I'm finding that my keyboard for my new home machine is pretty... mushy. It doesn't take much force to push down the keys and I'm finding that I'm not able to type as fast as I could on my old keyboard, in particular keys with the right hand (like a lot of the symbols used when programming). My old keyboard was a standard Dell unit from about 5 years ago and looked like this: linky My current keyboard also came with my computer (a Dell XPS Studio). Unfortunately I'm not able to find a picture of it. (Perhaps I'll upload one later on). My keyboard at work is one of these which isn't bad, but it'd really be nice to get something with a dedicated volume knob like my old keyboard. I've been looking at one of these, but I don't really need backlighting or a swappable keypad. What do you guys recommend for non-mushy keyboards? EDIT: I really do like a volume knob. My current keyboard has a bunch of small, round, hard to press volume buttons which are difficult distinguish from the skip track/mute/pause/play/stop buttons. [Edited by - Moe on November 10, 2009 12:36:26 AM]

At my old job all the work PCs had these Dell ones, which are perfect IMO (mine's slightly different to the one pictured there, but 99% the same).
Nice response, classic key layout, USB ports and a volume dial ;)

I could never find a store that sold a decent keyboard though, and Dell refused to sell me a keyboard without also buying a PC...

So I ended up copying the serial number off my work one and ringing up Dell to order a "replacement" =D
Ended up getting 2 of them (g/f wanted one too) really cheap and with quick postage.

yeah, I've used ones very similar to that (sans volume knob). You are right - it does have a good feel to it. It's more or less an updated version of the one I had.

I use a "Dell enhanced multimedia keyboard", which looks like this (but in a UK layout). They were £35 from Dell, but sadly don't seem to be available to buy online from them any more. You may be able to find one for sale elsewhere using that product name, though!

Quote: Original post by benryves
I use a "Dell enhanced multimedia keyboard", which looks like this (but in a UK layout). They were £35 from Dell, but sadly don't seem to be available to buy online from them any more. You may be able to find one for sale elsewhere using that product name, though!

This is the exact one that I've got (mentioned above). Like I said, I had to pretend to be ordering a replacement to get it ;)

Using a Logitech G-15 since 2006. Ignore the fact that it's called a "gaming" keyboard, and simply ignore those extra keys you won't use (or maybe you will?). It's the highest quality keyboard I've ever had. It has an USB hub built-in too, which is nice, as it somehow reduces the cable mess. The LCD isn't really as much "big win" as the hype goes, but it's always nice to have a clock and a calendar, nevertheless. Or, a CPU monitor that doesn't take up screen space.

Though it seems that Logitech removed the volume dial on the second revision, from what I can tell from the photos.

If you want a high-quality keyboard you should go for mechanical keyswitches.
While they are more expensive than the common cheap dome-switch keyboards they are much more durable and have a very nice tactile feel.

I have used the Cherry G80-3000 and the "Das Keyboard III". Both have a very nice tactile feedback. The Matias Tactile Pro might also be interesting.