Hi everyone,
as the thread title indicates, I'm on the look for the "perfect" keyboard. For the past few months I'm searching for the perfect typing tool, but I seem to be not quite able to find what I'm looking for. From all the keyboards I have found the MaxKeyboard Nighthawk X8 and the CODE 104-Key come closest to perfection. But maybe there are other amazing keyboards which I failed to come across. I must admit I was quite surprized at how many different mechanical keyboard models are being manufactured nowadays. Would you please help me to find the perfect keyboard? 
Naturally, wehen it comes to PC input devices there is no ultimate definition of perfection, so what now follows is my very own definition...
It must feature:
- Cherry MX Brown, Blue or Clear switches for the responsive keystroke.
- LED backlighting for nighttime programming and LAN party gaming.
- A US, US International or UK layout. (Preferrably US International or UK.)
- A balanced lighting of the first and second level symbols, for the GER-US layout switching programmer that I am. <- I find this exceptionally hard to evaluate before purchase, so I have to rely on your experience.
- A decent material quality. To clarify/provide an example: I find Razer keyboards to feel quite cheap, and from what I've heard from friends these keyboards don't just feel so.
It should feature (with lowering priority):
- A customizable LED color (preferrably orange or red), since I find blue/black or green/black contrasts quite disturbing. Also, my soldering skills are best described as basic.
- A price below or equal to 150 US $. Absolute maximum: 160 US $. Else, import taxes will kill my wallet, and me with it. However, this would not apply if the keyboard was purchasable inside the European Union.
- At least one USB port for that lazy piece of humanoid I am.
The icing on the cake would be two integrated 3.5mm audio jacks. Not from a cheap integrated USB sound card, but from an integraded 3.5mm extension cord. Not important at all, since any keyboard can be retrofitted using paper clips/cable ties and 3.5mm audio cables. Additionally, it doesn't really matter to me if the keyboard is TKL or full-size, since I used and like both layouts.
I hope you can point out some interesting keyboards. Maybe you even use(d) a keyboard that fits these criteria and can provide a small review (or a link to a good one)?
Enough text for now, thanks for reading. I would really appreciate your help.
I liked your post and I would just like to give my two cents really by addressing some of the points that you have given.
First off, I would like to state that I personally believe that the perfect keyboard is always going to be subjective, like for me personally, when the Keycool 84 - Pom /w Cherry Reds arrives, I think that is going to be the perfect keyboard for me. I have only ever used Browns for a short period of time though sadly, I wish I could of had more time with this, but from what I used, it seemed to do the job perfectly well.
But like I said, I think it's always going to be subjective and now onto addressing some of your points!
Cherry MX Brown, Blue or Clear switches for the responsive keystroke.
I agree with this statement, now although I am and probably will be for a very long time a massive lover of the MX Cherry Red keys, I do also like using blues and browns.
LED backlighting for nighttime programming and LAN party gaming.
I personally think this is a wasted feature and I personally despise this feature. If you're a touch typist, you do not need this feature, normally most environments have enough light if you do want to glance down upon your keys or whatever and if you don't then I guess that's due to your own personal situation.
I also find that in some situations having back-lit keys provides worse key-printing, this is evident on the Keycool 84 and 87 and a few other keyboards that I have seen, but I guess like anything else, this is just personal preference.
A US, US International or UK layout. (Preferrably US International or UK.)
Completely agree, I'm English and I use the US International layout, so yes, I completely agree.
A decent material quality. To clarify/provide an example: I find Razer keyboards to feel quite cheap, and from what I've heard from friends these keyboards don't just feel so.
This I somewhat agree with, I've had a Blackwidow elite and that did not feel cheap to me what so ever, The noppoo choc mini that I'm typing on right now feels a lot cheaper than that did, but the previous Keycool 84 that I was typing on felt absolutely sublime, so I guess this depends on what keyboard you end up using.
Because you listed the rest of the options not being of vital importance, I'm not going to address them but they seem like more personal than anything else so I come back with the 'subjective' issue that I implied earlier.
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To summarise my idea of a perfect keyboard would be that of the HHKB Professional 2 , this keyboard seems to fit all of the criteria that I would categorise as a 'perfect' keyboard, but! it does not have directional arrows on the keyboard, so sadly I doubt I will ever be buying one of these glorious keyboards.
