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by lproven 1662 days ago
Yes, IBM Model M. I have about 5, which I saved from being thrown out in the 1990s.

I carried one in my luggage when I emigrated, 7 years ago. I've used it in 4 office jobs over 5 years, with a grand total of 2 (two) people complaining in all that time.

1991 model with buckling springs, UK layout. The best PC keyboard ever made (I intentionally exclude Macs -- that'd be the AEK1, followed by AEK2 -- possibly with early DEC VT terminals in the early 1980s).

The hype about noise is totally overrated.

1 comments

I caught a stack of Model M's from a school in 1993; spent some time refurbishing them all, and had them to use up until a couple years ago when the last one died. I could have refurbished again, but I chose to buy a new Unicomp USB model M instead, and that has been serving quite well since. I'm rough on keyboards and mice: skin condition and constant minor bleeding.

I've used DEC vt220 and 320 terminals, their keyboards were better than average but not all that; IMO. the keys were a bit smaller and the whole thing more compact, I'd say. They're nothing like the build quality or repairable.

People used to speak well of Northstar keyboards back when, i didn't care for them. I had a Victor AT keyboard form that era that I wore out utterly.

The model M clicky noise isn't all that bad. I have only had complaints on a couple occasions, woke the wife up once with a spate of typing she swore sounded like someone shaking a spray paint can.