What is your personal preference based on experience? I Assume because Mac is Unix and Linux is Unix based, it would be more suited, but I have no personal experience with the layout. I am willing to try something new if i hear enough merits for it, and I also find the windows layout somewhat inadequate(The grass is greener on the other side /s)
I dailydrive Gnome, I am not a programmer, but i am a power user
(On a tangent: Why is gnome so restrictive, it feels like its missing a ton of UI features that are trivial without a boatload of 3rd party extensions that break every update; why doesn’t Win+Shift+number launch a new instance, every other DE does, why doesn’t it?; I don’t use KDE because I just don’t like it, I feel Gnome could be way more if it just natively integrated the extensions ).
aesthetically the windows key annoys me and i hate putting stickers on keyboards; I like how the mac layout looks(My very minimal experience with an in store mac-book has cautioned me away from the fisher-price OS so i don’t know if it is intuitive to use)
What is a good price range to look into?
Keychron goes for about a 100$. You could pick up something cheaper like Redragon, which is around 40$.
Keychron is very expensive (you’re paying extra for the “slickness” factor of the board in my opinion), but so far the product is quality.
The optical switch has very linear travel. If you prefer a more tactile feel, the other option for switch might work a little better
Are they worth it(Last long)?
I’ve had several Keychrons and the only one that failed on me was due to liquid damage. I’ve had three of them and the original one I purchased for working on a Mac is still running strong with a few coffee stains. The second one I bought with a backlight lasted two years and died by my own hand. I have a new backlit one with a different set of keycaps and it’s been going strong for a year with no issues.
I tend to buy the wired C2 series which is the cheapest lineup. The great thing about Keychrons is that they are highly repairable and customizable by the user. You can replace keycaps, switches, and the keyboards are all designed to support both layouts with each requisite key included for Command and Windows. It can toggle to either OS via the flip of a switch, and you can attach the keycaps you prefer.
I use the Windows layout on all of my machines that run Linux, personally. You could easily keep the Windows configuration switch and just uh, replace the key I guess if that’s your aesthetic preference. I would probably do that if I were in your position. The keycaps are included and it’s not going to interfere unless you flip the switch.
100%. I’ve been using various mechanical keyboards for ~15 years now. One of my first mech keyboards was a CODE - I sold it six years ago to my mate and he reports that it’s still been going great, no issues at all. My current main keyboards are a Drop CTRL and a Keychron K14, both of which have been going great as well.
In fact, I’d argue that on an average, mech keyboards last much much longer due to:
Honestly, there’s no comparison at all between a proper mech keyboard and a branded OEM keyboard from the likes of Apple/Logitech/Microsoft etc - you’re just paying for the brand name to get an average quality keyboard with way less repairability/modularity/customisability.
A keyboard lasts as long as you make it last, in other words, until you spill a beer or coke on it… Even then there may be hope. I have a working IBM Model M from 1989 if that matters…
My previous mechanical keyboard lasted about a decade. Or it still works, but I bought a new one because the keycaps had worn so much.
Were the keycaps not replaceable? Or did they include hard to get sizes?
Replaceable sure, but probably not worth it. My new one is a bit nicer, so for that I might do it when the time comes. I still keep the old one around for random occasions I need a keyboard.
I have several perfectly working mechanical keyboards from the 80s, so I’d say, yeah they last long. That being said, I don’t necessarily think you’ll get decades from $40 mechanical keyboard like you can from an old school IBM, Alps, or Cherry MX keyboard. I mean, you may, but these keyboards were most than $40 back then and adjusted for inflation they’d not be cheap these days.
Well, if what you want is inexpensive, simple, and durable you might be looking for my favourite keyboard which apparently they’re still selling. I haven’t needed a new one in 15 years or so but it doesn’t look like they’ve changed the design at all.
Whether a “mechanical” keyboard is worth it just depends on your taste, but in my experience they do wear out much more quickly than this thing I’m typing on.
That is the complete opposite on my experience. Not only are mechanical switches nicer to type on but they last a lot longer, and if a switch breaks down you can replace it individually. When a membrane fails for one key you have to throw away the whole keyboard.
It would be unfair for me to answer this.