New quiet 60/65/76 % or TKL keyboard to the office

[Sandak]

Hello everyone, I currently have HyperX Alloy TKL with MX Red switches and PBT keycaps at home for my gaming PC. It's my first mechanical keyboard and I'm quite happy with it. It's for typing and gaming at home.

Since I'm now really used to mechanical feeling of the keyboard, I started looking for mechanical keyboard to the office. The problem is, that I'm working in open office with plenty of people around. So the new keyboard should be quiet enough not to distrub other collegues. My current HyperX with MX Red switches seem to me still on louder side. Not as loud as Mx Blue, but the spacebar and other bigger keys are noisy more than I expected to be. Also I'm working on Macbook at work.

I did some research and I came to the decision that the new keyboard should look like this:
- Mx Brown or Mx Silent Red switches (to be quiet and comfy for long typing sesion, I'm programmer)
- 65% layout (can also be 60/75% or TKL, but prefer 65%
- I like retro look - white/gray look with some decent accent

And my candidates for now are:

TADA68 gateron silent brown
+ Has silent option
+ Seems to be very durable with aluminium case
- not wireless option

or

AKKO 3068 with gateron Browns
+ It has wireless option - good for my macbook that I don't need connect another cable every morning
+ Cheaper
+ Layout seems to be almost perfect and I like the look of the keyboard
- not silent switch available

or

Anne Pro 2 gateron Browns (but not sure if I can handle only 60% layout as programmer)
+ 60% with arrows (3rd layer of tapping on fn/ctrl and shift key)
+ nice SW to utilize everything
+ wireless using BT 4.0
+ Cheap
- not silent switch available

[treeleaf64]

Cheap 65% boards are far and few between.

[Sup]

 Money for performance you can get the tada68  a 65% keyboard prebuild or as a kit. You can get a prebuild one with Gateron silent reds.

https://kbdfans.com/collections/fully-assembled-keyboard/products/tada68-mechanical-keyboard-65-iso-layout?variant=22171652718640 ISO
https://kbdfans.com/collections/fully-assembled-keyboard/products/tada68-mechanical-keyboard-gateron-swtich-65-layout-dye-sub-keycaps-cherry-profils ANSI

[rxc92]

If you don't mind spending about $250 you could get a very nice silenced Topre board (R2 preferably, as they have better silencing). They're very comfortable to type on and quite silent, professional aesthetics if you bring it to work/class/etc. Many people consider them the best switches available. Otherwise, Sup's suggestions are great; KBDfans make high quality and cheap boards.

[Sandak]

Thank you for your reponses.
$250 is to much for me at the moment. Lets keep some room for upgrades later. Now I'm looking more into budget good mix of cost and performance type of keyboard. Lets say around $100 or $160 at most if it is worth it.

Tada68 seems to be a nice a keyboard. Huge plus is that it has a gateron silent browns. I checked them on youtube and they seems to be pretty quiet opposite to regular browns. But I cannot find few things on their website. There is option to use USB C in DIY kit, but the prebuild seems to be with mini USB - I prefer USB C type for sure. Also I cannot find if the prebuild has any LED or not and if there is any posibility to get prebuild with lubed stabilizers?

And what do you think about Anne Pro 2? Is it worth it? How is the build quality? Seem to be very popular according to some YT videos. I like the wireless option, usb c and 60% layout that still keep arrows as fn1, fn2, ctrl and shift. RGB lighting is nice plus, but definitelly not something important to me. And the price for all those feautres seems to be very good deal.

[rxc92]

As far as the mini usb, don't worry; it's just the connection to the keyboard that is mini USB, which is probably the most common connection. The other end is still USB-C to plug into the computer. KBDfans may lube their stabilizers by default if you buy a built kit from them - that's what I did, but I'm not entirely sure if it's lubed or not as it has box switches. However, you could just shoot them an email. You can get their boards customized with nearly every MX-based switch (you can check their website for the huge list they have, I got Hako Trues) which makes it nice if you want to experiment a bit. 
 
I can't say too much about the Anne Pro boards, as I haven't tried one myself, but have heard good things about them. Build quality really doesn't matter a ton imo, as even most consumer boards (Corsair/CM/etc.) will last for years if you don't abuse them; they're all plastic case boards anyways. For an increase in quality, you could get an aluminum case keyboard; then again, you're looking for budget options and dropping an extra $100 for a metal case really won't be worth it, and it makes the keyboard much heavier (my 60% Tina is around 5 lbs, which is significantly heavier than my TKL Realforce at maybe 1.5 lbs). 
 
All in all, I'd say if you want to get a premade, get a 60% plastic-case board from KBDfans; with silenced Gateron browns, it comes out to $95 with Cherry stabilizers and an aluminum weight/choice of layout. AFAIK there aren't any consumer boards with them. If you're fine with learning to build your own, find your choice of kit and buy the switches separately. I do recommend a DZ60-based kit though, as it's commonly used, well made, and cheap.

[Sandak]

So I spend whole weekend reading reviews and watching yotube videos.

I really like the Anne Pro 2 keyboard for several reasons:
- Bluetooth option (good for my office, where I use macbook)
- 60% with tap arrows
- 60% layout easy to customize with new keycaps
- RGB lighting
- USB C connection
- The price seems to be very good value

But my biggest requirement is to be silent and Anne Pro 2 is offered only with Gateron Bronwns where I really prefer Gateron Silent verson of Browns or Reds. I heard some osund comparsion on youtube, and the silent versoin seems to be extremly quiet. Maybe even more quiet than most of the dom keyboards. My current keyboard HyperX Alloy with MX Reds is still kind of noisy - mainly because of bottoming and the larger keys (spacebar and backspace)

So I have to choose if I'm willing to sacrifice silent brons and get Anne Pro 2 or if the silent swtiches are such a big deal and then buy Tada64.

[Sup]

So I spend whole weekend reading reviews and watching yotube videos.

I really like the Anne Pro 2 keyboard for several reasons:
- Bluetooth option (good for my office, where I use macbook)
- 60% with tap arrows
- 60% layout easy to customize with new keycaps
- RGB lighting
- USB C connection
- The price seems to be very good value

But my biggest requirement is to be silent and Anne Pro 2 is offered only with Gateron Bronwns where I really prefer Gateron Silent verson of Browns or Reds. I heard some osund comparsion on youtube, and the silent versoin seems to be extremly quiet. Maybe even more quiet than most of the dom keyboards. My current keyboard HyperX Alloy with MX Reds is still kind of noisy - mainly because of bottoming and the larger keys (spacebar and backspace)

So I have to choose if I'm willing to sacrifice silent brons and get Anne Pro 2 or if the silent swtiches are such a big deal and then buy Tada64.

If i had to advise i would go with the Tada68 since QMK is very nice and works great to reprogram your keyboard. And the keyboards overall is better then the Anne Pro 2 imo expect that it doesn't have RGB.

Edit:
Tada also uses Gateron PBT dye subbed key caps cherry profile keycaps that are thick and will not shine after long time of use and the legends will never fade out.

[Sandak]

Hmm thank you all for your replies. They are very helpful.

I came here to this forum for advice from experienced users and since you guys are recommending me to go with Tada I think that I should trust you.
It is true, that my priority is silence (because of open office) and comfortable for long coding sessions. And Tada68 seems to be better option for this because of silence switches, dedicated arrow keys and now your recommendations.