about 5 yrs. ago I bought a Dell XP and it came with its own unique keyboard. It worked really well until I fried it out with a glass of Coke. I then went out and bought a Logitech Wave and I liked it, I did spill some water on part of the keyboard, but I took the affected keys off and air blew them dry and no problems. Within 4-5 months the keys are starting to malfunction, ones other than the waterbogged ones. When I press down on some keys – more and more are getting this way – they are starting to clack with no cushioning and resulting in having to press harder and harder to get the letter to type.
Needless to say, I am very disappointed, especially since it’s just out of warranty range. I am going to buy another one and I like the way this one is shaped, but I don’t want to get burned again. I am willing to spend whatever price I have to, but I want one that will last, preferably with the ergonomic architecture.
More of an IMHO question methinks but i’ll chip in my two cents. In my opinion the best keyboard is the one you feel most comfortable typing with. You will probably find lots of people who love the keyboards you have had and have found them 100% reliable, asking for personal experience with things like this won’t get you too far, the sample size is too small. The best thing to do is try them out in the shop and see which gives you the best hand position for comfortable typing and has the right key layout for your needs (shift keys in particular can vary quite a lot). One man’s trash is another man’s treasure etc.
The IBM Model M Keyboard or a similar “buckling spring” keyboard. These things are tanks and last virtually forever.
They are currently made by a company called Unicomp, but I can’t vouch for their quality since I’ve only used the “classic” keyboards made 20+ years ago by IBM.
Use bottles with caps. At work, no liquid is on my desk unless it’s capped, period. I knock over a (capped) water bottle at least once a day.
But WRT the keyboard. I have two of these, one at home and one at work. I never look at the LCD or use the extra controls along the left side (I had to disable them so it would stop starting up WMP), but the keyboard itself is my favorite of the keyboards I’ve had over the years.
As far as I know, the Unicomp boards are pretty much equivalent in quality to the original IBM versions. They’re also probably the cheapest keyboards that will really last as long as 20+ years (I’ve got a 1993 version that’s still good as new).
They’re also one of the few keyboards around that have key caps with legends that won’t wear off over that kind of time span.
I much prefer my real Model M to my Unicomp keyboard; the Model M has a better feel and tighter tolerances. That being said, the Unicomp does come with a Windows key and is still better than dome-switch keyboards (to say nothing of being a lot cheaper), so it would be worth checking out.
Another keyboard I quite like is the Avant Stellar; it’s intended to be the resurrection of the old Northgate Omnikey. I never used an original Omnikey, so I can’t compare the two, but I do think the Stellar is very nice.
I think more specifics are needed before a good recommendation can be issued. For the record, I also had that Logitech Wave, and the same thing happened - after a bit of use, the keys start to get “sticky” and the throw becomes a little ratchety. It had ghosting issues too, though, so I didn’t even bother getting a warranty replacement.
I love the Model M keyboard and its ilk, but mechanical keyboards are very noisy, so it’s membrane or nothing for me. Right now I’m using the Sidewinder X4, which I really like.