As someone who’s looking to to get into the hobby, I’m curious to hear if there are any recommendations for budget friendly mechanical keyboards. I had/have a Corsair cherry red mechanical keyboard that I used probably around 10 years ago at this point when I was into gaming, but now I’d be looking for something a bit more refined, and possibly vintage as I quite enjoy using old tech. Any suggestions? I’m in Europe if that matters at all.
Are you looking to get into it because you want a good keyboard that feels good; or do you want to get into it because you like the idea of weird layouts, building your own keyboard, trying different switches, weird color schemes, custom key shapes, or all the other interesting but not typing things you can do. Nothing wrong with that second group, even though you can probably tell from my tone that I don’t see the point myself (if this is you I can’t give good advice so stop reading).
Take a look at Keychron. They have a lot to offer for around your budget and they go on sale frequently.
Are you looking to be able to swap switches out? If so you will need to find hot swappable switches.
If you care about backlighting they might be a little more expensive. But Keychron is reasonable. I’ve had their K2 for years and it has a better feel in it vs Corsair or Razer stuff in my opinion.
I’m going to against the grain a bit. If you liked and want the oldschool Thinkpad feel, look into getting a Topre board. Check out Leopold or Niz, both are decent topre clone brands.
Also, if you live in a metro area check and see if there’s a mechanical board gathering, possibly giving you a broader flavor of what’s out there that might fit your taste.
Ducky is worth a look.
I had the same question a while ago and got myself a Keychron C3 Pro for $40.