There are all kinds of mechanical keyboards. Not every one is going to suit everyone's tastes.

> plus what's with the stripped down layouts?

The most common kind of 'squished down' is because it's "small like a laptop keyboard". The common sentiment seems to be: "I don't use those keys often, so I don't need them on the keyboard".

Though there's another kind of small keyboard: small keyboards with multiple thumb keys. Multiple thumb keys then allow the thumbs to do much more than a typical keyboard, & so allow bringing the full functionality of the keyboard to within reach of the hands on home row.