[sebular]

It sounds like you aren't familiar with mechanical keyboards and why people like them-- any similarities you're noticing between this keyboard and an old HP from 2000 are purely cosmetic.

I happen to own two keyboards: a mechanical one similar to this, and the Apple keyboard. I think the Apple keyboard is great, but finally it's a very basic laptop-style chiclet keyboard with nothing remarkable about it other than good aesthetics and compatibility with OS X. I won't bore you with the details of why people are willing to pay $100-$200 for a keyboard like this, but just know that there are good reasons.