I'm looking to purchase a new keyboard, and I'd like to go for something really high quality - perhaps tailored for gaming, but without any tacky additions you wouldn't see on an ordinary keyboard. Any suggestions or brand suggestions? I'm willing to pay up to £60, so I want something that is highly durable too. I'd also prefer to avoid wireless keyboards.

If you're willing to eBay for it (or order one from America, though I suspect that'd quickly cost more than £60), grab an IBM Model M. They'll still be functional long after we're all gone.

EDIT:

See also IBM Model M: The Best Computer Keyboard Ever — praise even from a website dedicated to 680x0 and early PowerPC Macs, none of which can even use the keyboard.

For input peripherals there is obviously no other choice than Logitech. Why do you even ask?

Forget all the extra stuff that aren't actually useful, get a Logitech Media Keyboard for £15 and spend the rest at your favourite bar, you can get quite a good calm going for that kind of money.

edit: I have the wired keyboard-only version (Logitech Media Keyoard Elite) of the Logitech keyboard the guy in Thomas' link praises, and as I am a fan of light, short action keyboards, it's the best desktop keyboard I've ever used. I remember at some point when PC's started getting cheap, some vendors prided themselves in shipping their computers with Keytronic keyboards. I've always hated those, they had far too long throw for me. These days I do most of my typing work on my Thinkpad because of the sweet keyboard.

The only one that came close to it was an old Mitsumi keyboard, the same model they used in early seasons of Stargate SG-1 in the dialing computer prop, but i spilled quite a lot of coffee into it and it had a DIN plug to boot.

Another vote for Model M ^_^ I practically worship mine.

They are nearly indestructible, and will likely outlast you as well as any offspring you may end up with. Unicomp sells new ones that are not quite as high quality, but ~90% there. Failing that, there's the supposedly excellent Scorpius M10, which BTW is available in black, if that's your preference.

Although neither are specifically made for gaming, original Model Ms lack windows keys, so they are handy for shareware/freeware gaming and older titles that really like CTRL and ALT action.

Just get any old keyboard.
They're all the same.
(Except laptop and novelty keyboards)

EDIT:
The only thing you might want to pay attention to is the arrangement of the keys above the arrow keys.
I hate having to use a keyboard that has them arranged differently.

Try before you buy. You don't want a keyboard that's too hard to press the keys on. I use a Logitech Cordless Desktop, and the keys are nice and light.

Grab Das Keyboard?

I got a free "Ideazon Z-Board" last year at a LAN party, and I must say, its a very high quality keyboard. Its also way overpriced for the gamer market. It's over $100 cad, and its not even wireless, oh but its keys are put on removable plates that are EASILY cleaned and replaced It also has a nice usb hub and comes with software to remap all keys to anything you want, you can even get a separate WoW or UT keyset with custom key positions and sizes.

Oh, yeah, that's a pain. I have ALT mapped to command, CTRL mapped to option, shift is still shift, and caps lock is control. But that's okay because that's where control is meant to be anyway, obviously. And command is still in the right place — nicely under the thumb for keyboard shortcuts that don't give you RSI.

I don't imagine it'd be anything like as big a problem for actual Windows/DOS users...

I don't really have an suggestions for a PC keyboard, but I'm interesting in buying a Logitech Cordless MediaBoard for my PlayStation 3.

I buy keyboards at Salvation Army regularly except for the time I got an IBM keyboard there. It worked flawlessly for about 4 years of hard use, at which time one of the two plastic alignment pins under the right shift key snapped, causing it to bind. I took out one of the springs to relieve the unequal pressure on the remaining pin, but it was just too "loose" then, so I got some more. Right now I'm using some old Gateway keyboards (just a little too easy to press a key, but, hey! No "windows" keys!) And only $0.99! OTOH, since half of them don't work, they're effectively $2 each. I expect them to work for 6 months to a year before failing to register keypresses for certain keys.

Arthur: There's an even cheaper way - electronics recycling bins.

Aww. They create a Model M remake, and they keep the ridiculously tiny Enter key?

Microsoft Natural Keyboard (the only MS product worth buying). Not so great for games, but it's awesome when you're typing all day.

I picked up one of these for my PC/Hackintosh:
http://www.apple.com/keyboard/

It...is...awesome. The keys make zero noise when pressed.

Yeah, but you have to press far too hard to register a keypress. In my opinion, of course

My current keyboard is just the most generic Microsoft keyboard (the kind you get with a Microsoft USB mouse for some cheap price). It's definitely all I want in a keyboard.
"all I want" is pretty much keys that have just the right resistance and take just the right effort to register a keypress and have all of the keys. Their one downside are the awkwardly placed home/end/delete/pageup/pagedown keys.
The mouse is pretty great too, it's accurate and responsive.

If I wanted to invest money in peripherals it would go towards better speakers or screen, not a keyboard. (Though in my case I don't really need those. I've got the awesome ATP3 speakers and a nice 19" Samsung LCD. What I need is a better computer )

Of course, all of this is hardly helpful for the topic at hand. So why do you want a new keyboard for so much money?

You know, I used to have the same attitude with respect to mice and keyboards - until I found a website (might have been a blog) of someone who wondered why people are willing to spend loads of money on things like speakers or displays, but refuse to spend money on mice and keyboards, which are at least as important as the screen and in many ways more important than speakers. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that author was absolutely correct.
A keyboard is probably the most important input device for your computer and it's not really one of the things you should be stingy about.

That said, my current keyboard is the one that came with my first computer back in 1994 or so. I'm sure it's not as good as the indestructible IBM already mentioned (it uses rubber caps instead of springs, for instance, at least one of which is in need of replacement), but I like it a lot. I work much more comfortably on it than on other keyboards I've tried since. So yes, if at all possible, try the keyboard before buying it.

I like this one, it's cheap and you can code in the dark!

Man, I hate those keyboards. I get flashbacks from second grade computer classes using those eBooks with no use besides making pretty little collages.

At first I was like cool! Then I'm like, Wait, I'm typing in the dark right now.

What?! This is precisely the reason why I bought the keyboard (besides it's overall sexyness). I think you may be thinking of the keyboards from a generation before. I hated them because the keys were hard to press. However, the new keyboards are more akin to laptop style keyboards which have easily pressed and silent buttons.

A very important consideration if one lives in a dorm room like myself, since few sleeping roommates will appreciate the machine-gun-like noise of a coder typing furiously late at night. If only it didn't cost so much...

I don't like keyboards that have special buttons hanging off all the sides, which serve no other purpose than to rob me of desk space... I hate those microsoft keyboards that remap the F keys to do stupid things...

My current keyboard is a PS2 (as in PlayStation 2) keyboard that one of my housemates left behind when he moved out. It doesn't have that great tactile feedback that people like those IBM keyboards for, but I'd say it's a good keyboard. I also like the look of those apple keyboards. I considered buying one before I got the PS2 keyboard, but I reckon the apple ones are too expensive.

I'm not saying a keyboard is unimportant, I'm just saying that there's no reason to spend so much money on a keyboard because you won't get any significant extra functionality out of it.
It's like buying silver cutlery instead of the generic stainless steel variety, your food won't taste better, you won't have improved grip on the cutlery (to prevent slipping), you will not have improved accuracy in picking up food. The only advantage is that it will look better.
So I'm saying that for that amount of money - just get yourself a nice generic stainless steel set and spend the rest on nice set of dinner plates.

Actually, a good keyboard will last longer, will be much easier to clean, and keep clean, as well as being better for your wrists and hands.

That entirely depends!
I can get cheap generic cutlery, but if I do I run the risk of having forks that bend when you try to use them, knives that are not properly balanced and bend or break if you want to cut anything serious with it or have spoons with an uncomfortable grip.

What you potentially get from a more expensive keyboard is more comfort in use and better durability. The first one is especially important.

I'll admit that mine is not easy to clean, but it has lasted 4 years so far (without so much as a faded key), and my wrists feel fine thank you very much

The real UK keyboards seem to have a proper sized enter key, see e.g. the pictures with this eBay listing. Though you pay for it with the usual UK-style tiny left shift.

As I have the tiny enter key, I think I must have an American Model M.

Yikes! My keyboard cost me about £350 and I wouldn't consider it high quality.

http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/594718
this one

I have three. 30e, 420e(used) and 990e.

I have found an important thing to consider when getting a keyboard:
Make sure it registers all keypresses. Most keyboards only allow about 3 at a time, if you're going to spend a lot of money, try to get one which will allow you to press all the keys at once and still have the software know about it.

Can you get those!? As it is, I find it impossible to crouch-walk-strafe in Counter-Strike because of my keyboard's limitations... If I can get one that will register all keypresses simultaneously that would be well worth it.

I don't personally know of any, but I (or someone else, I don't remember) asked in another thread, and it became apparent that in the DOS days they were commonplace. I'd be surprised if no company still makes them like that.

I've never seen those. And the original Doom faq and others mentioned the problem of limited keys down at once. The "best" keyboard I had could do 6 at once on the home row, but no more than 2 on any vertical row. Although I could crash a Commodore 64 by mashing both my hands flat on the keys...

I think a keyboard that can register a high number of simultaneous keypresses is what really should be marketed as a gamer's keyboard, not those keyboards with custom sets.
wanders off to check how many simultaneous keys my spare keyboard can handle
EDIT: Wow, it's actually a lot better than my main keyboard in that sense. (Of the keys that I like clicking together, the main one can accept 2-4 simultaneously [depending on combination], compared to 5-6 with the spare )

My keyboard can't handle all four arrow keys on PS/2, however I have not found a limit to simultaneous keys with it hooked to a USB port.

Really!?! Care to tell us the brand and model?

Have you tested this with an application that indicates which keys are held down or is this just based on everyday usage? The main place I notice the limitation is games and it depends on the type of game; some games don't have a lot of simultaneous keypresses.

Well, about the extent of my testing was all four arrow keys when playing StepMania. I could fire up an Allegro example to check, if I had Allegro installed on here.

It's some Logitech Elite keyboard though. I like it, but its got a ton of useless keys. And when it's on PS/2, your F1-F12 keys default to something else, you must manually hit the function-lock key each time the KB is powered on. Doesn't seem to be an issue on USB though.

Cool. Nice studio.

I would bet the ZBoard that I have has no or very few key press limitations. Considering its a $100+ gamer keyboard.

Is the model M waterproof? That's pretty much the deciding factor when I buy a keyboard.

Keyboards do not like swimming, Mark ;-)

Keyboards! pff! i use Allegro 5's mind control.. typing is so 2007.

Scotty (holding mouse like a microphone): "Hello, computer"
Office dweeb "Just type on the keyboard"
Scotty: "How quaint!"

Is transparent aluminum something you might be interested in?

As far as keyboards go, I want one with the F-keys and their normal F-key functions active by default, not all those special functions for email and all that other junk. Sometimes I get pain in my left hand when using my laptop. It would be nice if I could make it a little more comfortable to type on it.

Yuck!

Right now there is a pile of about 20 IBM Model M keyboards sitting under a "TAKE A FREE KEYBOARD!" sign in our CS department. I suppose I would consider taking one if they were black, but they just look so awful - I wouldn't be able to stand having one on my desk.

[edit] perhaps they aren't the famous model M, although they are IBM keyboards and they do look similar - I'll take a closer look tomorrow