geekhack Marketplace > Great Finds
got my SMK-85 from EBAY today
Bluemercury:
So the general consensus is that Black alps switches are better than white ones? guess i need to go for the black one too....:P
mr_sf_applet:
--- Quote from: Bluemercury;2066 ---So the general consensus is that Black alps switches are better than white ones? guess i need to go for the black one too....:P
--- End quote ---
No, I don't think you can really infer that. The big point, as I see it, is that we are all speaking from fragmentary experience. No one on this board has direct experience of both black and white Alps sliders. So no one has been able to directly compare the two. And if you want to go for the black ones, feel free. But that's the other point to be made from this thread: NOBODY HAS FOUND A SOURCE FOR KEYBOARDS, WHETHER FULL SIZE OR SPACESAVER, WITH BLACK ALPS SLIDERS.*
*Except for some used Dell keyboards on eBay, and who knows whether those are the same black Alps sliders as the ones on xsphat and elmomax's SMK-85's.
xsphat:
I have a feeling they are pretty similar, but I have nothing to base that on.
fkeidjn:
--- Quote from: mr_sf_applet;2067 ---No, I don't think you can really infer that. The big point, as I see it, is that we are all speaking from fragmentary experience. No one on this board has direct experience of both black and white Alps sliders. So no one has been able to directly compare the two. And if you want to go for the black ones, feel free. But that's the other point to be made from this thread
--- End quote ---
I've had experience with the black Alps on the Dell keyboards, and I also had experience with the White Alps on two Northgate keyboards. The white Alps switches on the Northgate keyboards has a tactile feel and sound, but also has a click similar to the blue Cherries. The black Alps only has the tactile feel and sound. However, what weird is that I have an SGI keyboard with white Alps, but there is no clicky sound like the blue Cherries. Furthermore, I had two different Northgates before I sold them (stupid me O_O) - the 101 and the 101P. The 101P, which I'm assuming is a later model right before the cease of production, along with the Northgate white Alps sound I just described, the sound is rather hollow and echo-ish. The 101 (I'm assuming an early model), on the other hand, has a pretty firm feel to it (no hollow sound), and the SGI keyboard I have at the moment sounds almost like the 101, but without the blue Cherry click. If I were to choose between the two Northgates that I had, I would choose the 101, since I like a firm tactile click, not a hollow tactile click (makes the entire feel of the keyboard wishy-washy)
xsphat:
You can't compare older Alps sliders based on the stem color. My newer blacks are clickier than my Model M 1391401 and tactile all day, as are my orange sliders from 20 years ago. The pick sliders I have are tactile but not clicky, so who knows. I only like the clicky keyboards except in the case of the HHKB Pro2, so I feel your pain in the search.
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