I previously had a Das Keyboard professional 3, but have since upgraded to a Happy Hacking Keyboard Pro 2, which is a 60% keyboard with Topre switches and PBT keycaps. When I am typing with my HHKB, I often type between 10 and 15 words per minute quicker than with a Das Keyboard. I find the Topre switches to have a superior tactile feel than Cherry MX Blue switches. This should not detract from Blue switches, though, as they are very, very good - I just prefer Topre switches
For that price, am I supposed to break it within a year by spilling some classy imported beer on it, or will the domestic stuff still do?
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Iām typing this on a Cooler Master TKL with whatever the stiffest clicky cherry switches are. I believe they are green switches. Anyhow the Model M, which I love, was too big and missing a modifier key as Iām on a Mac. So it sits on a shelf now. I wish pckeyboard.com/unicomp would resurrect the Model M Micro or whatever it was called and add the third modifier key. I think they are missing a huge (for them) market as I (and others) would drop $150 without hesitation on a USB or bluetooth TKL with buckling spring switches.
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Thatās a bit of an understatement. Iāve got one of the quiet ones and itās still quite loud. (I love it though. Feels awesome, and I got the unlabeled Darth Vader Special, so it looks cool as hell too. IMO, these are totally worth the money.)
Dude. DUUUUUUDE. Did you not get the memo about the Darth Vader Special? This is expensive techie-hipster paraphernalia. You better be spilling high end microbrew on it. High end domestic microbrew, and it better not be some lame lager. Better go with some obnoxiously bitter IPA or an overhopped imperial stout.
(In case anyone missed it: itās actually impossible to over hop a beer. Also, I am, in fact, a techie hipster dipshit, so yāknow, I spill beer on my too expensive keyboard every other week. Comment typed lovingly on said expensive keyboard.)
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I looked, and something about them seemed ugly. Iām on a Mac, and proper Fornminne symbols would be nice.
I have one of their blank keyboards, from when they first came out. It was about $80, IIRC. Worth every penny when you watch someone try to enter a complex alphanumeric password.
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I have a Ducky G2 Pro with blue switches. $130 Aussie dollars and worth every cent. Once you leave the stock standard squishy boards that come with your 'puter, you wonāt go back.
(The G2ās successor is the Ducky Premier.)
Iām using that keyboard to type this. Kinda like my bikeā¦ugly as shit, but best Iāve owned. This thing is hella loud, though.
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Iāve come to prefer the aesthetics (and ease of cleaning) of keyboards with exposed plates/trays, i.e. those in which the keys are not recessed into the chassis but instead protrude from it. See this guyās series of images; the top keyboard in the first image has the exposed backing plate and the one below it does not (also note the hilariously-terrible branding).
I like Corsairās K70 (130 USD) because of its backlighting and sturdy aluminum construction but really any $100+ keyboard with Cherry MX keys will be a marked improvement over the standard rubber-dome affair. I wouldnāt recommend spending $100+ on a mechanical keyboard unless it was backlit; I just find it handy, ntm spiffy. As with most Cherry-based boards, they are available with clicky MX Blue keys popular with typists, but the highest-selling variant (because itās ostensibly āgamerā gear) is the one with Cherryās Red keys, which are linear and thus non-clicky.
For those of you nonplussed by $170 keyboards, I suggest perusing GONsKeyboardWorks and having a fit.
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I have a DAS Keyboard with the USB hub on the right. I think I paid 120 or so for it and it was worth every penny.
I used to have one from NMB with the split space bar that allowed for you to assign backspace to one side - which was awesome and lasted me over a decade- and I have never been able to find one as good till now.
Are the keycap labels misaligned?
I have one of these, which I use mostly in MacOS. Itās the best keyboard Iāve ever had. The only non-Mac thing about it is that the Command key has a Windows glyph on it, and Option says āAltā. It does look utilitarian, but itās worth putting up with.
My prior fave was a Matias tactilepro, which looks nicer, but has a few disadvantages. The Matias clear plastic is very brittle, and cracks easily. Also, both of the ones Iāve had fit together so that the plastic shell would bind against some of the keys. Also, the riser feet break very easily. And itās by far the noisiest keyboard Iāve had. It not only clacks, but thereās a metal ring to it also. Mechanically and electronically, itās great, but spoiled by the poor plastic.
The Matias I think are just about worth the cost for a more Mac-looking keyboard. But the Unicomp is just so solid and a joy to type on. Also, IIRC they cost less than Das Keyboard.
edit - I just noticed, that pic has properly labeled Mac keys! Iāll need to see if I can get a few upgraded caps!
Any idea if thereās such a thing as a keyboard with a mirrored numpad on the left, instead of exactly wrong?
Data entry would be a shitload easier with a hand on the mouse in many instances, the numpad shits on WASD for gaming, the traditional numpad is in the way of the mousepad, and a standard keyboard is horribly unbalanced for typing on the lap.
Like, duh. Whereās my keyboard of choice already.
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Iād like a decent keyboard at work, almost bought this:
Also almost bought one of @codinghorrorās a few times, and also thought about getting a Noppoo Choc Mini.
But then I think work should pay for my keyboard, not me, and donāt buy any of them.
Got to disagree with you there. Programs which require mousing are evil. Keyboard commands are far more efficient. I am psyching myself up to try a mouseless web browser, as itās the only non-game program I find I always need it for.
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The model M wasnāt discontinued. It became Unicomp and acquired a USB plug:
http://pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UNIZPHA
IBM sold all their patents to Unicomp.
Maybe this would work?
http://www.dsi-keyboards.com/left-handed-keyboards.aspx
Iā'll refrain from posting a link to the accompanying video, which features cheesy music.
[quote=āgreatcaffeine, post:17, topic:47895ā]
True, but the āquietā model of the Das Keyboard is inferior to what Matias offers for a number of reasons.[/quote]
I have the Das Keyboard in Browns and I think my whole office would laugh anyone into oblivion if they claimed my keyboard was anything like quiet. Little do they know that I can type at nearly full speed at a normalish volume (to membrane keyboards) with my Browns but choose not to because the difference between nearly full speed and full speed is like watching something at 67% speed in VLC. But hey, I can feel that feedback and thatās how I can type quieter if I wanted to.
Iām pretty loud on membrane keyboards anyway. Louder than needed? Probably. But Iām not actually wailing on it like some past colleagues Iāve had so Iām not damaging anything. I think.
Oh, disagree. There are Cherry MXs that have no feedback but the Browns are certainly not among them. Maybe Matiasās have moreāI wouldnāt knowābut Browns are not at all lacking in tactile feedback.
I know this is a joke but ā¦ I have every confidence that you can throw a Das Keyboard that has a bit fewer bells and whistles than this one into a dishwasher, dry it out for a few days afterwards, and use it just fine. So go with whatever poison you want so long as it doesnāt melt plastic or corrode metal. 
For what itās worth, I didnāt pay nearly as much as the keyboard on this article MSRPs for. I didnāt get the media buttons either but I did try a comradeās Corsair with Cherry MXs on them and I actually didnāt care for the extra bells and whistles. Generally rather not have them on keyboards anyway.
He had a sampler of four different Cherry MX switch types and I tried all four extensively before picking the Browns.
I was tempted to try a Ducky and I still might eventually but Iām perfectly happy with my Das Keyboard. Excepting the fact that they put the USB ports (which I never use anyway ā¦ but could if not for the fact that they put them) right by my usual mouse hand.
Oh, and the gloss finish for the board (not keys) itself! I polished that thing several times a day for months to keep the irritation at bay until it finally scuffed up enough that I could ignore the fingerprints.
I readily acknowledge that these are probably not normal concerns. 
If you do break it and you know how to solder you can replace the switches. I know from experience that you canāt easily do that with a cheap rubber dome keyboard.
Why settle for mechanical switches when you can use nice Hall-effect types?
Maybe because I donāt know where to get them! Itās a Knight/MIT/Symbolics layout. I have considered making a keyboard with a similar layout when resources werenāt so scarce, but using Cherry switches. Another factor is that the caps are rather busy, so itād likely cost a bit to get sets of these made. Project seems rather remote, presently.
