I’m a huge fan of mechanical keyboards. Back in the old days that meant the IBM Model M and its latter day incarnation from Unicomp. I’ve had both—although I foolishly left my Model M behind at my last job—and there’s nothing more satisfying than their solid, tactile, clicky feel as you type. Of course, the Model M and its Unicomp offspring are pretty noisy with their clickity-clack sound but that can also be satisfying (although perhaps not to your colleagues).
These days, there’s an embarrassment of riches. The point of mechanical keyboards is, of course, their key switches and modern mechanical keyboards usually come with a choice of switch types. You can get noisy, clicky ones like on the Model M or quiet clicky ones, or a softer feeling switch without the tactile feedback. The problem now is not getting a mechanical keyboard but deciding which one to get.
Wirecutter has an excellent review of mechanical keyboards with their recommendations on which to choose. It’s a long and comprehensive review. It doesn’t cover every choice, of course, and although it mentions wireless mechanical keyboards it doesn’t have much to say about them on the grounds that they’re not yet as good as their wired brethren.
Ali Abdaal also has an interesting video in which he compares several mechanical keyboards in terms of which allow him to type the fastest. Ironically, he gets his best results with the standard, nonmechanical Apple keyboard but he considers a different selection of keyboards from Wirecutter so its a useful companion to the Wirecutter article.
If you’re in a mechanical keyboard, these are two great resources. If you’ve never typed on one, you should give it a try. They really make typing much more enjoyable.
