Keyboard giant Keychron unveils new Nape Pro trackball with programmable buttons — low profile design promotes ergonomic scrolling without leaving your keyboard
Here it is being held horizontally against a keyboard, and that way it makes more sense: your hands can use the trackball without ever leaving the keyboard. If the trackball is held and located in a position that one can expect from a trackball or mouse, it doesn't look really ergonomic.
I feel like that still only works for people with larger hands. You need to be able to reach it without stretching or moving from home row or else or kind of defeats the purpose I think.
That's not an angle that looks natural to hit with your thumb for most people.
You need to be able to reach it without stretching or moving from home row or else or kind of defeats the purpose I think.
As a diehard Vi user who rarely leaves the home row; I also care how far my hand travels from the home row, and back - so this trackball would still an upgrade for me.
Fair point. I use my keyboard right at the edge of my desk, I'm thinking a trackball embedded in the wood right before the spacebar, facing out, might be the way to go.
Yeah. The images of this thing next to the spacebar are tempting me (in spite of my past preference for the keyboard corner). Maybe I'll get one of these when it releases.
We're long overdue to bring back keyboard attached trackballs.
This seems like the next best thing, except they paid no attention to prior art.
The trackball belongs in the upper corner of the keyboard on the side of the dominant hand.
The young engineers these days don't even know how to attach a trackball to a keyboard correctly...
If anyone needs me, I will be outside yelling at the Cloud. (Because I am old and things were better back in my day.)
Edit: I gotta admit, those shots of it next to the spacebar look promising, actually...now that I've had my Werther's original to bring my blood sugar up.
This is a trackball that is very interesting to me for the mobility aspect as well as the idea of not having to move your hands much. Seems to now be for sale on Amazon in Europe so I decided to add it to my ball collection even if the shop is not the one I would use given good alternatives.
16 Comments
nocturne@slrpnk.net · 6 pts · 234d
Would like to see some other angles of this, but no matter how you look at it, that does not look comfortable.
QuentinCallaghan@sopuli.xyz · 7 pts · 234d
Here it is being held horizontally against a keyboard, and that way it makes more sense: your hands can use the trackball without ever leaving the keyboard. If the trackball is held and located in a position that one can expect from a trackball or mouse, it doesn't look really ergonomic.
https://www.yankodesign.com/2026/01/08/keychrons-nape-pro-turns-your-mechanical-keyboard-into-a-laptop-style-trackball-rig-hands-on-at-ces-2026/
Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club · 2 pts · 234d
(Nape non-pro)
mushroommunk@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 234d
I feel like that still only works for people with larger hands. You need to be able to reach it without stretching or moving from home row or else or kind of defeats the purpose I think.
That's not an angle that looks natural to hit with your thumb for most people.
pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 234d
As a diehard Vi user who rarely leaves the home row; I also care how far my hand travels from the home row, and back - so this trackball would still an upgrade for me.
mushroommunk@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 234d
Fair point. I use my keyboard right at the edge of my desk, I'm thinking a trackball embedded in the wood right before the spacebar, facing out, might be the way to go.
pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 234d
Yeah. The images of this thing next to the spacebar are tempting me (in spite of my past preference for the keyboard corner). Maybe I'll get one of these when it releases.
nocturne@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 234d
Thanks. I envisioned something that went to the right of the num pad.
Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club · 3 pts · 234d
Prob better for the less than 100% keeblers (no num pad).
pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 234d
We had these in the 90s. They were fantastic.
We're long overdue to bring back keyboard attached trackballs.
This seems like the next best thing, except they paid no attention to prior art.
The trackball belongs in the upper corner of the keyboard on the side of the dominant hand.
The young engineers these days don't even know how to attach a trackball to a keyboard correctly...
If anyone needs me, I will be outside yelling at the Cloud. (Because I am old and things were better back in my day.)
Edit: I gotta admit, those shots of it next to the spacebar look promising, actually...now that I've had my Werther's original to bring my blood sugar up.
Dojan@pawb.social · 4 pts · 234d
I don't care for the trackball that much, but I wouldn't mind a laptop nipple on my keyboard.
nocturne@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 234d
I do not see why you could not place it where you want it.
pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 234d
Hmmm.... Maybe.... But no. It's the youth who are wrong.
nocturne@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 234d
cronenthal@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 234d
Exciting times!
73ms@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 39d
This is a trackball that is very interesting to me for the mobility aspect as well as the idea of not having to move your hands much. Seems to now be for sale on Amazon in Europe so I decided to add it to my ball collection even if the shop is not the one I would use given good alternatives.