I scored big (on ebay) [Big Pics]

[Jaydoublem]

$81 (shipping included)
Words can't express how I feel right now...(thus the pictures)

[iMav]

Is that NIB?

[Jaydoublem]

It is. I bought it from ebay even though there were no pictures. I didn't expect it to be new, but for $81 i was willing to take some risk (the seller had 100% feedback). Came in the mail today, and I am 99% sure that nobody ever touched this before.

EDIT: I paid $81 total instead of the $60 it said in my original post

[iMav]

All I have to say is...

WE NEED MORE PICS!!!

[Jaydoublem]

Ill put up tons of pics on Thursday...

[ashort]

Is that the original clicky battleship keyboard?  If so, I am totally impressed.

[ashort]

And who did you buy it from on ebay?  I'm going to go check out his store!

[Jaydoublem]

Yes, it's an Apple Extended Keyboard 2. It's not from an ebay store, it's from a private seller who found it at a local middle school.

[Waves77]

That's freaking sweet man! Congrats

[Ulysses31]

Wow.  And just when I have come to the realisation that I may have to give up on ever seeing or touching a clicky keyboard of any kind lol.  Just have to stick with membranes.

[bhtooefr]

I'm typing on a clicky keyboard... with membranes.

/me watches as Ulysses31's mind explodes...

(The Model M has a membrane sheet underneath the buckling spring keyswitches. It's rubber domes that you don't like.)

If I were you, I'd look for IBM part number 1391406. That's the 102-key UK layout Model M. http://www.preater.com/modelm <-- read there.

[lowpoly]

A supposedly NIB Extended II went for EUR 31,xx plus shipping three weeks ago in Germany. That was the german version though.

Good times for buyers.

[Jaydoublem]

There was a spanish one on ebay a few weeks back that was at $5 and was never sold. It was then relisted and I don't whether it was even sold the second time.
I was looking to buy it quite a few times because the spanish version has the keycaps with symbols. (i.e. ^instead of ctrl etc...) But I thought paying $20 just to have different keycaps was a little much. Oh yeah converting it to american was out of the question since it has an L-shaped enter key and a few other minor differences.

[Jaydoublem]

I took some more pics compared to my older (or should i said more experienced?) AEK. The old one is from 1990, the new one in the box says 1991 on the packaging, but I haven't looked at the actual date on the Board. I hope you understand that I didn't take it out of the packaging yet.

Notice the yellowing on the older board.


Notice how high you can raise an AEK.


Side View, you can see that the keycaps are still the same color on both boards.


The New Board. Imagine it has been in this packaging for 17 years.


Panorama View.


Side by Side. You can see the yellowing really well here.


Two colored Apple Logos in one Picture.

[iMav]

I hope you understand that I didn't take it out of the packaging yet.

I assume then that you aren't, necessarily, looking to keep this board for yourself?  

You going to try and turn it around for a tidy profit?  Or are you simply wanting to keep your backup in pristine condition until it is called into service?

[Jaydoublem]

Ill keep it for myself, but Ill probably try to milk out another year from the older AEK until Ill call this for service. There is no way I could sell this for a profit. Given that a Filco costs around $250, I personally value this at $350. I don't see anybody paying me more than $350 for this, so I only would be able to sell it at a loss.

Don't get me wrong though, I shot an email to Benjamin and Gruber from Talkshow.net just to see how they value a Keyboard that they talked about for an hour on their show. But I don't see them offering more then $50.

We'll see what happens.

[iMav]

Don't get me wrong though, I shot an email to Benjamin and Gruber from Talkshow.net just to see how they value a Keyboard that they talked about for an hour on their show. But I don't see them offering more then $50.

That would surprise me.  It sounded like they were willing to pay decent money for a verified, NIB one.

[Jaydoublem]

I'll pm you when I get an answer.

[Eclairz]

once you let it out of the packaging it will yellow immediately after you plug it in your pc and the key action will degrade at an accelerate rate. In order to avoid such things happening change the bios date in your pc to 15 years ago, this will stop the keyboard ageing chip from being activated.

[ashort]

That would surprise me.  It sounded like they were willing to pay decent money for a verified, NIB one.

It sounded to me that they were wanting to hoard them so they would always have "go to" NIB keyboard they could trust.  They also said "we're not looking for gifts, we'll pay you for the board", I kind of heard "$50-$100 per" in that, but I could be totally misreading them.

[Jaydoublem]

They said they would pay, and then one of them jokingly said $5. They also said that an AEK used to cost $150. Nobody knows what they are really willing to pay though.

I would be curious to know how many people actually contacted them afterwards. Or I would be really curious how many brand new keyboards are still out there.

[Waves77]

There's a guy on ebay thay I have seen sell 4 brand new Spanish Extended II (M0312Y) boards, for only $5-$15 plus S&H.

Maybe not a usable layout for most people here, but I might get one since every now and again my work requires me to write in Spanish extensively...

[lowpoly]

German NIB, 6 days left:

Edit: it's an Apple Design keyboard in an Ext. II box:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290239007520

[xyzzy]

German NIB, 6 days left:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290239007520

Beware, the one in the photo is a crappy "Apple Design" keyboard, rubber dome. It replaced the mechanical AEII.

[lowpoly]

I should really pay more attention to the photos. Will I ever learn!

So, let me rephrase: Original box for the Ext. II, 6 days left.

I've contacted the seller.

[xyzzy]

I should really pay more attention to the photos. Will I ever learn!

So, let me rephrase: Original box for the Ext. II, 6 days left.

I've contacted the seller.

Actually, I reckon the photo on the box also shows an Apple Design keyboard. But it states Apple Extended II. Weird.

Maybe the first Apple Design keyboards have been labeled AEII to make the transition to the new model less evident to buyers?

[JohnnyBoy]

Wow! There can't be many keyboards in this world that are untouched by human hands dating from the early-1990s. What kind of connector does this keyboard have, and can it be used with a modern Mac?

[xyzzy]

Wow! There can't be many keyboards in this world that are untouched by human hands dating from the early-1990s. What kind of connector does this keyboard have, and can it be used with a modern Mac?

It has an ADB connector. You need an ADB->USB adapter like the Griffin iMate to use it on a modern Mac/PC.

[JohnnyBoy]

It has an ADB connector. You need an ADB->USB adapter like the Griffin iMate to use it on a modern Mac/PC.

Oh, okay. Well at least there will be no need for any key re-mapping for a modern Mac; despite the change of connector, the shift, ctrl, option and command keys haven't changed in decades...