Mechanical keyboard (with a click)

Once, in the icy winter season, a horse was nailed to the fence oh ... Well, yes, they nailed my workhorse - a cherry keyboard with a mechanical click, which has been traveling with me since the early 90s. I had to smoke Google on the subject of a modern mechanical keyboard with a click. Seeing the results, he was surprised, to put it mildly - it turns out that in the 21st century mechanical keyboards do not rule: (There are keyboards that look like the shuttle control panel, there are flat, thick, backlit and without, rubber, folding, in general, whatever not good old mechanical keyboards. This is a conspiracy, I thought, and decided to figure out what was going on. B-)

Having examined the forums in detail for a discussion of mechanical keyboards, it turned out that now mechanical switches (which emit a characteristic metallic clang when pressed) are mainly manufactured by Cherry, and are even divided by specification into blue, brown, white, black, red (this is not just color, and different mechanisms, and, accordingly, different tactile sensations when pressed). There are also other switches, but they are not as common as Cherry.

Next, we find out who produces such keyboards, their cost and degree of reach within the CIS. Of the range of keyboards manufactured by Cherry itself, only one model is available in the CIS - the G80-3000 ( review / review before the spring of the G80-3000 LPCRB ). By the way, there are three options for the G80-3000 model, depending on the type of switchers: Linear action, Soft contact, Click. The one that LPCRB in the title - publishes the most characteristic click, which was almost all keyboards in the early 90s (the rest is quieter). There are options in black and white. Strange, but Cherry releases only a couple of models on their own switchers, giving the lion’s share of the market to other manufacturers.

On the basis of cherry switchers, there is also a Steelseries 7G keyboard, which is positioned as a gamer (you can press 10 or more keys at the same time).
The cost of these keyboards exceeds $ 150 (probably due to gold-plated contacts). Offhand, other options could not be found.
')
In the world there is a very limited market for mechanical keyboards. Among manufacturers, such companies as DasKeyboard , Unicomp can be noted (this is a classic of the type IBM Model M, it publishes the loudest click). There are models without inscriptions, the so-called "blank keyboards". Here I found a hacker assortment :)

For myself, noted such models (although I do not like narrow ENTER):



FILCO's price list indicating the type (and color!) Of the switcher can be seen here .

For nostalgic, I provide the most comprehensive list of keyboards, sorted by type of switcher:

 - Buckling Spring
     * IBM Model M - All Pre-1994, Some Post-1994
     * Most Unicomp Keyboards
 - Topre
     * Happy Hacking Pro 2
     * Realforce
     * Epson InterKX IKXFKB
 - Cherry MX Blue
     * iOne Scorpius M10
     * iOne Scorpius M10 BL
     * Cherry G80-3000 LSCRC-2
     * iOne Scorpius 35
     * Das Model S
 - Cherry MX Brown
     * Filco FKBN104M / EB
     * Filco FKBN87M / EB
     * Filco FKB104M / EB
     * FKB22MB
     * Compaq MX 11800
     * Compaq 11802
     * Cherry G80-3000
 - Cherry MX Red
     * Cherry G80-3600LYCEU-0
 - Cherry MX Black
     * Deck Keyboards
     * Steelseries 7G
     * Cherry MX 11900
     * Cherry G80-3000LPCEU-0
 - Simplified ALPS Black
     * ABS M1
 - Simplified ALPS White
     * Matias Tactile Pro 2.0
     * Solidtek ASK-6600U
     * Solidtek KB-6600ABU
     * SIIG Minitouch
     * Kinesis Evolution
 - Original ALPS Black
     * Dell AT101W
 - Original ALPS White
     * Focus 2000
     * Focus 2001
     * Focus FK-5001
     * Unitek K-258
     * Nan Tan KB-6551

If you have read this far, you might be interested in video-audio information about mechanical keyboards. It can be found on youtube by querying “clicking keyboard”, “clicky keyboard”, “keyboard that clicks”. For example, there is a comparison of the click sound of Kinesis Advantage, Unicomp Customizer, and Das Keyboard.