Most MIDI keyboards aren't really made for piano performance or even really for piano practice. If you want a MIDI controller for this reason, I'd recommend going to a music store near you (if applicable) and playing a few and feeling the keys and go with the one that feels nicest for your budget.

I bought my wife a Yamaha Arius YDP-184 and she loves it. It's not 100% like the baby grand she does lessons on, but it's close enough for most purposes. It has a MIDI interface, but it's not really easily portable.

Seconded. My daughter plays piano, and we have one of these. The YDP line of pianos from Yamaha are very good value, obviously not the same as a grand piano but very very good for a digital piano, and has midi out.

It has midi out and presents itself as a USB audio interface. So if you go into the menu on the YDP itself and turn off the local sound, you can connect it to your laptop via USB and play virtual instruments on it, with the audio going right back out to the YDP's speakers.

I thought that was super cool when I realized that.

Amazing, I didn't know that at all!!

I'm just a hobbyist, but I've been playing on and off since I was a kid. I have this exact model.

I definitely recommend it, but I'd suggest trying it out in-person if possible. The key weights seem very heavy to me.. but it's entirely possible that this is how higher-end pianos feel and I lack the experience/familiarity.

Agreed—I think the economics just don’t justify production of good MIDI controllers. Outside of one or two models, they’re mostly bad. You have to try keyboards out in the store to find one you like. They won’t be a good replica of a piano, but they may be something you like.

The Korg D1 is expensive but has a RH3 keybed, which you might like if you like keys to be on the heavier side.

The Roland A-88 is the closest I've found. It feels great, but it's expensive.

The best keyboard controllers are made by companies that also make pianos. What I'd recommend is searching for the term "stage piano" -- these are compact instruments that are designed to be a piano first but can also be used as a MIDI controller. You'll get solid piano sounds and an upper-end keyboard action from these out of the box, but can also hook up MIDI to your laptop if you want to explore software-based synthesizers/VSTs.

At the moment I'm using a Launchkey 61 when not using my weighted digital piano.

I do also own a Roland VR-09, which by the way is incredibly hackable courtest of Ctrlr and a couple of custom panels. What is pretty cool about the Roland is, in organ mode the keys respond to hair trigger touch like a real B3, so you can do those really fast funky effects. I will probably always return to it for organ, at least until I can afford a real Hammond.

The arguments people are making about having a piece of hardware that you just turn on is certainly valid, but they are also comparing to a stock laptop running a general purpose OS, and also, clearly can afford to spend the money. For those of us who are so well off, Zynthian is a project that greatly streamlines things, and encompasses basically everything out there in the Linux audio ecosystem, including Pianoteq, on a Raspberry Pi. They're also just about to release a new version. I've been messing around with them for about a year now and they're the real deal.

Arturia KeyLab 88 [1]

Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88 [2]

Both with hammer action Fatar keybeds.

[1] https://www.arturia.com/products/hybrid-synths/keylab-88-mki...

[2] https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/keyb...