Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

For the last few years, I had mistakenly thought I understood the joys of the mechanical keyboard. I had been using a Razer Black Widow Ultimate. It's not that there's anything "wrong" with that keyboard. I do have my issues with Razer and their products, but this isn't a Razer review, so I'll just stop there. I found it important to bring up because that keyboard uses Cherry MX Blacks and for the longest while, this was the only switch that I knew. Enter the Das Keyboard 4 Professional Soft Tactile (the one with MX Browns). I think half the reason I am even writing this review is because I was looking for an excuse to use this keyboard. It is an absolute joy to use-- both for typing and for gaming. I am a software engineer by day and a gamer by night, so I have recently been putting a lot more emphasis on a good keyboard given how much I use them every day. I am really glad that I did. The Das 4 is not a cheap keyboard. That fact was a little off-putting at first and I wondered if I would feel like it was worth the purchase when it finally got here. Spoiler alert: it ABSOLUTELY does. I want to start with build quality. This is something that deserves a lot of attention especially if you want to consider the value that you're going to get in the long-run with this purchase. The Das 4 is outstanding. It's a very solid keyboard. It doesn't flex at all, despite me giving a reasonable amount of effort. The keys are laser-etched (of course), so you needn't worry about the caps fading or anything like that. Not that you ever should with a keyboard of this caliber. Next I want to talk about the keys and the layout. The keyboard feels just a tad more compact than usual. It took me all of about an hour to get used to typing on it. The spacebar length is just perfect. It has a standard numpad. The overall layout in general is no-frills, and that's exactly what I wanted in my keyboard. I also find it pretty cool that there is no "Windows" key. There is a key in lieu of the Windows key, and that key functions exactly the same as the Windows key, but I like that there's not a Windows logo etched onto my keyboard. There are media controls. A big knob for quick access to volume controls. Prev, play/pause, next, and mute. All of the essentials and none of the fluss. There's also a button for putting the system to sleep. That's literally all of the "extra" keys on this keyboard. I love that. The keyboard comes with a footbar that doubles as a ruler. It props the keyboard up just enough to be at a nice angle for me, personally. It's magnetic and pops right off if there's ever an emergency need to measure something. We are all thinking the same thing about the ruler, trust me. I haven't tried the MX Blue version of the keyboard, but I imagine it's quite similar to the MX Brown version but with the added clicks. I have fallen in love with the MX Brown switch, so I am quite happy where I'm at now. After using hundreds of keyboards over the last 20+ years, I am happy to recommend the Das 4 and am confident in saying it's my all-time favorite so far. When I'm done with this one (which might be 10 years from now because of build quality) I will immediately look back to Das for a replacement. Cons: I tried to find some. I thought I would miss backlighting but I don't. I find backlighting distractive and non-helpful. I got nothing. Buy this keyboard. Edit: April 2019: I have heard that since my review ~5 years ago, the quality of this keyboard has taken a serious hit. I can't speak to it personally, but it's worth mentioning. I've since moved on from Das.