sample size of one!) but I found big improvement in comfort and posture when i moved to the kinesis ergo (split, but joined) about 15 years ago.

Eventually I moved to a full split, positioned quite some distance apart (~25cm) and found that even more comfortable.

Always hard to know with stuff like this if you are just imagining it, but for various reasons, I'm pretty convinced it was an improvement for me.

[roflchoppa]

for me its the outside angle between my wrist and my forearm. When I any of my splits it removes the angle entirely, and the pain for me is gone.

[precompute]

Depends on the amount of effort you put into them, and the kind of work you do on the computer. Regular users should stick to regular keyboards. Power users (like programmers) can spend a few months with a split keyboard and customize their layout and come out the other side with a personal brain-computer interface (fingers + keyboard).

[ehnto]

By what metric makes a keyboard "best"? It's crazy subjective, and objectively diverse as we are all shaped differently with different levels of injury/wear etc.

Who cares if it's "better" if it's working better for you?

[LargoLasskhyfv]

Maybe it depends on your individual anatomy, and the sensitivity of it to stresses?

Anyway, the fact alone that you have less bend in the joints of your hands, if used right, seems to avoid all sorts of carpal-tunnel syndrome?

[jclulow]

One thing I internalised when speaking with a physiotherapist is that part of avoiding serious issues is making sure you don't stay in the _same_ position for too long. One good ergonomic position is an excellent start, but changing your position several times throughout the work day is even better. This apparently helps avoid building up strain and inflammation in pinch points, balancing out the fatiguing action more.

I have found that my Ergodox allows me to juggle my keyboard halves around the desk at different angles and spaced apart at different widths, and I can put my trackball either to the right of everything or between the halves. It's a single anecdote, obviously, but I have been able to make my ulnar and carpal entrapment issues mostly go away by finding better positions while working and by not staying stuck in one posture or position for too long at a time.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

I'm using an old Marquardt Mini Ergo(modded to ps/2-usb meanwhile) which is split, but fixed. Either I am so used to it by now, that I don't want to use anything else, but that is not how I remember it when I got it around the year 2000, or slightly before that. It felt like it was made for me!

But I'm not sitting like a robot in front of it. My office chair is set to sviveling back, which I often do. I'm even exchanging that chair for an inflatable big rubber ball to sit on, from time to time.

[duskdozer]

It seems pretty obvious to me that it can't be worse, considering you could still put the two halves in exactly the same position as if they were attached.