Das Keyboard now pre-ordering Mac version of their mechanical keyboard (opens in new tab)

If I may, I suggest you try the USB version - Apple USB keyboard - http://www.amazon.com/Apple-109-Key-Version-Keyboard-1003199...

Very similar layout, with a smaller form factor, non mechanical but to me it feels just as good, and it features an USB hub. My preferred keyboard at home and at work, along with some ControllerMate magic to turn the Help key into something more useful.

PS: it also has a delete (Ctrl-D) key to the right of backspace (Ctrl-H), in the usual PC position.

I also use an original Apple Extended Keyboard. Mine features a surprisingly simple hardware hack to convert the mechanical Caps Lock into a Control key.

One feature of this keyboard that I unfortunately discovered by accident is that the Command+Control+Power keystroke does a hard reboot on modern Macs, just as it did on the old Mac SE and Apple IIgs.

Definitely a matter of taste, I have the newer style Apple keyboard on all my keyboards for the same reason, my hands get tired almost immediately when I have to use something else. The key travel (especially on the ergonomic ones) seems excessive.

Keep in mind that the Das and Model M are vastly different keyboards. The Model M switches require a bone-crushing 80g to activate the switches, while the Cherry switches are in the 50g range. Compare this to the 30g activation pressure on a Topre Realforce's pinky keys.

(Yes, I know that key activation pressure is measured in newtons, not grams, but since we're all on Earth here, we can deal :)

I don't know about that. The current Apple keyboards are fantastic once you get used to them. My only complaint is that the caps wear down slightly faster than other keyboards because the plastic flakes off more easily under heavy wear.

If you're a mechanical nut, you still have the Matias Tactile Pro (http://matias.ca/tactilepro3/index.php) which has the added bonus of not just the proper keycaps, but the indicators for the additional characters possible with option and shift.

Silver is a fantastic conductor, better than copper, but tarnishes far too quickly for contacts that are expected to actuate consistently over a prolonged period of time. This is a problem because silver oxides are poor conductors (as are copper oxides). Gold is an inferior conductor to silver and copper, but not by that much and it doesn't tarnish. But is it relevant? That depends on the technology you build the keyboard out of, but I think the answer is probably a firm "maybe".

As far as technology: there are basically three major varieties. One has a plastic membrane that separates two conductive surfaces; physical pressure forces the two surfaces in contact and actuates the key. These are usually fairly large contact surfaces and also are relatively sealed, but you can get situations where you need to press harder on the key to get it to actuate, and if little bits of crap get between the surfaces then the key is pretty well dead. There are a variety of ways of forcing that actuation; simple physical pressure (your microwave pad), a plunger (less prone to troublesome false actuations), the scissor switches you see in laptops or the modern Apple keyboards, but they're all basically similar as far as electrical conductivity and tend to fail in relatively similar ways.

The Model M is actually a membrane like this under the surface, but the membrane is almost totally sealed off and is operated by extremely reliable and powerful (well, for a keyboard) actuator--the buckling spring operates a small lever in the guts of the keyboard, pressing the devices in contact. As a result they get excellent lifetime and a very consistent and desirable action. The size of the lever and the distance between the key and the actuation (and also the sheer size of a Model M) mean that the contact surfaces can be relatively large. Earlier IBM keyboards used a capacitive action which is very rare today; the only one I know of is the Happy Hacking Keyboard.

The Cherry MX switches the Das uses have a mechanical switch that makes and breaks contact on every keystroke. They are mechanically more compact than the buckling spring type with similarly desirable key action, but the switch means they need to be made in a very durable way. Cherry says the MXs are good for 50 million operations; I don't know how many operations IBM guaranteed theirs for but I'm sitting next to one made in 1989 so I presume it is "a lot".

Which is a lot of words to say that "gold might make a difference and anyway Cherry doesn't sell good switches without the gold plating and they're the only people of any repute making those type of keys any more".

Edit: one other further irritation for people who type fast; N-key rollover is a term you may have heard of. On a PS/2 keyboard, you can literally activate every key on the keyboard at once and the computer can track them all. This is because the PS/2 tracks key up and key down events but doesn't try to keep state so much. USB does and because of this true N-key rollover is impossible without custom software on both ends; the best we can do is I think six, so in this case the Das is state of the art, such as it is. Supposedly the v4 Sidewinder got around this, probably through a custom driver mode.

I use the "ultimate" model (blank keys) just fine with my Mac Mini and MacBook Air, no issues.

Even the keys for volume, iTunes, brightness, and Mission Control?

Are you referring to Apple's Alu keyboard? I'm using Matias TactilePro Mac keyabord at work, on a typical Windows PC. No issues here - Command becomes Win and all is well.

You never miss keypads ... until you want to play a roguelike.

Plenty of companies (Filco, Leopold, PFU / Fujitsu (Happy Hacking), Topre, etc.) offer 'tenkeyless' versions of their boards that are without the numeric keypad.

But what if you have to enter a bunch of numbers?

They also appear to have an apple-specific model (unless this is the one you're talking about): http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/onthestick.html

The one pictured is hideously ugly, though.

I switched from a Model M to the default iMac keyboard (the wired one with the number pad) back in August when I switched to from linux to an iMac and it's taken me until just recently, to get used to it. I still don't like the feel of the keyboard quite as much and have been tempted to buy the Unicomp keyboard many times. That said, I do find it more comfortable than most other non-mechanical keyboards out there.

I've had several offers from people wanting to buy the Model M, but I refuse to part with it, even if I'm not using it at this very moment. I found it years ago, in the back of a storage shed, covered in about a decade of dust, grease, and cob webs, cleaned it up, and it looks practically new and works perfectly. I do so love that keyboard.

Is it hideously loud like a lot of the other mechanical keyboards mentioned in this thread. Safe for office use?

Do you mean with a trackpoint? The Unicomp EnduraPro has buckling spring keys and trackpoint nub between the G, H, and B:

http://pckeyboard.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=PCK&Sc...

I don't own a Das; instead I have two of Unicomp's (http://pckeyboard.com) keyboards. Either one is miles more comfortable to type on than anything else I've ever used, most certainly including the Microsoft ergo keyboards. That said I should note that I'm partial to making a hell of a racket typing and I really really like the buckling spring action. If for some reason you don't want to sound like an entire rifle company out for a day at the range the quiet Cherry switches are pretty much the only game in town, and you might as well get them from Das as from anywhere else.

FWIW: The Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 was causing me RSI (I found the spacebar too hard to hit and several keys started malfunctioning after nearly one year). Design-wise I found it good enough (especially for the palm rest and layout as a whole) but I think they should seriously reconsider the quality of their key switches.

I since then switched to a customized keyboard made by Unicomp and couldn't look back. The buckling springs may feel a little bit too hard at first, but over time I found them to soften.

I guess the Cherry keyboards use the same mechanism (duh) and are less expensive. Just my 2 cents.

They have a "Where to buy"-link near the top right corner: http://www.daskeyboard.com/where-to-buy/

I've successfully bought a Das Keyboard from GetDigital: http://www.getdigital.de/products/Das_Keyboard_Model_S

It even let me brush up on my German :)

They have resellers around the place, where are you located?

http://www.daskeyboard.com/where-to-buy/

Have you tried a keyboard with the MX Cherry Browns, instead of Blues? They say they have very similar tactile response, but the browns don't "click" so loudly. http://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-professional-silent/

Yeah, I was burned by the same problem with the razer mechanical keyboards. No noticeable keypress feel improvement, and hideously loud; waste of money.