-musubi:
Hi from the Northwest too (Vancouver, BC). I've never used a 60% board, but I understand their appeal. I probably would use one if I did most of my work in an editor like Vi or eMacs, which are set up to let you do everything without removing your hands from the home-row area. I've no doubt that time-and-motion studies have proven it's more efficient, despite the learning curve—and don't even get started about the extra desk space.
However, rather than spending hundreds of bucks on fancy Pokers and so forth, I don't understand why more 60% people don't just get vintage Mac M0110 boards:
Show Image
(http://cfile2.uf.tistory.com/image/18740A3A50A4BE4A23B798)
...and map them however they wish. Vintage T-mount Alps switches rock, and M0110s are so cheap (http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.Xapple+m0110.TRS0&_nkw=apple+m0110&_sacat=0) you can practically buy them by the six-pack.
Of course unmodded, they are old-school noisy, but it's amazing what you can do with them (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=20898.0). And they look so retro-cool IMHO.
Mmmm that profile too. Does it require matrix wiring? Oh, I see there is a converter for it hmmm. I'll have to bookmark this :cool: