I maintain the AT101W should be everyone's first mechanical keyboard.
They're super common, I picked up another one myself today, in fact. You shouldn't pay more than £20 at most, and that's for a really good one. I don't even bother to sell mine because they wouldn't raise enough money to be worth the time :p . But if you look around you can often get them for free in all kinds of buildings as stowaways.
Its switches aren't great if you've tried many other switches before, but they're not bad either, and they give a great introduction to mechs as they're excellent all-rounders. From there on, you should be able to much more easily decide what future boards you might be into.
They're also very well-built, much better than many modern mechanical keyboards, and they look charismatic and imposing IMO :) .
Welcome!
The Dell AT102/AT101 (ANSI version) are quite common. They shouldn't cost too much (ideally less than 30 GBP I would suspect).
The used an SKCM Black alps switch that is tactile but not clicky. They aren't known to be particularly good, but there are many who do enjoy them. They tend not to age all that well with use (mostly due to dust/dirt buildup rather than actual use), so if it's in rough shape, that might make for a bad buy. A newer one should feel smoother and more consistent.
I have an AT101 and the feel is pretty good actually. It isn't a notchy tactility but rather a longer hump, which is itself quite smooth. I'm not crazy about the sound of them, though, with the exception of the really old (and expensive) keyboards.
Tell me this -- what do you like most about your MX Blue?
If you don't like it, I've found that the Dell AT101 makes for a somewhat decent snow removal device. :eek:Show Image(http://i66.tinypic.com/30dbb0j.png)Show Image(http://i67.tinypic.com/25qsxau.png)
Got about 50cm (1.75ft) of snow today. Had to clear out the first 10 feet or so in front of the car to get it to the semi-cleared part.
The metal plate of the AT101 made it pretty sturdy and the keys stuck to the snow well enough!