Mechanical Keyboards

If you want to dip a whole foot you could buy a hot swappable PCB and case to experiment with switches and keycaps. It's probably not cheaper than a Keychron, but it could be give you more options to explore. I've built two Nyquist's from keebio and a handwired Alice: each has cost less than $100. My first Nyquist is still the cheapest of the three and my daily driver; it replaced a Gigabyte with Cherry reds...

Are you looking to get into it because you want a good keyboard that feels good; or do you want to get into it because you like the idea of weird layouts, building your own keyboard, trying different switches, weird color schemes, custom key shapes, or all the other interesting but not typing things you can do. Nothing wrong with that second group, even though you can probably tell from my tone that I don't see the point myself (if this is you I can't give good advice so stop reading).

I’d recommend looking for keyboards with hot-swappable switches. They may be more expensive up front, but they are repairable so they will be much more cost effective in the long term. Plus there are fun things you can do like trying out different switches or even mix-and-matching different types.

I usually have a key fail about once a year or so. For a keyboard without hot swappable switches that’s a new keyboard each time one key fails (assuming it’s a key that’s important, which it usually is - keys you use more frequently are more likely to fail sooner). Keys are like $1 a pop (although you usually have to buy them in bulk).

I used to buy the Corsair keyboard for like $50 each. I switched to a $150 keyboard with hot swappable switches. I’ve had my keyboard for about 5 years now and I think I’ve replaced 3 keys.

I'm going to against the grain a bit. If you liked and want the oldschool Thinkpad feel, look into getting a Topre board. Check out Leopold or Niz, both are decent topre clone brands.

Also, if you live in a metro area check and see if there's a mechanical board gathering, possibly giving you a broader flavor of what's out there that might fit your taste.

Ducky is worth a look.

I got a TecWare Phantom 104 for my first, it's been good so far (about 3 years of use). The "shroud" cover piece helps with noise and light leakage. I have the brown keys, they're pretty nice. I've had to replace a couple of the most used ones, but it came with some extras.

The keyboard comes with a key cap puller tool, but I recommend getting a key puller tool (to remove the keys themselves, not just the caps). They're cheap and will make changing keys a much better experience.

Take a look at Keychron. They have a lot to offer for around your budget and they go on sale frequently.

Are you looking to be able to swap switches out? If so you will need to find hot swappable switches.

If you care about backlighting they might be a little more expensive. But Keychron is reasonable. I’ve had their K2 for years and it has a better feel in it vs Corsair or Razer stuff in my opinion.

What's your budget?