I want to start the keyboard discussion again by bringing up The Ultimate Hacking Keyboard.
I think it looks pretty good. A keyboard that’s ergonomic with mechanical keys is hard to find and pretty expensive.
What do you guys think?
Am I just missing why these mechanical keyboards are supposedly cool?
Personally I like the way the keys feel better than a traditional membrane keyboard. They also sound pretty awesome when you type on them. It is very much a personal preference thing.
I don’t care for the shallow chiclet keys that seem to be the current fad (thank you Apple).
All of my first three computers had mechanical keyboards (Galaksija, custom ZX80 Spectrum, custom IBM PC XT) so for me it’s pure nostalgia. 
Ignoring butt ugly fonts, I’m quite happy with $90 CM Storm QuickFire XT SGK-4030-GKCM1:
I’m pretty sure chiclet keyboards predate the MacBook Pro by some measure, e.g. Oric-1, TRS-80 CoCo, IBM PCjr, Timex Sinclair 2068, Vaio Z505 …
I’m quite happy with my Poseiden mechanical keyboard. It is backlit, and unlike most of the membrane-style keyboards I have ever used, it hasn’t lost it’s “action” after almost a year and a half…The Poseiden is rated at 50 million keystrokes, as opposed to the $10 logitech or the Dell that comes with a machine, which is dead after a few months.
That said, I have seen a lot of the “gaming” mechanical keyboards in the neighborhood of $200, and I wasn’t about to spend that kind of scratch on one. Luckily, this was not only under $100, but it was also a Christmas gift. 
I’ve heard a whole bunch of people who go on about clicky keyboards say things like this. I’ve never, ever had a keyboard die, ever, let alone in a few months. It makes me wonder whether I’m just lucky, or you’re all using a centre punch to type things, or that you’re all just like audiophiles making up reasons to prefer clicky keyboards 
As an audiophile, I guess I should probably take issue with that…But whatever.
I guess I should have chosen my words more carefully. The keyboard doesn’t die per se, it just doesn’t have any action left. The membranes lose their, um, springiness, and the keyboard feels soggy.
Ah! So I suppose it is possible that my keyboards start off like that and so don’t actually get any worse
I know they’ve been around for a while, but they didn’t seem to get popular until Apple started using them. Note: this is purely form my limited perspective and is not backed up by hard numbers.
Sounds like you are in a perfect position to get into politics! 
Damn, that means I’ve been wasting my time in IT.
I will back any politician who stands up during Prime ministers question time and ask him to publicly denounce “EMACS, users of EMACS, and the causes of EMACS”
Mechancical keyboards make it much easier to tell when you’ve actuated the switch. They feel much better, and make a satisfying noise.
Because they sound sound so-click-clicky-fantastic!
Not really. The fell of a mechanical keyboard is just so great so you are able to ignore that annoying clicky-click-noise. After using some Logitech and Microsoft keyboards (those are good normal keyboards!) I realised that i want to feel every single button press. Feel and touch is so much better.
Every single way to descripe the awesomeness of mechanical keyboards sounds like some weird fetish so I stop right now. I can only recommend you to try some mechanical keyboards.Maybe you love or hate them but surely they are not your usual market keyboards.
Damn… Is that actually yours?
Nope. I wish though!
Here’s my work rig:
Cooler Master TK Quickfire with Mx Cherry Greens.