Alps: where even angels fear to tread. But then, if I said I was devilish, that wouldn't be right either. Hmm.
TL;DR: buy a buckling spring board and run away!!
It's complicated. The good MiniTouch isn't Alps, it's
Monterey. The other variants are
XM simplified (allegedly; would be a different Alps clone if it was sold before 1997) and rubber dome.
The Focus FK-
x001 series used several switches, including blue Alps CM (the One True Alps Switch), white Alps CM (successor to blue), and Type III Simplified, suspected to be Strong Man. You'd have to double-check this, but IIRC the Windows key models are Type III (no idea whether they're any good), and at least some of the Windows-key-less ones are proper blue Alps from the 80s. If you can get one of the blue Alps originals, you'll enjoy it – blue Alps sound and feel superb, very deep and resonant, and exceptionally tactile (if you're used to blues you'll be in for a real surprise):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDMurngkHdg ; I can't vouch for white Alps having never used them, but you should be OK with them. It's the simplified switches you have to watch out for.
All
Dell AT101, AT101W (104-key), AT102 and AT102W (105-key) are Alps CM, tactile. Rubber dome versions exist (there's an extra 'R' in the model number), but they're rare. The W series use black Alps, a so-so switch. The older boards used pink/salmon Alps. Cheap and commonplace boards, so-so feel, and not clicky, but a good solid sound nonetheless:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrMMLL9uuH4
HOWEVER:
None of the above are sold today. Alps Electric stopped making switches years ago. Fuhua took over making the inferior simplified version, but they ceased production early this year. Xiang Min still make switches, but they're neither popular nor common: the only boards I know with them right now are Ducky 1000-series, and the boards are infamous for shocking quality control.
There is no such thing as an "intro" board, as only one company is left making Alps-style switches of any value, and that's Matias, and you'll have to pay new price as their Matias Quiet Switch boards are brand new as of last month, and they've only just introduced Matias Click Switches into the Tactile Pro to replace the extinct Fuhua/Fukka switch.
So far there's no verdict on how the new Matias switches compare to reputable vintage switches (Alps CM cream and blue), and unless Matias have truly replicated the feel of these, then buying second-hand boards will mean that you're tied to second-hand products from the 80s and soldering good switches into better keyboards forevermore.
Compared to the resilience of Cherry, Alps is a complete disaster. Matias switches are not on sale yet, so no third-party keyboards are being sold with them – they can barely make switches fast enough to meet the demand of their new keyboards! However, over time we
should see the Matias switch series become the de facto Alps switch across the world, unless Xiang Min or APC improve their ergonomics significantly, which I doubt. There isn't anyone else selling Alps-style switches now. Strong Man went out of business around four years ago.
