Review of the Model M-Inspired Unicomp Customizer Keyboard 383
ThousandStars writes "I wrote a review of the Unicomp Customizer Keyboard, which is a modern version of the IBM and then Lexmark Model M much beloved by nerds and hackers. The pros of the Customizer: it's sturdy, remarkably similar to the Model M, has great tech support, and uses a USB interface. Oh, and it's Mac-friendly. The cons: at $69 it's somewhat expensive, and its noise won't be music to your cubemate's ears." Note: this is one of the very, very few buckling-spring keyboards you can get new these days, instead of prowling through thrift stores, eBay, and university dumpsters.
I didn't realise that they had a name... (Score:4, Interesting)
You should have bought more than one! (Score:5, Informative)
The model M is not immortal and any good nerd has at least three in the closet. I have only had one of these die on me and it was probably a wiring problem that I can fix but it was nice to have more waiting. They seem to be going for about $25 on ebay, so the internet has not let you down by letting people share their love. Perfect knowledge and many providers is a fair market so $25 is a fair price for a used keyboard. Finding a cache in a dumpster is like finding several hundred dollars on the street and you should save them all for yourself, your friends or just to sell them.
New keyboards like this are worth their price if you type a lot. It does feel good to type on and it will last forever. The only problem with the new ones, like the reviewer noticed, is the windows keys which decrease the size of Ctrl and Alt so that you might miss them.
Re:You should have bought more than one! (Score:5, Interesting)
I have one of the SpaceSavers from Unicomp, as they didn't have a 105-key Customizer at the time.
And since they couldn't offer me one with a Croatian layout, the nice people at Unicomp agreed to send me a blank one. So I got the best from both the Model M and Das Keyboard, and many looks of frustration from family members.
People look at me in a funny way when I tell them how much I paid for it (the shipping almost doubled the cost, too), but then, they do not type as much as I do.
OTOH, I find it funny that people are more than willing to cash out insane amounts of money for the bestest and fastest CPU or video card, but a keyboard? A random El Cheapo keyboard suits them just fine. Me, I like to hear when I've clicked a key, because I don't always even look at the screen when I type.
An added benefit is, of course, the fact that it can be used as an offensive weapon in case of dire emergency or family argument ;)
Re:You should have bought more than one! (Score:5, Interesting)
While the Model M is not immortal, it is as close to immortal as any keyboard or piece of computer equipment ever was.
I have a few old Model M keyboards... still running. I bought my mother a computer 15 years ago or so, and gave her a (used) Model M with it. She has went through numerous computers, and still uses that same Model M (it turned 22 years old this past February). She wont give it away, she wont sell it, she wont part with it for any reason. Her computer dies, she gets a new one, chucks the keyboard that comes with it and plugs in the Model M. Doesn't bat an eye over replacing a computer every few years... doesn't have any intention of ever replacing her Model M and expects it to outlast her next few computers (which it probably will).
Interestingly, as her's is a lot older than the Model M's and M13s I have, the click is very unique in comparison. About as loud, but more metallic/click sounding.
I used to have a few dozen of them (bought a box full of them). I had one "test" keyboard, which we tried killing... we'd walk on it (ok, that's nothing for a Model M... but we had to try), we drove over it with an Isuzu Trooper (well, the guy driving hit the gas and it shot out from under the back wheel across the parking lot... minor scratches on the bottom)... we put it in front of a city bus' rear wheels and watched as the bus edged up on it waiting for a traffic light to change, and then drove off... still worked of course. Finally, we launched it off a 3 story roof... as far outwards as we could throw it (musta went a few hundred feet horizontal, in addition to the three story drop)... picking up the keycaps and such was not fun. Though we did manage to shatter the outer case (and couldnt find a few keycaps), it still worked. We took a small torch to the plastic... weird stuff, that plastic... it's surface bubbled and browned, but we would have had to hold the torch to it for quite a long time to melt through, so we gave up.
A sledge hammer managed to damage the plastic keycap plate enough in a few areas to stop some keys from working... but then again, most people dont run over their keyboards or hit them repeatedly with sledge hammers.
We did have a few in the box we bought that had some issues... most seemed to be screwed up springs from being jammed in with so many others (fallen off keycaps and bent, damaged or missing springs).
This is being typed on my Model M13 - a youngin by Model M standards (10 years old this June). Our other Model M is 16 years old, and our other Model M13s are 12-13 years old (2 beige, one black).
My fave is the Model M13 black or Model M in olive-grey (heh - find one of those... I'm trying ever since I missed out on buying one of 6 that were on sale a few years ago).
My only problem with the M13's is that the Trackpoints seem to "die" on them (they get pegged to a corner or side of the screen... sometimes fixable by re-gluing it to the keycap plate... sometimes not). Still trying to figure out where I can get new Trackpoint sticks to fix two of them...
As a side note, from what I understand, you can still get the UniComps without the Windows key. I prefer the standard Model M/M13 layout (no extra keys).
The standard 101 key Model M clones are at:
(white) http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/cus101usenon.html [yahoo.net]
They dont seem to have the black ones for sale in 101 key layout anymore...
Funny thing is they sell their Model M clone with an optional "Enhanced" mushy switch option (ie: no clicky mechanical spring). I dont think they understand the meaning of the word enhanced.
I type 12 hours a day, every day... and will not use anything but a Model M/M13 unless absolutely necessary. Once you get used to the click (which does serve a purpose and increases typing speed), you find that you look at the keyboard or screen a lot less when typing, you make less mistakes, and you type faster. I can hit ov
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But still, when my wife gets me to go to a thrift store, I still make a beeline for the pile of keyboards in the back.
The Interent giveth, and the Internet taketh away (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.clickykeyboards.com/ [clickykeyboards.com]
And for Northgate Omnikey's
http://www.northgate-keyboard-repair.com/ [northgate-...repair.com]
So sayeth the Internet.
Geezer alert! (Score:5, Interesting)
Yet you are comparing it to the IBM model M. When that model was out over 20 years ago [wikipedia.org]. A cheap keyboard was over a hundred bucks back then.
Tell me again how we should be glad gas prices are low "after inflation?"
Of course, that hundred dollar keyboard was connected to a four thousand dollar PC with a color monitor (green). It had no mouse. It held less than 1 meg of memory and ran at less than 16 mhz (the 286 five years later; the 8088 was 4 mhz, a thousand times slower than today's CPUs).
I paid $70 for my keyboard/mouse combo. Of course, they're wireless and the mouse has no ball.
Re:Geezer alert! (Score:5, Funny)
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Ha! I recall the Model M selling for $249. (btw, they weren't really referred to as "Model M's" back then, they were just IBM keyboards. They only had one...)
$69 is not bad if this keyboard is really as good as a Model M. Of course, I bought my Model M new in the box for $15 on Ebay a few years ago, so that's probably still a better deal. And with a
Hear Much? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hear Much? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Hear Much? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Hear Much? (Score:5, Funny)
*spews coffee over Model M keyboard*
These things are dishwashable, right? Right?
Re:Hear Much? (Score:4, Interesting)
*spews coffee over Model M keyboard*
These things are dishwashable, right? Right?
Nearly so.
One of my teachers in high school spilled coffee or coke (whatever; it was caffeinated, sugary and sticky) over her Model M and got all panicky about it.
I told her to soak it in water, turn it over for a day or two to dry and plug it back in. As good as new.
Damned indestructible. And as I said in my post above, a nice offensive weapon, too.
Re:Hear Much? (Score:4, Funny)
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still heavy enough? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:still heavy enough? (Score:5, Funny)
I have owned one of these customizers for a couple of years so far and I can say yes. Even a woman of moderate build could fell two or three professional wrestlers with this thing. If they can lift it.
They should have know better than to mess with you when they heard your keystrokes sounding off like machine gun fire in the night. They are very spill resistant too, so you don't have to worry about how bloody they get. You can type a strongly worded letter mere seconds after an attack.
Now if they would just offer one with lit keys so you can see who you are pummeling in the pitch black without the aid of night vision goggles at an additional cost!
too big (Score:2, Insightful)
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Admittedly, learning to type is hard, and few today seem to think it's of any value, but typing numbers is no more difficult than typing anything else. Even the F keys in the top row are easy to type (as evidenced by the years of WP popularity and dominance).
On the other hand, if you are doing nothing but typing numbers for hours at end (data entry and accounting people traditionally do this
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give me a HHK with buckling springs and powered hubs.
I'd buy one in a flash.
I have two of the Unicomps at the moment and I'm just waiting to take a band saw to one of them.
Re:too big (Score:5, Insightful)
I see you've never had to enter a long series of numbers into a database. Entering numbers from the number row above the letters is slow, cumbersome, and error-prone.
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I don't do enough data-entry to warrant a numeric keypad. Even if I did, I wouldn't want it glued to the right side of my keyboard, forcing me to reach 3 inches further every time I use the mouse.
The numeric keypad on standard keyboards is literally placed in the worst possible place for anyone except an accountant who doesn't use a mou
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You should look at the Apple bluetooth wireless keyboard. It trims out the numeric keypad, is high quality, looks great, and the feel of the keys is a dream (though not the loud clicky feel this article is talking about). I've been using it on a Windows PC with no problems. It really saves desktop space and removes the need to stretch your arm far to the right to use the mouse. The only stumbling point might be that some editing keys have also been removed (home/end), but I've become used to key combination
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Actually I'm using one as we type. It's great and I love it. I use it for writing text and stuff - I use several keyboards for different purposes. My HHK is for serious coding sessions - I note that it hasn't been used much lately :-( I also use some kind of generic full keyboard, and
USB, pointing stick (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd like to get one but currently I have a good stock of Model Ms for my typing needs.
What I really want to use is the old PC or PC-XT keyboard - buckling spring but even heavier and better built than the Model M. However the electronics are different. I think I saw an adapter on sale for $100 somewhere but that's a bit steep.
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I found it on Ebay for about $30. If you do an ebay search for part number 37L0888 it should turn up. They are incredibly expensive to buy new.
I prefer Unicomp's Endurapro (Score:3, Interesting)
Apparently, it is more than just an approximation (Score:2)
$69 is CHEAP for a decent keyboard. I'm one of those IT guys that's happy to give out the lame excuse for keyboards being shipped with PC's and horde the best of the older keyboards.
Our dev has a DASkeyboard. Very nice too. I'm not l33t enough to go decal-free at 3AM support calls though.
Offtopic:
This company is a *perfect* example of the ec
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Manufacturing is alive and well in the United States. The job growth from manufacturing isn't particularly strong though, as there is tons of automation. One guy running a couple of CNC lathes is more productive than 4 guys running manual lathes, and so on. Or something like Hyundai, where the spend less per vehicle on welding, but have higher consistency, because they are fully automated.
Re:Apparently, it is more than just an approximati (Score:2)
Offtopic:
This company is a *perfect* example of the economic potential for manufacturing in the U.S. It's a niche product, high quality, that won't have a market big enough for whatever low-wage empire to ever export the work.
The address given on the website is a relatively small building, which according to the PVA's office is mostly warehouse (with a small office attached).
Manufacturing is most likely done in an ex-Lexmark plant somewhere in Mexico or the Far East....
My experience. (Score:3, Interesting)
I think I've become spoiled, actually. When I use my laptops' membrane keyboard, it feels mushy in comparison.
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Stop complaining about price (Score:5, Insightful)
If you really want to balk at price, I'll point you to my Kinesis Contour keyboard. It cost about $300. The key feel and ergos are great. I've used this board at work for about 9 years now and it's still going strong.
If you still insist on being cheap, go prowl Goodwill or other thrift stores. I found a Lexmark BS board in near mint condition for $5.
Re: Stop complaining about complaining about price (Score:2)
Coincidence (Score:2)
I'm a programmer like so many of you, and I don't understand why most programmers don't care for their keyboards: it's the tool we work with all day. Ask any craftsman and he will tell you that tools are important. For example, I know that a lot of coiffeurs buy a scissor for a few hundred bucks after their apprenticeship.
A keyboard without 'windows logo' ? (Score:2, Interesting)
Can you point me out websites where i can buy a keyboard without 'Windows logo' ?
Anyway, only recently I found a use to this key (using it as meta with Awesome window manager. This don't interfere with 'alt' key in irssi !)
P.s. English isn't my first language !
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Blank clicky keyboard? Count me in (Score:2)
Actually the original reason was that I wanted a keyboard with no letter decals on it (since I am a touch typist ever since I know myself). I looked around where I could get such a thing (we tried painting one ourselves, but the paint tended to attract dust, so it got.. hairy after a while; and what's worse, eventually it caused some kind of skin allergy); after a while, a friend recommended Unicomp, and to get a buckling spring keyboard at the sa
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USB vs. PS/2 (Score:5, Informative)
I have the PS/2 Unicomp, and it draws too much current for most USB converters, so you get irregular text entry and occasional lockups. This prevents me from using it with USB-only computers, like my Mac.
I would love it if Unicom put a two-port USB hub inside the keyboard, so I have a place to plug in the mouse and maybe a USB memory key.
Chip H.
Re:USB vs. PS/2 (Score:5, Informative)
If you're wary of modding the keyboard, you can build an adapter like so:
http://www.geocities.com/jszybowski/keyboard/Adapter.htm
Matias Tactile Pro (Score:3, Informative)
It's ThousandStars, the original submitter [seliger.com] here. Note that you can also get a reborn Apple Extended II keyboard called the Matias Tactile Pro 2.0; I also reviewed it [wordpress.com], but unfavorably, and it suffers from a number of deficiencies the Customizer doesn't. Even Mac users (I am one) are better off with the Customizer.
Just picked one up (Score:2)
Oh The Humanity (Score:3, Funny)
Overjoyed that I finally found a clicky keyboard like those I remembered from the early IBM days I returned the next day and picked up half a dozen more.
If I had only known I would have taken more.
I can't use them at work though - my cube farm neighbors complained when I brought one in.
But I do love the bucking spring design.
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Clacking keyboards are probably one of the only things more annoying in an office than a loud coffee slurper and someone with an awful ringtone.
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Ergonomic with Buckling Springs? (Score:2)
How about the $189 Avant Stellar? (Score:2)
Where to find your own Model M (Score:3, Informative)
Just use the search term 'clicky'.
REAL Keyboard Nostalgia (Score:2)
Other options (Score:2)
Frankly, the grey-on-black colour scheme is hideous, and I've grown quite attached to the volume control keys and USB hub on modern keyboards.
A more compact design wouldn't be too much to ask either.
Surely there has to be some happy medium between the $5 dell keyboards and the heavier-than-a-brick Unicomps?
It's a good, solid keyboard (Score:3, Informative)
The Model M's were the first keyboards I learned on and I was pleased as punch to find out people were still making them all these years later.
I don't know about this new version they have but the one I bought is here: http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/cus101usenon.html [yahoo.net]
Solid, durable, not likely to crap out on you. Not a slashvertisement but a testimonial.
In defense of the Model M (Score:3, Interesting)
Reposted from my blog [honeypot.net]:
There are few joys in life like using something that is the perfect expression of its intent. Each trade has its representative tools, and their common trait is quality, even if it's not obvious to the casual observer, and often counterintuitive. The best tools in a category are almost always the least flashy, and rarely the ones a new practitioner would choose.
The Model M keyboard is like that: it's loud, ugly, heavy, and utterly lacking modern niceties like buttons to change your sound volume or check your email. And yet, it has that transcendent feeling that's hard to explain, that sense of rightness where you realize that you're using the best that's ever been made, that every change since then has been superfluous and cosmetic. With time, the loud clacking becomes the background music of your work, the harmony that tells you that your thoughts have become words. Its beige boxiness yields to elegant simplicity and the realization that true beauty is born of function, not appearance. The sheer weight of the thing turns to solidity and the confidence that it will stay where you put it. The dearth of features becomes the singleminded dedication to the parts that really matter and a proud disregard of unneeded distractions.
A tool attains its peak when a craftsman forgets that he's using it because it has become an extension of himself. Thus the humble Model M has become the iconic favorite of hackers everywhere, an ode to the engineers who grasped for excellence and acheived it.
Bah at model Ms (Score:3, Insightful)
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All the time,what's the problem? I just prefer to know when I hit bottom as I type. I'm a pretty shitty typist, anyhow. YMMV.
Re:Fanbois, have you actually tried one? (Score:5, Insightful)
Interesting comment, however I completely and utterly disagree. Most modern keyboards (and I've gone through quite a lot), are simply not tactile and 'fast' enough. There are a number of keyboards (Looking at you, DELL), that I have serious problem with considering the speed I'm typing. More often then not, letters will be 'switched around', because I hit them in such fast succession. I've never had this problem with a Model-M, or with certain Cherry keyboards with microswitches (nor by the way, with this HP-KU keyboard, which comes with detachable numpad and card reader)
If you claim that a Model-M will slow people down, then I think you've either never typed on a tactile keyboard, or you're a slow typer to begin with. Of course I could be terribly wrong, and the positive effects of the Model-M surely vary for people, but in my experience I'm typing a LOT faster on my keyboard at home (which is an original Model-M/PS2) than on pretty much any other keyboard.
I think the main reason for that is twofold. First you never have to fully depress the key, plus aside from the 'noise' it also gives you a very tactile response, and even pushed the key back at you. This basically limits the amount of force and movement my fingers have to make to type anything, and for me at least, speeds my typing up enormously.
Re:Fanbois, have you actually tried one? (Score:4, Insightful)
Only one which is comfortable for writing and coding is, surprisingly, the Logitech Wave.
Don't get me on the subject of mice, though. There isn't a single ergonomic mouse on the market suitable for southpaws like myself
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Actually, while there aren't any worthwhile ergo left mice, there is a reasonable selection of ambi-mice available. I use a Razer Copperhead myself and find it very comfortable. I've also used some the upper tier microsoft mice and found them alright, until they stopped putting detents in the wheel.
As for rifles... they do make plenty of left handed rifles, but learning to shoot right-hand
Re:Fanbois, have you actually tried one? (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't type all that fast, but I am rarely held up my typing speed.
I just scored 62 wpm here:
http://play.typeracer.com/ [typeracer.com]
I don't think that it enormously fast (looking at the high scores...), but it is fast enough for the vast majority of the work I do.
This is on an IBM Model M keyboard. I think they are plenty fast.
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Shock! Gasp!
Different people work better with different models of keyboards.
Fixed that for you. Don't presume to speak for me.Mod Parent Waaay Down (Score:3, Interesting)
One of the things I like about the older keyboards is the finger precision required is actually a bit less than newer keyboards. That makes me much more productive when I'm tired.
I think maybe you and Marcel Proust might have quite a bit in common if you can't handle a Model M. Man Up!
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I don't think one necessarily has to mod down someone just because the person disagrees with you (and he clearly disagrees with me, since I'm the original submitter!), and it's at least somewhat useful to have a second opinion, even one not backed up by much evidence. But since keyboards seem a fairly subjective issue anyway -- the only thing approaching research I've seen about them comes from here [blogspot.com] -- it's worth noting that not everyone will necessarily love the Customizer, althoug
Re:Fanbois, have you actually tried one? (Score:5, Informative)
In other words, you're a troll.
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too each their own.
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A laptop with buckling springs would be a dream.
Re:Fanbois, have you actually tried one? (Score:4, Insightful)
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G11 Gaming Keyboard - $69 [logitech.com] (And while I like the feel of it for gaming, it sucks to do real work on!)
Das Keyboard II - $79.99 [thinkgeek.com]
For an outfit as small as Unicomp seems to be, a somewhat minor markup over what it'd cost from somebody else is pretty reasonable.
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That said, for me, the only minor downside is something the original author mentions -- noise. They're quite noisy, and while it doesn't bother me, it does sometimes cause my cubicle's neighbors to comment (e.g. "I always
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I picked up one of the Unicomp keyboards a few years ago to compare. Not the same, a pale shadow of the original. Even the Model M went downhill in its later years. The "Manufactured for IBM by Lexmark" models I have from 93 and 94 are slightly off from the original d
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You must be a terrible typist then. I type at 90wpm and the genius of the model M is not only the audible "click" feedback, but the tactile feedback you get from the buckling spring mechanism "popping" back at you. You have two pieces of feedback that tell you, through sound and touch, that your keypress has been registered.
This not only speeds me up, but reduces pain. For a challenge at a previous j
Re:Fanbois, have you actually tried one? (Score:4, Insightful)
I am somewhat of a forceful typist, and for me, the Model M is perfect. Each keypress is satisfying, and-- I think this part about the Model M is underrated-- the keyboard has a straightforward layout with full-sized keys, center detents, and the little nubs to help you find the home row. Maybe the difference between me and others (who hate the Model M) is that I learned how to touch-type on a Model M in my high-school keyboarding class in the early 90's. I find most modern keyboards to be pathetically mushy, and their mushiness gets worse over time. I've been typing on this particular Model M for several years, and it still feels great. My Apple Extended II keyboard is about 15 years old, and that one still feels great too (although it doesn't look so hot anymore due to the discoloration of the plastic).
Anyhow, this is not fanboism. Some people like different keyboards. I spend my whole day at a keyboard, I touch type, and the keyfeel is important to me. Maybe those things don't matter to you, or maybe keyboard preference is just one of those subjective things like your favorite color or favorite meal. Or are you one of those guys who rails against the "hamburger fanbois"?
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Also, slower? I do 150WPM on a model M with ACCURACY. I can't do that with ANY other keyboard.
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How many people here have in the last couple of years actually tried to type on a Model M?
I will tell you from recent experience that typing on one of these old beasts will slow you down immensly.
In this group-think-world the reponsiveness of the Model M sounds great; but in reality, it fails miserably.
All the time. I love them. But I can also see how people would not like them. This is purely a matter of personal preference, like trackball vs. mouse. You know what's so great? You don't like it, you don't have to use it. The only possible complaint that could be made here is that these keyboards are louder than the mushy boards. But I think that's a fairly minor complaint unless you're working in a cube farm so close together that heavy breathing would be distracting.
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I love it. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't have a super button.
(I confess, this is actually a Model M13, which has a Thinkpad-style mouse nub in the center. I got it for $3 at a thrift store and sprayed the gunk off of it, and it works almost perfectly. I say almost because I accidentally damaged the spring under the - key when I had it apart, and now there is no lovely click. It still works though. ----)
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You're right though, the switches are noticeably different than the Model M's. Inferior is a matter of opinion, they're a little quieter which is OK by me. I'm mostly disappointed by the light construction of the case. Also the board isn't as curved as the Model M, so it's a bit less ergonomic.
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Add that to the fact that I do type approx 20-25% faster on a clicky keyboard and people walking by come into my cube wondering WTF I'm doing.
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So maybe we should stop calling it a "windows" key?
Now the SysReq key, otoh, is a huge mistake, especially in Linux. Why copy Windows' lame Alt-tab to switch between apps? SysReq is far more logical and has no other use outside the mainframe world that I've ever seen in 25 years of computing. Have you ever used the SysReq key?
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