koverhbarc wrote:I guess there's no one answer here, but I don't absolutely need an _old_ keyboard. As no one mentioned specific trouble in games, I'm guessing I just need to replace mine with something decent. It is true that laptop keyboards feel lousy for everything, though, the most you can say is at least they beat smartphones and you _can_ type with them.
If you want a good keyboard for PC. There are a few choices. Either go with a legacy 5 PIN DIN style from earlier IBM PC/XT/AT days. Mechanical. Use a 5 PIN DIN to PS/2 adapter and it works fine.
Now if you are dealing with AT and later then I'd get a Das Keyboard Professional. Those are as close to the IBM clicky keyboards and have a USB connector which you can hook to a PS/2 adapter to your motherboard.
These are what I would use and am using now for typing on and it's quite comfortable. It also has N-Rollover so some of the older DOS games where you are jamming keys all simultaneously it will not conflict and jam up. But you'll need to use the PS/2 port not USB for this to work.
You can find much cheaper alternatives to DOS but I always consider a good keyboard a good foundation for gaming. It doesn't have those LED night lights or any of that fancy stuff but that's not what you are paying for and most of they gimmicky keyboards are poor quality. Although I've heard the Das Keyboards stopped being made in Germany the quality is still better than common plastic ones you find these days.
Regarding laptop keyboards. They do plain suck for most gaming. Sometimes the Numeric keypad is butchered so you have the 4 arrow keys lined up or cramped somewhere. Then you need to use a USB to PS/2 dual input adapter for USB mouse and USB keyboard like the one I suggested. I hardly use the internal keyboard on a laptop unless it doesn't have enough USB ports. Usually if it has 3 USB ports or less and you need to hook an external hard drive you may end doing this. But get a laptop with at least 4 USB ports and it is unlikely you'll ever use the internal one as you will be using the external USB keyboard and USB mouse most of the time instead of the touchpad.