[jseliger]

1) Their "regular" keyboards work just fine with Macs (see the link in 2) for more;

2) The Das Keyboard is nice but still not as good as Model M / Unicomp SpaceSaver: http://jseliger.com/2009/11/01/product-review-das-keyboard/ . I used the review copy with an iMac.

3) Virtually any mechanical keyboard is a HUGE improvement on the default keyboards that most manufacturers ship.

[jrockway]

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 :)

[astrodust]

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.

[gchpaco]

I cannot deal with the action on the "new" Apple keyboards. It's like typing on a pane of glass, it hurts like hell because you have to press the key to nearly its fullest extension to actuate it, and then your finger comes to an abrupt halt. They could be the very best scissor type keyboards ever made and I still couldn't use them for long without getting shooting pains.

[swombat]

You barely need to press the keys though... I guess everyone has their own tastes, but I find the modern Apple keyboards to be the best keyboards I've ever used. The low key travel and resistance means I apply much less strength than I would on a normal keyboard, which makes it much lighter to type on.

[jrockway]

If you're trained to touch-type on cherry or topre keyswitches, you're not going to be able to use a non-mechanical keyboard. The muscle action is just different; you're using your muscles to slow your fingers at the bottom of each keystroke rather than applying the energy all at once to your desk. This honestly doesn't make much difference to me, but I know many people who are more sensitive that do notice the difference. To each, his own.

(Analogy: punch the wall as hard as you possibly can. Then do the same action, but slow your fist down as quickly as possible so that it doesn't hit the wall. That's the difference between membrane keyboards and Cherry/Topre/IBM keyboards.)

[swombat]

But the Apple keyboards are mechanical - just with less give. The analogy is more that in one case, you have to punch a heavy hanging weight and get it to hit the wall, whereas in the next case, you can just quickly flick it with your finger to achieve the same effect.

I'm "trained to touch-type" on old keyboards, since I learned to touch-type when I was a teenager playing MUDs and there were none of these newfangled Apple keyboards. And yet, I made the transition without even thinking about it. It's not an iPad keyboard, it's a real keyboard with real keys in all the right places, and you don't have to smash it quite so hard, but it's still "mechanical"...

[astrodust]

This is the reason I've come to like them. The travel is super short so you can kind of just tap at them instead of having to hammer down. Older membrane or mechanical keyboards would require some serious effort to fully depress the key, and if you didn't develop a heavy-handed habit you'd often miss letters.

I have a pet theory that Apple's iterations of shorter, thinner, lower travel keyboards is just training us slowly for the day when a glass keyboard is the de-facto standard.

The only trouble I have with the iPad-sized keyboard, which is virtually the same in terms of layout, is that accidental taps are much easier. It's like handling a loaded gun, you can't leave your fingers lazying about. If it required a certain amount of force, just jog the motion sensor slightly, and had a slight tactile feel to the keys, it might end up being even better.