Mechanical keyboards don’t have to be a rabbit hole. Just get something in a normal layout with brown switches (or silenced if you need that) and call it a day. I got a Keychron because they have Mac function keys, it was less than $100 and feels way better than the short key travel Magic Keyboard. I have no desire to upgrade.
Brown switches? MX Brown switches? Might as well not even put "rabbit hole" in that sentence...
I kid, I kid, it's all down to preference... That said, you can get yourself a single mechanical keyboard and call it a day, until one day you try a different board/layout with different switches. Maybe at your friends house, or at a shop, or more than likely: at work. You'll be forever wondering "I liked that...".
Keyboards really are a special tool for us. I've spent considerable amount of time and money on them, and I consider myself fairly frugal (well, in non keyboard related matters). All to say, it's very easy to fall into this rabbit hole, especially when you spend so much time working with these things...
I did actually "upgrade" my Keychron to Boba U4 switches (a popular choice for silent switches) because my family found the noise that the Browns make annoying. But to be honest in terms of typing experience the Browns that came with the keyboard (Gateron, which I believe are a cheaper replica of the Cherrys?) were totally fine to me and the Bobas are as well. Sometimes being a simpleton has upsides :)
My new uni roommate came in with Greens and we managed to compromise it down to "just" Blues after a week. Still have no idea how he didn't get kicked out of his first year lectures with that typewriter.
The keychrons come with Gateron switches, which in my experience are softer than the Cherry browns which have a kind of "spring" to them, even though the specs say they should be the same.
Source: I own a keychron k2 v1 with Gateron browns and a CoolerMaster something and Das S with Cherry browns.
You don't need a mechanical keyboard to get full key travel.
I do have mechanical keyboards and feel like I get a benefit from them, but I think you can get most of the way there with a standard non-laptop-style keyboard with keys that go all the way down.
Although interestingly reading this thread it seems like there are a lot of people who like the laptop-style keys, so who knows. Maybe it's all just muscle memory.
I have a mechanical keyboard I made myself, it uses blues (I've also used browns but I like blues a bit more) and I completely and wholly do not mind my laptop. I don't even have a preference between the two.
I don't get all the hate, but maybe I'm just too undiscriminating.
So why did you go for a mechanical keyboard if you're fine with a laptop keyboard?
I ask because to me the point of a mechanical keyboard is that you want more feedback/certainty on your keypress than an ordinary desktop keyboard gives.
If you don't notice the difference between a desktop keyboard and a laptop keyboard, then what does a mechanical keyboard add?
I wanted a programmable keyboard, and more keys, and a custom one does those things very well. Also, it was fun to build, and hopefully one of these days I'll finish the writeup on how I built it.
On the other hand, I had to hold myself back from spending several hundred dollars on a 'limited edition' set of keycaps that had pastel dots instead of letters, and am typing this on a 36 key, Ortholinear/column split hand-built (but not by me) keyboard, so your mileage may vary.
You've never drunk-purchased GMK Mitolet when it was available because your classic 'flat' SA Mitolet was starting to get shiny? You've never entered a raffle whose prize is the privilege of buying a single artsy keycap? You've never bought the same keyboard, but with different color anodization?
