Best Mechanical keyboard with native Mac controls.

[winteralfs]

I have noticed quite a few companies are coming out with Mac versions. Real Force, Ducky, Varmilo, Keychron, Vortex... But most seem to have superficial mac keycaps and getting the board to actually work like a Mac keyboard is convoluted and requires remapping keys and programming, often with no documentation... are there any of these boards that are plug and play with a Mac? which ones are the most seamless? Thanks.

[jamster]

I have noticed quite a few companies are coming out with Mac versions. Real Force, Ducky, Varmilo, Keychron, Vortex... But most seem to have superficial mac keycaps and getting the board to actually work like a Mac keyboard is convoluted and requires remapping keys and programming, often with no documentation... are there any of these boards that are plug and play with a Mac? which ones are the most seamless? Thanks.

Does this also apply to the Keychron K4? A friend bought this board and commented that it came default for Mac.

No Mac experience myself though, and the board design isn't my cup of tea (all keys jammed together).

[badnewsblair]

From research, the Keychron series has excellent Mac support. I don't have personal experience because I went another direction. However, I did a lot of research on the keyboard. The Keychrons even come with Mac keycaps that replace the default Windows keys.

[Primitive_Programmer]

I have a keychron K6 and use a Mac. It's the easiest keyboard that I've used for Mac. I just have to use a switch on the side of the keyboard to use the keyboard for either Mac or Windows. I've been using the K6 on Mac since April with no issues whatsoever. I highly recommend it if you're looking for an out of the box keyboard that works with a Mac. 

[Findecanor]

There is also Matias (obviously). That company makes keyboards for Mac first and PC second. They and their keyboard models have been around for some time, and their keyboards may not feel as premium as some other brands.

Their mechanical keyboards have their own clones of Alps switches in Apple's keyboards from the early '90s.
... and people have had some issues with them. So you'd better search around the forum to see if you'd want that risk.
There are three switches: Tactile damped, Clicky and Linear damped. Key feel of the clicky and tactile are somewhat different from the usual Cherry MX and clones, and the "quiet" variants aren't really that quiet in comparison with some damped keyboards. But many people prefer Alps-style switches over Cherry.
Do check Chyros' reviews of them (Bias: he loves original Alps)