i didn't want to get into detail as i've lately bought a Topre and i need to say that to as many people as i can the same way Vegans do. So i'm not likely to be very objective, mmk?
Generally speaking, membrane keyboards are pretty good for whatever it is that you do on a regular office session. When the membrane becomes old and the stem dirty, which can easily be every 3 months, just throw it out. they cost like $10 each max, and there is no need to buy an expensive one.
Mechs are NOT likely to last 10 years, unless you invest into maintenance. At this point you got a $100~200 product you need to work on and buy oil, soldering iron, tooling, etc. It's ok, it's a ncie hobby, but not something which makes money/time sense.
Mechs DO make sense if you have a specific need for them. If you game and therefore NKRO is a must, if you need a certain type of response/behaviour from your switch, if you type for a living, if your hands have medical issues.
And also, you can just buy a keyboard as "jewelry", something beautiful that either looks good or feels good to use.
The point is, keyboards can be so different, even through minute detail, that we really need to ask *what* you want from your kb.
For example, working backwards from what i have:
1. a cherry blue clone
is VERY cheap and exceptionally well built, the sound is annoying for offices and not good for Quake due to the switch, but fun to type on and use for normal PC stuff.
2. cherry clear form WASD
super expensive, very good gaming switch, tiring to use too long, excellent for quake, maybe not so much if you play Starcraft (my SC2 playing friend tells me) due to the weight of the switch.
3. topre
also super expensive, without comparison for typing, absolutely rubbish for playing due to the way the keys activate before any travel at all, although it is a very quick switch. great sound.
4. this P.O.S. membrane i'm on, a Lenovo
garbage, but it costs nothing, it's almost entirely silent, and during its early months of life there is even a little springiness in the membrane so not even too horrid.
5. i do not own, but used to use a ALPS Bigfoot kb
feels just great to even press the switch, loud, slow, heavy, big and with below average ergonomics. Expensive even back then, today old-new stock would be over $150.
and that's what i own now, but you could get:
6. a Unicomp
the switch feels great, but it's VERY slow compared to a modern switch, not suitable for gaming, very loud, build quality is meh for the money.
7. a Model F clone
possibly the best switch you can buy, super loud, ridiculously expensive. probably not good for gaming.
8. a Alps Clone / Matias switch
apparently very quiet and civilized, expensive, basically a better cherry. i do not have direct experience with them.
and most of these switches have sub-sets which are better or worse for the indicated use.
Dome with slider keyboards are not easy to find - that i know of. I might be wrong here, because it's not an item that i have familiarity with. As i understand it, they were a stepping stone between full mech and full membrane, and they were never really considered good... this doesn't mean they are not good, just that the mech community never thought so.
As you can see from the Chyrosran video above, some of them can be as good as the mechanical ones.
Now, remember that these switches age, some well, some badly. Membranes and foil and other tactility / reset mechanisms spoil with age, wear down, so unless you buy a modern slider on membran kb, you will likely not get a good kb. And the modern ones are not likely to be any cheaper, probably anything from $60 to $100.
Since you can buy Gateron Browns and Outemu Blues for $30~40, i don't really see the point.
Anyway, if you WANT a dome with sliders, i would look at Logitech, i think they have quite a few models which are "high end membrane", which probably means they have the dome + slider switch.
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