Since membrane keyboards can't handle the beatings I give them.

In all seriousness I'd like some recommendations on where I could order mechanical keyboards. I'd also like some info on what switches are good for gaming, and which ones are quiet. I prefer to press down harder so I can avoid accidental key presses.

If you want to press hard, then mechanical isnt for you. One of their features is not needing much pressure to register. Plus, most all mechanical keyboards have the iconic clicking sound.

That said, you can find all manner of keyboards at BestBuy, Frys, Newegg.com, TigerDirect.com, Google.com, google.com, and google.com.

No, it's not. And no, they don't. There are a variety of mechanical switches, and they come in all different actuation weights and levels of tactile.

If you want to press hard, get MX Blacks. They have a very high actuation weight. They're also linear, so there's not even a tactile bump, let alone a click. If you want quiet, you'll probably want to put pads under the key caps, since there is still the sound of the bottom of the key cap hitting the housing of the keyboard.

If you want a good mechanical, get a Leopold.

http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=leopold

They may be quiet when typing slowly, when typing under normal conditions, let alone pressing hard, there is little difference between their sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKu2Y43qDbk

At worst, the Blue stitches are the loudest.

OP, I know exactly what you mean. The old IBM PC Keyboard feel. The tactile feel of that keyboard, the way the keys responded slowly and elegantly, or fast and accurate. Press down on the key and the initial resistance gives way to momentum that sends the keystroke on it's way.

Get one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Blackwidow-Tournament-Mechanical-RZ03-00810200-R3U1/dp/B0091DR622/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1372474151&sr=1-5&keywords=mechanical+keyboard

or this one

http://www.amazon.com/CM-Storm-QuickFire-Rapid-Mechanical/dp/B007VDLVD4/ref=sr_1_16?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1372474151&sr=1-16&keywords=mechanical+keyboard

Both of these companies have more complex versions of this.

Just offf the top of my head: red/black (black just being a stiffer red) are for gaming, blue is for typing, brown is in between.

Black would be the quietest and you can get keyboards with o-rings to make them quieter (or install them yourself).

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Mechanical-Keyboard-Tactile-High-Speed/dp/B009C98NPY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1372477648&sr=1-1 (brown switches) is one I'm interested in but there does seem to be a high failure rate. A shame because it's got a ton of features for a good price.

Here's a guide: http://www.daskeyboard.com/blog/?page_id=1458

iGuess linked Elite Keyboards and there are also http://www.daskeyboard.com/ and http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/ (they seem to be out of stock of most switches right now).

I'm personally waiting for WASDkeyboards to release their V2 and I plan on picking that up.

Depending on what you want your keyboard for, there are a variety of different switches that you can choose from to fit your needs.

Right now, almost all mechanical keyboards use Cherry MX switches. There are many different Cherry MX switches. The four main ones are Black, Blue Brown, and Red. Each one of the switches has its own feel.

Cherry MX Blacks are switches designed for gaming. Requiring an average of 60 centinewtons(60cN) of force to activate, they are slightly stiffer than most keys. They do not register a button press until the key "bottoms out", or hits the bottom of its possible degree of movement. These switches have no tactile "bump" or audible click to determine a key press. These are called "Linear" switches.

Cherry MX Reds are a less stiff variant of the MX Blacks (45cN), and still have the same linear feel. They also require you to bottom out the key for it to register the keypress. This helps prevent unwanted frustration of nudging a key in skyrim and dropping your best weapon.

Cherry MX Blue switches are a "clicky" form of switch. They do not require you to bottom out the key to register a keypress and instead create a tactile "bump" and an audible click to indicate that a key being registered. Requiring 50cN of force to activate, they fit right in the middle for key stiffness. This type of switch is recommended for people who use their computers for typing as it is easier to tell when a key registers than the blacks and reds and it can help speed up typing because you learn to hear and feel the "click" instead of bottoming out your keys.

Cherry MX Brown switches are a slightly less stiff (45cN) tactile-response switch. It acts like a Cherry MX Blue in the concept that it does not require bottoming out, but instead only provides a tactile "bump" instead of a click. This is a great keyboard if you like the tactile response of the Blues, but you don't want to wake everyone up because you are writing an essay at 3:00 in the morning.

See http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX for more information on the other types of Cherry MX switches.

Those are the main types of Cherry MX switches. Higher end mechanical keyboard brands like Filco and Ducky all use Cherry MX switches.

The one other major type of switch you will hear about besides the Cherry MX switches are the fabled "Buckling Spring" keyboards. These guys are famous. Being first included on the famous IBM Model M keyboard, it has remained a popular switch for many years. People still are using model M keyboards to this day as a matter of fact. Buckling spring keyboards are used because of their reliability, durability, sound and feel. When getting a Buckling Spring heyboard, you are not just buying the switch, but the history that comes with it. The stigma of owning one, its reliability, and its rarity are all contributing factors to its place of being declared "the king of switches".

Most of it is hype though f you ask me. I have never used one myself, so i can't voice the opinion on that one too much. Most manufacturers do not use buckling springs any more, Unicomp being one of the few remaining ones.

NOW FOR MANUFACTURERS: Many manufacturers now make mechanical keyboards, but they are of varying quality and design.

The very baseline mechanical keyboard manufacturers (ie. Razer, Corsair, Logitech, etc.) usually do not make the keyboard fully mechanical. they may make only the letter keys and a few others mechanical and leave the rest membrane switches. The keyboards also tend to be quite flimsy and use gimmicks and marketing tactics to sell their keyboards. These can cost anywhere from anout 50-80 USD.

The mid-range keyboards (Filco, Ducky, Unicomp) use all mechanical switches in their keyboards and tend to be a bit sturdier built. These keyboards can go fro about 100-200 USD.

The top-end keyboard manufacturers use special "Topre" (pronounced Toe-Pray) switches that are designed to prevent "pvssyring", the registering of one keypress as multiple, and produce a very unique sound and feel. They are all produced by Topre corporation. They have a few different models of keyboards that can run up to 400 USD for one. Very expensive, very well made, highly collectable, and most likely not worth the price tag. (They are essentially a refined membrane switch.)

For this purpose, I will assume that you are looking at a mid-range board. Depending on what you want, I would recommend these 3 brands.

Filco's Majestouch keyboards are very popular, very reliable, and possibly the heaviest and sturdiest boards in the market. They are so strong that people joke that they could use it for home defense. They also are right about the perfect price for a ncie board, usually going in the 110-180 USD range. Their one downfall is none of their keyboards have built-in media keys or backlights.

If you want backlights, media keys, and an absurd number of other features on a keyboard, look no further than the Ducky Shine series. The Ducky Shine 1, 2, 3(soon to be released) models are jam-packed with features, gadgets, and doodads. The downside is they are not well built when compared to others at the price point and they are also on the more expensive end, clocking in at around 150-220 USD per board,

Unicomp is the rebel of this group by going at an absurdly low 80-12 USD for one of their buckling spring boards. They are pretty much IBM Model M boards with Windows keys.

Well, that is just about all i have to say on that end. This turned out a lot longer than I expected too. I should probably go to bed now.

Yeah, Unicomp is my preferred choice of keyboard: nice heavy clicky things, though probably not what the OP is looking for. There are a few differences between the modern Unicomps and the original Model Ms: the Unicomps aren't quite as heavy, either in terms of the backing plate or casing, and the keys often don't have detachable keycaps these days, but they're still nice to type on (if anything, they're slightly more crisp-feeling.) It was interesting comparing the feel with a Model F recently, which is slightly lighter and even clickier, though the original PC models need an protocol converter to work on a modern PC, and the layout is pretty insane.

In what reality is a keyboard worth ￡50? That's insane, and I know that's not even that expensive too; I just use my old Acer keyboard, unlike those expensive ones it has a numpad for starters, hell is't even USB, one of those weird purple connexions (I'm told that's old) but what-ever, it works fine and makes that cool clicking sound when-ever you press keys.

You obviously have never used mechanical switches then.

That it's the part of a PC that you actually physically interface with? It seems odd to me that people will spend hundreds of pounds on the latest graphics card to replace a not-that-old one that also cost hundreds of pounds, and the same amount on various other components, but baulk at the idea of spending ￡50 on something that's much nicer to use than a cheapy keyboard and far more durable: Model Ms are known to still be going after 20 years of regular use, for example.