Re:New Model M Is an American-Made Keyboard That Puts a Spri...
by rbanffy on Thursday February 18, 2021 @08:40AM
(#26179655)
Your criticism is understandable. The Model M is not as good as the Model F was, which is nowhere near as nice as the beam spring ones were. It was, indeed, a cheaper replacement to the Model F, which was, itself, a cheaper replacement to the beam spring ones.
> The Model M has no replaceable parts.
Unicomp sells a lot of replacement parts and a lot of the most common repairs can be easily done by the user. Besides that, they are really durable: I know people who use Model M's older than them.
And few keyboards will resist coffee spills.
One thing I wish it could do is backlit keys. Some people mod them, but I've never seen this done.
> Because it is much cheaper to make.
That's really true. Model F keyboards were expensive, beam-spring ones were even more and the kind of mechanical beasts you find inside IBM Selectric-based terminals and the 2260 terminals would be considered art installations more than office appliances if made today. You can get a new Model M today for less than many good mechanical keyboards with good switches and nice keycaps will cost you. And I assure you, no mechanical keyboard sounds like a Model M (or F, or beam spring, if you can pay for one).
I have a couple keyboards on my desk. The M sits beside a small "gaming" (which means "ridiculous RGB effects") mechanical one and a couple Apple ones (one wireless, one wired) all connected to different computers, which are used for different things (the Sun Type 7 is stashed away, for now, but, as cool-looking as it is, it doesn't feel that great). The gaming one will, eventually, get new sculpted/spherical keycaps because this is one area where these keyboards really shine - they are ridiculously customizable.
> The Model M has no replaceable parts.
Unicomp sells a lot of replacement parts and a lot of the most common repairs can be easily done by the user. Besides that, they are really durable: I know people who use Model M's older than them.
And few keyboards will resist coffee spills.
One thing I wish it could do is backlit keys. Some people mod them, but I've never seen this done.
> Because it is much cheaper to make.
That's really true. Model F keyboards were expensive, beam-spring ones were even more and the kind of mechanical beasts you find inside IBM Selectric-based terminals and the 2260 terminals would be considered art installations more than office appliances if made today. You can get a new Model M today for less than many good mechanical keyboards with good switches and nice keycaps will cost you. And I assure you, no mechanical keyboard sounds like a Model M (or F, or beam spring, if you can pay for one).
I have a couple keyboards on my desk. The M sits beside a small "gaming" (which means "ridiculous RGB effects") mechanical one and a couple Apple ones (one wireless, one wired) all connected to different computers, which are used for different things (the Sun Type 7 is stashed away, for now, but, as cool-looking as it is, it doesn't feel that great). The gaming one will, eventually, get new sculpted/spherical keycaps because this is one area where these keyboards really shine - they are ridiculously customizable.