Mechanical, membrane or wireless: picking a keyboard

Keyboards are the part of a setup people replace last and notice most. The choice comes down to how the key registers a press.

Membrane

A rubber dome under each key. Quiet, inexpensive, and perfectly serviceable for general office work. The feel softens over a few years as the domes wear.

Mechanical

An individual switch under each key. It costs more and lasts far longer, and the switch type sets the character: linear switches are smooth and quiet, tactile ones give a bump at the actuation point, clicky ones are loud enough to annoy a shared office.

Wired or wireless

Wireless has closed most of the latency gap and is worth it for a tidy desk. Remember it is one more thing to charge, and that a 2.4 GHz dongle occupies a USB port that Bluetooth would not.

Layout

Decide early whether you need the number pad. Dropping it moves the mouse closer to your body, which is a real ergonomic gain if you use one heavily.