Recommendations for a mechanical keyboard? …
Looking for something that’s Mac-centric. Has inverted T arrow keys. Don’t care about numeric keypad.
I guess USB is fine? And maybe a medium level of “clickiness?”
What do you like and/or recommend? Thanks!
p.s. I guess if it has cool lights or something that’s just gravy. 
I had this Das Keyboard model (with numeric keypad) for a couple of years. I liked it a lot, really liked the integrated volume knob and transport controls too.
Wirecutter has a good article about choosing a mechanical keyboard, and they also have a page of recommendations. (The Leopold extended models currently appeal to me.)
Here’s my latest acquisition. I really like it.
You probably don’t want a Planck EZ, which is what I recently picked up and love, although it is making me work to learn a new keyboard layout.
I heard about Keychron’s boards via Jason Snell/other podcasters after I got this Planck, and I might regret not hearing about them before…
http://matias.ca/
Matias is old school and using the same switch (Alps switch) as Apple Extended Keyboard of the 90s. Their keyboard is as close as the original Apple keyboard as you can get without the LED gaming lights you see in gaming keyboards. Very reliable, works perfectly and has great build quality.
I wrote a personal impression about it years ago, if you have time to read it:
I use an Apple Extended Keyboard II.
@bowline do you still have the Das Keyboard? If not, what did you switch to? Why?
The Das looks appealing.
My Das Keyboard started getting sticky keys after two years of hard daily use, and Das replaced it with a new keyboard for free. But I had honestly gotten a little worn out from the loudness of the Cherry-Blue keyswitch customization I had chosen, so when the replacement arrived I left it in the box and later sold it. I still like the keyboard and if I bought another I’d choose quieter Cherry-Brown keyswitches.
Thank you for the info. I was looking at the Cherry MX Brown switches, so this confirms that decision. I’ve ordered the Das.
Das is a good choice but for Mac fans, I’d think that Matias would be a better fit for us because it uses Alps switches, which are way more similar in feel to Apple Extended Keyboard II.
Das 4 for Mac with Cherry MX Brown switches arrived this week. Excellent. I have not had a mechanical keyboard of my own for years, and had forgotten how comfortable and fast typing could be. Makes the keyboard on the MBP feel like a toy.
Congratulations. I got used to the keyboard’s volume and transport controls pretty quickly, still miss them.
I know this discussion was a while back but I appreciate everyone’s input on this. I have always considered myself “keyboard agnostic” as I have different brand keyboards everywhere I work and just plug them into my Mac and go. Recently I bought my wife a couple of RGB gaming keyboards with blue switches and i ended up falling in love with them. But they were wired. I wanted to get in on the mechanical keyboard craze so I bought a wired gaming set for home but in the field I needed more. My requirements are that it must be multi device so I can switch between Mac and iPad easily; It must have numeric keys; I really want blue keys. I have decided on the Keychron K1. I should have it in about 10 days and I’m really looking forward to it!
I’m eyeing the K4 because I need the Numpad. Unfortunately, they are out of stock at this moment, so here’s hoping they will stock up soon!
I received the K1 and have been using it for a few weeks and I absolutely love it! It is pricey but I feel I will be using this for a long time. I want to order another to replace the RGB gaming keyboard I bought for my home office but they are out of stock too. I am considering the K4 also and am on the mailing list for when either become available.
My K4 came and it’s an absolute pleasure to use. I bought the Gateron browns and also a pack of red switches to swap them out. Both feel wonderful. I’m surprise that I actually like red better.
Here’s a photo of it:
I love hotswappable boards!
I nabbed a K3 from Kickstarter and I really like it’s portability, bluetooth, and swappable keys. I mainly use it with my 12.9 iPad Pro.
Also, recently grabbed a Vortex Race 3, but the jury is still out on that one. MechanicalKeyboards.com has a wizard that can show which keyboards are for you based on some common criteria at Mechanical Keyboard Guide
I quite like the Das too but, I found the size to be too big so I moved to a 60% board.
I had a Das, too, but I really needed backlight and it was a Windows only board which frustrated me, a bit.
Sorry the MK Guide didn’t work for you. I don’t mind fussing with Karibiner as needed, which admittedly isn’t that much.
I’m currently using a Drop CTRL High-profile that I like very much. It’s heavy (~5lbs), stable, and the switches (MX Blues) I chose are nice and clicky.
The ergo boards I’ve tried all seem to fall down when it’s time to type chords (Cmd+Shift+x). Thumb clusters are nice, but they would work better if we had three thumbs on each hand.
