In need of some tenkeyless gaming keyboard (mechanical) recommendations!

Razer blackwidow. Mechanical, and great! If i was your bf receiving that i'd be over the moon :D

If your bf likes quiet keyboards, but still mechanical, razer blackwidow ultimate stealth.

If all out gaming, razer blackwidow ultimate!

I don't know about tenkeyless keyboards... /r/mechanicalkeyboards have a bunch of people who know what they are talking about, I'm sure they'll help you.

For some reason I thought you needed a telekinesis keyboard... Then I thought, if you have telekinesis you dont need a keyboard. Unless you are developing telekinesis. If so, I heard the kinect can do this. Or maybe this is the keyboard you are not looking for.

Buying a mechanical keyboard without testing the switches isn't that smart. Has your boyfriend told you what kind of switches he wants? Choosing the right switch type is the only important thing when buying a mechanical keyboard. The other features of the keyboard don't really matter. Here's a guide on switches. I'm currently using Cherry MX Browns, which I find great. Tactile, but now very loud. The only other switches I've tried are Cherry MX Reds and I didn't like them at all. Typing with them was awful.

There are a few manufacturers, who have "traditional" looking mechanical keyboards. Filco and Ducky for example. They also have good build quality.

The Filco Majestouch-2 is certainly one of the best mechanical keyboards available, although it is also obviously a bit pricey and doesn't have any fancy "gaming" features (which is a plus in my book).

Regarding the switches, I would suggest either browns or blues for both gaming and programming.

CM Storm QuickFire Stealth

Get a Filco or something without the gimmicky overpriced backlit stuff.

IBM Model M "Space saver keyboard" ;D

"My boyfruebd's birthday"
"I am pretty satisfied with my G19"

You need a new keyboard too.

If he does programming, make sure you get a keyboard with a NORMAL layout, where the ins/del/home/end/pgup/pgdn block is fully intact.

I am very happy with my Cooler Master Storm Trigger, and if you want a more compact design their Quickfire Rapid would seem to fit the bill nicely. Cooler Master sensibly offer their keyboards in a range of switches so you should be able to find it with Cherry MX Browns.

Ducky Shine 3

Personally I have Ducky Shine 2 and use Red Cherry MX switches but for somebody who does other stuff too, Brown or Blue could be better. Blue just sounds terrible. Also Ducky Shine 2 comes in many backlight colors, personally I have blue. There's also red, green, pink, purple, orange and white I think.

try cm storm quickfire stealth with brown switch... have tactile feedback like blue switch but minus the loudness... red switch is good for gamers but maybe bad for programming...

I'm using Topre Realforce 88 UB. I play games and I'm also a programmer.

I use a G710+ but it has the numeric pad. Happy birthday to him though and good luck chosing!

My 2 keyboard: "QPAD MK85-Pro" and "Leopold" from elitekeyboards.com

Thanks for this thread; I've been thinking of getting a mechanical keyboard myself. The brown switches sound really good for me, since I want to both game and type on it.