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Mechanical Keyboards

v0lume4

v0lume4

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 28, 2012
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Hey folks! I'm in the market for a mechanical keyboard (my first one, woohoo!) and I'm having trouble finding some real-world suggestions. Would you help me out?

I absolutely need a full-size keyboard. While there are some really cool 60% boards out there (like the Pok3r), having a full size keyboard is a must for me. I also personally prefer minimal bezels (the keyboard that I have at my home has some monstrous bezels). Backlit is nice but not necessarily a necessity (don't care for RGB colors personally). And lastly, I prefer brown, blue, or clear Cherry MX switches.

I've been looking at the Das Keyboard 4 Professional (bezels are a little large but not awful).

http://www.daskeyboard.com/daskeyboard-4-professional/#/awesome-products

Do we have some mechanical keyboards fans around here that'd like to chime in? Thank you!
 
v0lume4 said:
Hey folks! I'm in the market for a mechanical keyboard (my first one, woohoo!) and I'm having trouble finding some real-world suggestions. Would you help me out?

I absolutely need a full-size keyboard. While there are some really cool 60% boards out there (like the Pok3r), having a full size keyboard is a must for me. I also personally prefer minimal bezels (the keyboard that I have at my home has some monstrous bezels). Backlit is nice but not necessarily a necessity (don't care for RGB colors personally). And lastly, I prefer brown, blue, or clear Cherry MX switches.

I've been looking at the Das Keyboard 4 Professional (bezels are a little large but not awful).

http://www.daskeyboard.com/daskeyboard-4-professional/#/awesome-products

Do we have some mechanical keyboards fans around here that'd like to chime in? Thank you!
Click to expand...

I have the previous version of that keyboard, http://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-professional-for-mac/ with Cherry MX blue switches. It's fantastic, even better than the Matias mechanical keyboards I owned in the past.
 
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Check out WASD keyboards.

You can do things like purchase a "switch sampler" with all the different Cherry switches so you can determine your preference.

Being an Dvorak user, being able to set up a custom layout, etc., is really nice.

Cheers.
 
I am very keen to buy the "suora" keyboard from roccat. It's a gaming keyboard with a slightly different mx brown as far as I know and I love the minimal and compact design.
Just wondering if there is some kind of driver compatibility problem on macOs.
 
I really appreciate the suggestions. Many thanks to all of you. Based on my personal tastes I quite like the look of the WASD keyboard that @kacl780tr linked as well as the Roccat Suora that @Lou-X mentioned. The Das Professional keyboard really looks great but those bezels are quite huge so I'm torn.

I think it's so cool how WASD's website lets you customize your keycaps prior to purchasing instead of having to do it yourself later. Also they offer clear switches which seem to be hard to find.

I'm torn between brown switches and clear switches. My friend has a Pok3r with clear switches and I quite like the feel of them. However, for extended use editing video, photos, and touch-typing, I do wonder if I'd grow fatigued with clear switches since they are harder to press. Browns are easier to press. Can anyone weigh in on this?
 
I put a Das Keyboard 4 Professional on my Christmas list this year! I've just started a programming degree and wanted a mechanical keyboard to use with my Mac (as I code using a Windows virtual machine). Everywhere I could find suggested that one keyboard as the best you can buy.

My only concern is whether it will play nicely with macOS when I'm not running the virtual machine!
 
I previously had the CODE and switched the matias tactile pro. Still haven't gotten around to trying green yet.
 
I have the Roccat Ryos Glow and absolutely love it, best keyboard I've ever had. I can fly through it sadly it is so good makes adjusting to other non mechanical keyboards always a tough thing.

And you can program every key on that keyboard by using pressing the roccat shift key, which is just awesome for repeating tedious tasks.
 
something I just remembered is that I ordered my CODE through massdrop and as a result both WASD and massdrop took no responsibility for the uneven leds on the keyboard. The squeaky costar stabilizers didn't help but in the end it was still my favorite cherry keyboard. I definitely prefer the matias by far and more importantly I purchased it locally, so no massive wait like mass drop and the store had several in stock in case there was an issue (there weren't). The fact that it is mac specific with the shortcuts and such on top the keys is just icing on the cake.
 
markovchain said:
I bought this http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/category/SpacesaverM. And the keys failed randomly after a few months. I have to pay a replacement fee during the warranty period to get a new one.
Click to expand...

I have four of these, one purchased about four years ago and the others over the past year, and all perform completely flawlessly.

I quite frankly wouldn't want to type on anything else.

I do own a Tactile Pro as well, but after trying the Spacesaver M it just felt cheap by comparison.

Note the Spacesaver M is very loud and clacky - something that has actually improved my typing accuracy immensely as you can feel each key depress and make contact and there's never a doubt as to whether the key has made contact.
 
I just purchased a Corsair RGB Strafe keyboard with brown switches. It's a great keyboard but Corsair does not offer Mac support, I had to download a third party program on GitHub.
 
I'm very happy with my Das keyboard 4 professional for Mac.

I have used it for almost 2 years with no problems and I really like the typing experience. I picked up the version with brown switches
 
I use two Mac specific Daskeyboards (4)..one blue and one brown.

Functionality was perfect out of the box for me and the media controls are nice with one caveat. I would like the sleep button to "sleep" only in lieu of the option to sleep, shut down, or restart. Anyone know if it's possible to reprogram the switch? (Have not called the co.)
 
kucharsk said:
I have four of these, one purchased about four years ago and the others over the past year, and all perform completely flawlessly.

I quite frankly wouldn't want to type on anything else.

I do own a Tactile Pro as well, but after trying the Spacesaver M it just felt cheap by comparison.

Note the Spacesaver M is very loud and clacky - something that has actually improved my typing accuracy immensely as you can feel each key depress and make contact and there's never a doubt as to whether the key has made contact.
Click to expand...
Whoa, I have an IBM M2 for my home PC. It looks like they repurposed them lol. This is the only mechanical keyboard I've used but I love the feel and the clickiness. It was a gem I found for $2 in a thrift store.
 
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sman789 said:
Whoa, I have an IBM M2 for my home PC. It looks like they repurposed them lol. This is the only mechanical keyboard I've used but I love the feel and the clickiness. It was a gem I found for $2 in a thrift store.
Click to expand...

Now THAT's a find!

Arguably the holy grail of keyboards. I love my K95 with MX Browns, but the Model M is the McLaren F1 of typing.
 
jterp7 said:
something I just remembered is that I ordered my CODE through massdrop and as a result both WASD and massdrop took no responsibility for the uneven leds on the keyboard. The squeaky costar stabilizers didn't help but in the end it was still my favorite cherry keyboard. I definitely prefer the matias by far and more importantly I purchased it locally, so no massive wait like mass drop and the store had several in stock in case there was an issue (there weren't). The fact that it is mac specific with the shortcuts and such on top the keys is just icing on the cake.
Click to expand...
I have the CODE keyboard from WASD and absolutely love it. The 88-key format is perfect in my opinion (with MX browns) Didn't have any problems with LED evenness, or squeaky stabilizers but I know at least the noisy stabilizers was a common complaint of their early releases.
 
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I have around 15 keyboards at this time. Currently, I prefer Topre. The HHKB and Realforce 87U both work nicely on the Mac and are far more smooth and tactile than Cherry MX. They also make a very pleasant sound and despite being a bit loud, they don't attract any attention or bother others in the workplace.

My next favorite is SKCM Blue Alps. Probably one of the best mechanical switches, but difficult to find (and expensive).

Zealios switches are a nice drop-in for Cherry MX boards... much smoother and more tactile if you get the purples.

I started with Cherry MX (Blue, Brown, Red) but they feel a bit gritty compared with other switches. Vintage MX Blacks are very good, though I don't have a board with them unfortunately.

But honestly, just save yourselves time and go straight for the good stuff... Topre :cool:

Leopold makes some really good Topre switches... their FC980C came out recently and is looking very nice indeed.

Buckling springs are fun in short sessions.
 
I can't compete with @Altis but I have two mechanical keyboards, a Windows-layout G.Skill KM780 (Cherry MX Brown switches) and a Mac-layout Das Keyboard 4 Professional (with Greetech brown switches). Between the two I have to admit that I like the G.Skill better, but it doesn't come in Mac layout... and the bezels are even larger than the Das Keyboard. I know you mentioned that you're not a fan of the RGB backlighting, but I am. I always have the "color wave" pattern going when I'm on the Windows side, and it's just sort of nice... I've also had plenty of times that I was using my computer in the dark and really, really wished that the Das Keyboard had some form of backlighting. The quest for backlighting makes me very interested in the new Das Keyboard 5Q, which reportedly does have a Mac layout and has backlighting (and some creative uses for it, the utility of which I'm not totally convinced of just yet).

I like the "brown" style switches. They feel so effortless to press down, but they also feel like they have a definitive press. Can't say I've tried any others, but my two mechanical keyboards make all of the standard-issue corporate keyboards feel like unpleasant mush.
 
Porkchop Sandwich said:
I use two Mac specific Daskeyboards (4)..one blue and one brown.

Functionality was perfect out of the box for me and the media controls are nice with one caveat. I would like the sleep button to "sleep" only in lieu of the option to sleep, shut down, or restart. Anyone know if it's possible to reprogram the switch? (Have not called the co.)
Click to expand...

Hey.

Which of these do you prefer?

I ordered a Blue switches one and am wondering if I made the right choice.

I work from home (so noise is not an issue) and want this for better/faster typing than the Apple's.
 
srikat said:
Hey.

Which of these do you prefer?

I ordered a Blue switches one and am wondering if I made the right choice.

I work from home (so noise is not an issue) and want this for better/faster typing than the Apple's.
Click to expand...
The Brown and Blue are very similar. The blue is the classic clicky keyboard with nice tactile feedback. The Brown was designed to have the same feel but be quieter fir office settings. If noise doesn’t matter just get the blue.
 
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