The great thing about mechanical keyboards, for me, is that almost all of them are full-size, and are laid out according to the traditional old IBM PS/2 design.

The great thing about mechanical keyboards, for me, is that almost all of them are full-size, and are laid out according to the traditional old IBM PS/2 design. For me, that form factor is important, because I have big hands with sausage fingers. The mechanical switches, in and of themselves, are less important than sturdy construction and consistent layout. I've never had two laptops with the same keyboard layout, and seen some downright-boneheaded ux decisions - my current work machine puts the power button inline in the top right, where you expect a delete button to be.