SO THE OTHER DAY I mentioned that I’d gotten this Azio mechanical keyboard and that I liked it a lot. But then somebody in the comments said that what I really wanted was this Unicomp mechanical keyboard. So since I hadn’t reviewed anything in a while, I ordered the Unicomp for a comparison.

Bottom line: The Azio is great, but the Unicomp is awesome. The Azio is better-looking, and I like the backlighting, and it’s got a good mechanical feel. The Unicomp, on the other hand, isn’t very good-looking (basically, it’s straight out of 1987) and it’s heavy. But it totally has that great old IBM AT feel. I even like it that the tops of the keys — which on the Azio have a rough-plastic texture — are kind of glossy-satin like the old AT keys. I find typing on it a genuine physical pleasure. Both of them are loud (though the Unicomp is louder). The Azio has a volume wheel and mute button, while the Unicomp has those only via function keys. I don’t think you’ll go wrong with either one, but for old-school touch-typing joy, I’d put the Unicomp about a half-notch ahead.