3 ms·
My 1986 M is still going strong. > If you've never used a Model M, they're beasts. I jokingly call it the preppers keyboard as it can double as a clubbing wea
by MisterTea 2y ago
My 1986 M is still going strong.
> If you've never used a Model M, they're beasts.
I jokingly call it the preppers keyboard as it can double as a clubbing weapon when SHTF.
- ryao 2y agoThat is only the older ones. The newer ones are mostly made out of plastic to save money.
- MisterTea 2y agoIt's amazing how they had a whole stamped metal frame in there to stiffen it up. Like what was the design criteria that made them think they needed all that steel? Violent cavemen users?
- Wohlf 2y agoThey may have expected typists coming over from typewriters to hammer on it for 8 hours a day, or to give them a similar feel to ease the transition and limit complaints.
- justsomehnguy 2y agoThis one. You could hear a former typist from the other side of the building even on a rubber dome keyboard.
- gosub100 2y agoPerhaps injection molding and plastics in general weren't as advanced at the time?
- shiroiushi 2y agoIt wasn't a "frame" really, it was just a single sheet of stamped steel in a curved shape. The Model M wasn't nearly as impressive, or durable, as the Model F that preceded it and which was included with the IBM PC. Those keyboards had metal housings, unlike the plastic housings of the Model M.
- bombcar 2y agoIBM was a typewriter company and their keyboards reflected that for quite awhile - keys you could “tell” you pressed, machines that could take a beating. Also most keyboards from the era were “similar” since the switches were somewhat of a standard. It wasn’t until the PC market took off and went nuts that cost cutting and other developments began - especially in the portable/laptop area.