hi, long time lurker here (i contributed to a post and some comments a long time ago but account is gone). anyway, you asked about something i know about so here you go.

there are no awesome full size he keyboards out there yet besides wooting (and many of those are raised keys and not submerged which results in a thin and louder high pitched click vs thocky goodness). if you're going to try something new try the following setup for gaming and/or work. it will take most people at least two weeks to adapt to any new key layout and they likely will not find it comfortable or speedy at first. this recommendation is for gaming, for work most would be better served with a tenkeyless (TKL) keyboard and a simple numpad (as per below).

1) get the largest mousepad you can (plain or rgb, doesnt matter as long as its thick and good) that can cover your desk enough to put a keyboard and mouse on it.

2) the keyboard - AJAZZ AK820 MAX HE Rapid Trigger Keyboard
one of the best hall effect keyboards at any price (wooting overpriced and not as butter)
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJ2HSKQ6

the front facing (versus facing up) see through keycaps are awesome and should never wear. the led lighting also is not directly in your eyes when you look down at your keyboard this way (normally you have to put your own keycaps on to get this and make sure the led lights are south facing). this is one of the best keyboards i have ever used for gaming out of the box and that is by default without any software features such as rapid trigger, mod tap, dynamic key, or toggle keys; pure butter. switches and key layout are great too; i really dislike 75% or 83 key keyboards that don't at least have home/end pgup/pgdn and ins/del. this one is only missing insert which you have multiple other ways to achieve and trades it for a very nice metal knob (volume / mute or whatever else you want it to do you can even program it to insert). so this is 82 key + knob instead of an 83 key layout.

unless you need wireless i recommend the wired version (black/grey color) to get you that juicy 8000hz polling rate (which likely no humans can detect but i personally find wired to be better for low latency and with no battery shenanigans at the wrong moment this way too). its also on sale 14% off and has been for some time now.

note: software is difficult to pick the right one, you want this one - "AJAZZ_AK820 MAX Single Mode RGB Magnetic Axis_Keyboard Driver_Installer_V2.06.01.zip"

3) since you want full size you can add on a mechanical rgb numpad for when you use it. i use one myself for some games (usually games with external cameras or some rpgs). the good heavy thocky one i use for work (epokmaker th21) doesn't seem to be in stock any more so here is one i use for gaming and a few alternatives. make sure the numpad is your preferred switch (red/brown/blue etc.) and mechanical and you should be fine / you can always swap the keycaps too if supported. hall effect is silent so you probably want red switches.

a) this is the one i use for gaming (and it has macros which you said you like - note that the main keyboard also supports both layers and macros too) -
https://www.amazon.com/MOTOSPEED-Mechanical-Portable-Backlight-Extended/dp/B0854K7NCR

also this kb does not need a driver, everything can be done via the numpad itself (paper instructions were included) which is great.

b) these others i haven't used but they look cool albeit pricier -

https://www.amazon.com/BOYI-TD31Pro-Mechanical-Bluetooth5-0-Rechargeable/dp/B0DGQV7NH7
https://www.amazon.com/Kisnt-Mechanical-Programmable-Swappable-Numeric/dp/B0D97HDC9X
this one looks cool (wireless and a calculator?) -
https://www.amazon.com/EPOMAKER-Wireless-Mechanical-Multifunction-Wisteria/dp/B0DF7H66H9

this post was supposed to be short with a couple of links but hopefully the walls of text help you and some of the fine blue users here :).

This comment was edited on Feb 5, 2025, 19:29.