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Comment by jonstjohn | Hacker News Reader

On the keyboard front - wasn't realy aware of the differences between mechanical and non-mechanical, although I've been using a Kinesis Advantage Pro for several years now and love it. It appears to use the Cherry MX brown switches (http://www.elitekeyboards.com/support.php) also used by the Filco keyboard mentioned in the article. Does anybody else have experience w/ Filco keyboards? I switched to the Kinesis primarily for the form factor.

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There's a new-ish community at /r/keyboards on reddit for anyone interested in mechanical keyboards - and others.

At home I use a Filco Majestouch (Tenkeyless) with Blue Cherry MX's. I LOVE it. Works with USB and PS/2 (N key rollover with PS/2, but it's rare you'll actually care about it). Built like a rock, I'm pretty sure I could hit a punching bag with it and it'd be okay.

On the downside like many say they can be quite loud, but most of the noise actually comes from people 'bottoming out' the keys. That need not be the case with mechanicals. Once you hear the click, your keypress is registered. So after a time with some practice, even blues can be fine around spouses.

A GREAT resource for all things related to mechanical keyboards (and a cool community in general, yes I am a member there) is http://geekhack.org.

I have a Filco Majestouch with browns at work, and one with blues at home. I mostly prefer the blues, but they are obscenely loud so just aren't that practical for an office environment. The browns are not much louder than a normal keyboard unless you are really pounding away on them.

If you are already using a Kinesis, you won't get much out of a Majestouch - They're as straight as an arrow.

I think almost every mechanical keyboard feels the same. What makes the difference is the switches under the key cap.

Black: linear, hard, no sound. Brown: tactile, no sound. Blue: tactile, clicky sound

I use KBC Poker with red Cherry. Light, linear and no sound.

I have a keyboard with brown switches and while they are quieter than blue ones, saying they produce "no sound" is quite an exaggeration. They still have a nice clicky sound and are much louder than normal keys. I actually like this, but it is something to keep in mind.

I use a filco majestouch tenkeyless with brown switches. I love it but it is pretty clicky. drives my girlfriend nuts. I have a bt apple chiclet keyboard hanging around for when she gets extra annoyed.

The Kinesis I have with brown switches is fairly loud - people always know when I'm typing on a conference call! I need a stealth keyboard for when I'm on the phone.

I have a Das keyboard (with Tux keycaps for the windows keys!) and you can pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Not cheap, but a seriously nice piece of kit.

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