I've taken apart Topre style boards before. I can absolutely confirm that the internals work differently from a classic rubber dome board.
I'm not about to argue that the different mechanism makes Topres somehow special or worth the price of admission, but there's nothing "alleged" about it. I do love the sound they make, though.
They are different, but it's true the capacitive part is hardly necessary for the feel.
Unlike normal mechs, there is almost no chance you're not bottoming out a Topre anyways, so the actuation point could be at the very bottom of travel and still work the same.
Also I've tried $40 rubber dome Keytronics that had identical snappy Topre action, and the result was so similar I doubt most Topre users would be able to tell them apart (they might even prefer the Keytronic, the keys were much tighter)
I've taken apart Topre style boards before. I can absolutely confirm that the internals work differently from a classic rubber dome board.
I'm not about to argue that the different mechanism makes Topres somehow special or worth the price of admission, but there's nothing "alleged" about it. I do love the sound they make, though.