For me the quality of a keyboard is based entirely on how well my wrists and fingers deal with typing on it. I have been using a Kinesis keyboard for nearly a y

For me the quality of a keyboard is based entirely on how well my wrists and fingers deal with typing on it. I have been using a Kinesis keyboard for nearly a year and it makes my finger pain nearly go away. When I use my laptop keyboard instead, it comes back within a few days -- it's just immensely more comfortable on the Kinesis. It's $300, but the cost-benefit analysis was easy for me to make: if I don't buy it, I either can't type (not really an option for me), or I end up spending much more than that on surgery or something insane. I don't know what technology is behind the springs in the keys, but it has two important characteristics for my fingers -- it doesn't require much force to press, and I can type without my fingers "hitting bottom" (the keys travel quite far, 4mm according to their website, and they activate at 2mm). Furthermore, the keyboard makes a little electronic 'click' when the key activates, providing that auditory feedback.