The Greatest Keyboard of All Time.. Reborn

If you've been a viewer long enough, you might remember that

time

I had a little moment remembering my old model m

keyboard

. So far, of all the

keyboard

s I've ever used, this is the best and most solid overall. feeling different than me, I had an IBM m model and, uh, nothing can compare and I'm not alone, not only did anyone else care enough to re-upload that clip as their own video, but there's a healthy market out there second hand for these things and you can even buy almost identical new recreations nowadays, but in the age of bluetooth rgb and macros, if you care, let's find out by talking about random, a semicolon lsd, our sponsor, humble bundle, You can save money on games and help support charities with humility. package Learn more through our partner links in the video description.

Kids today might think the Model M looks like a basic old-school keyboard, but that's exactly why it's special. The layout that almost all keyboards use today is standard because of this keyboard More than 30 years ago, to be clear, the qwerty layout has been around since the 19th century, but when IBM launched personal computers in the 1980s , keyboards needed many more keys than just letters and numbers and, before the m model, these keys could be found in all kinds of stupid and seemingly arbitrary places. The reason this board is different is that IBM went to great lengths, including developing a work group of 10 people, to develop a friendlier keyboard that would allow focus groups to rearrange, enlarge, or even duplicate commonly used keys.

It was this board that looks totally normal, except it's missing the Windows keys and a couple of other things. Actually, it is not an m model per se. This is the zero-generation IBM Enhanced keyboard that was released in 1985 as part of the IBM 3161 terminal. Why doesn't it have lights for the shift lock or shift lock? Those settings would be displayed on the terminal screen. You will also notice that it has a 5-pin din connector instead of a ps2 connector like other m models. This is important because the model m was released with the ibm system 2 or ps2 personal computer with the ibm ps2, hence the name of the connector.

This is a second generation M model, the most popular, it was made in 1987, just a year after I was born and we know it. This is because each model m has a little birth certificate on the back, but why do people still like these things so much after all these years? Well, it all comes down to sound feel and build quality. The m models use switches that are very different from the cherry mx. Today's keyboard enthusiasts might be used to the patent these switches are actually called catastrophic buckling compression column switch and actuator, but most normal people just call them buckling spring switches and that It is because under each key there is actually a small spring in the initial position.

The spring exerts pressure on a rocker preventing it from closing the circuit, but when you press the key down, the spring finally bends, tilting the rocker to make contact with a layer of membrane and registering your hit at the precise instant you feel the haptic feedback, please wait. Did that say membrane? Yes, m models are often mistakenly called mechanical keyboards, but they are actually membrane boards, so they only have two rotating keys. Just remember that this doesn't mean they use rubber domes, which are different or well, actually some model. The m's use rubber domes, but more on that later, anyway, the result is a very balanced feel with a nice tactile bump and a weight of 70 grams for pure typists.

Even after all these decades, there's very little on the market that feels this good, but while buckling spring switches create auditory feedback that some people find very satisfying - at least those who type, anyway - they also take a long

time

. in registering repeated hits, making them unsuitable for competitive gaming, although you can always hit your opponents on the head when you lose because The M models are heavy boards, the plastic shell and key caps are made of hard PVC and PBT plastic that are not painted or yellowed over time and inside there is a heat treated metal back plate that is responsible for the negligible flex of the M. platform and it weighs five pounds, at least they were five pounds.

The thing is that not all m models are the same. In 1990, IBM sold part of its keyboard manufacturing division to what would become Lexmark. Lexmark continued to make these keyboards for IBM, but this m model is cheaper. 1995 shows some of the changes, including a good one - drainage holes to protect it from water from its arch-nemesis - along with several less good ones, such as a lighter backplate and plastic casing, a fixed rather than removable cable, a legend Monochrome on the rubber dome keys and switches. To be clear, they are good rubber domes, but the keyboard gods work in mysterious ways anyway and the growing popularity of rubber domes led to the collapse of the mechanical keyboard business with Lexmark abandoning its keyboard division entirely in 1996 and this is where our story.

It gets interesting, a group of former IBM and Lexmark employees began slowly buying up the intellectual property rights to the Model M, except for the logo and the physical manufacturing equipment that was used to make it. The company they formed is called unicomp and from there it emerged, it is unicomp. Classic and was manufactured on January 15, 2018 Due to this Unicomp heritage the M models are not really clones but rather descendants so how do they compare to the original if you didn't spend the 80's and 90's writing the model? m when they were new, it's a little hard to judge the feel of a new Unicom classic versus an IBM board whose spring switches are 30 years older, but even if you ask people who have been using the m model for decades , you will still get some who claim that the unicomps feel identical and others who claim that they feel very different and from one point of view they are both right, the unicomp boards are modeled after the last model that Lexmark made, although they have the exact same switches The first boards are lighter and, interestingly, can have shell imperfections and less sharp lettering due to aging of the mold and tooling equipment, so our final version of the Unicom boards are as close to the ones as possible. new from the original model. while offering a new color interface and key options, all for less money than most keyboards of similar quality, so as a well-priced writing board I can see the appeal, but my money was It would go to a more versatile Cherry MX or a previous generation model.

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Did you find out about us? He looks super believable sitting here with this jacket like this, what do you think? No, it's okay, thanks for watching guys and a big thank you to LTT forum user Ultimate Mythbuster for lending us his three beautiful M models for this video. Suck, you guys know what to do, but if it was awesome, please subscribe, hit the like button, or check out the link where to buy the stuff we featured in the video description. Also the link below is our merchandise store that has cool t-shirts like this one. I'm, oh actually I'm still using it, wait like that and our community forum that you should totally join.

What about now? Do I look credible now? Yes Yes. What's up What's up? What about now? Yeah, oh sorry, it's not suitable for Twitch.