The vast majority of computer keyboard made in the last 30 years and all the mechanical keyboards I have seen follow the standard set by IBM in which one row of keys is 3/4 inch from the next row (which I will call the "vertical spacing") and (in each row) one key is 3/4 inch from its neighbor (which I will call the "horizontal spacing").
All the keyboards sold by Apple in the last 4 years deviate from the IBM standard by having a "vertical spacing" of only 9/16 (edit: wrong: 23/32 is more like it) inches or so (except that the bottom row, which contains the space bar, is "taller" than the other rows except on the new 11-inch Macbook Air). I.e., on a recent Apple keyboard, the "vertical" component of the distance between the center of the Q key and the center of the A key is significantly less than it is on most keyboards made in the last 30 years.
I used to be annoyed at Apple for deviating from the standard, but then I noticed that it might be time for a new standard (and as far as I have been able to tell by measuring a few keyboards and looking at a lot of pictures of keyboards, all Apple keyboards of the last 4 years are "standardized" in the sense of being the same in their spacing except for the very minor difference in the new 11-inch Macbook Air noted above) because the old, IBM standard vertical spacing of .75 inches is a problem on netbooks and computers like the 11-inch Macbook Air.
So my question to the group is, can I buy or build a mechanical keyboard (external keyboard, of course) that has the same vertical spacing between rows of keys as an Apple keyboard?
That way, it will be easier every time I switch between using my Macbook's internal keyboard and the mechanical keyboard.
