geekhack
geekhack Marketplace => Great Finds => Topic started by: Meg on Wed, 29 September 2010, 15:16:25
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Started out with a minimum bid of $29.99... over $200 when I looked just now:
*http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310256262813&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310256262813&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT)
Seller claims to have thoroughly cleaned it.
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Hmm... Jacked up spacebar. It seems to be in condition otherwise.
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Oh woah, those have arrow keys on both sides? That's actually a really nice layout.
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It's a pretty kick-ass keyboard. My desire to own one, though, has long passed.
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I feel like bidding $500 just to be frisky, banking on the face that it probably sell for more than that.
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no doubts going up to $600
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My $500 snipe was never successful for a M15 and now I've decided I don't like buckling springs enough to need to test one.
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The guy selling the M15 says he's got three more of them that he uses on his computers.
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Five days to go and $387.87 ?
I'm glad I woke up and got my spare last year.
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Take a look at the bid history:
http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=310256262813 (http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=310256262813)
I really don't understand those ebay crazy bidders.
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It's now at $1,625!! That's more than twice what the last one sold for. That's the most I've ever heard of one going for.
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And its not even nib
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Good luck to the seller collecting payment. It could pan out, but this seems like a shill bid war, like the Nascar helmet that went for a few million after a driver threw it at another one on television, or when that dude sold the head off of the statue of Saddam.
Maybe it's Golden Palace wanting to put it on display next to it's $28,000 grilled cheese sandwich.
(http://www.ramdac.org/images/xin_47110125101291230161.jpg)
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Who owns a patent for them? Wouldn't it be profitable to start making those again? How many one had to sell at 200/300/400/500 to recoup cost?
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If the seller can't collect from the winning bidder, he can just offer it to the next bidder in line. It's called a second-chance offer.
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Unicomp would like to make them but cannot because they do not hold the patent for the knob and cannot get permission to reproduce the knob. Unicomp would be able to set up the tooling to manufacture it. I have no idea how many units they'd have to make, but if people are willing to pay over $1,000 for it, obviously they'd have a market even at a price higher than most keyboards.
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Less than 100 days to Christmas.
Fewer than. Days are countable.
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Well
I may sell my NIB M15 for 10K
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Who owns a patent for them?
Won't the patent be expiring soon?
Not that there's any profit in manufacturing new ones for mere mortals to purchase, or that the adjustment mechanism is the sole appealing feature (or even the one that most excites us), but that excuse does at least come off the table....
And with a bidding frenzy on the current auction pushing it to $1,625 (last I checked), somebody might wonder what it'd take to hand-build a dozen or so.
Fun to think about, anyway.
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W
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f
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I didn't know webwit was bidding again...
Alright, whoever put $1600 is really insane, or very rich. So rich that they wouldn't care to pay $1600 for a keyboard.
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I didn't know webwit was bidding again...
Alright, whoever put $1600 is really insane, or very rich. So rich that they wouldn't care to pay $1600 for a keyboard.
Some of these old IBM prices seem to get rediculous really quick...
Glad I fell in love with Topre...much cheaper!
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Glad I fell in love with Topre...much cheaper!
Huh. Well that's a statement that don't often get made, ain't it?...
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Two days left.
In a previous post (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?p=217407#post217407) about this keyboard, I gushed about it being the greatest keyboard ever made. I stand by that claim, but I wanted to point out a few things I find annoying, and make it less than perfect:
1) The CTRL and ALT keys are sized and designed for touch typing with the fingers rather than the thumbs. Unfortunately, their position is far from ergonomic for this purpose. Unless you're double-jointed. (Try pressing your ALT key with your middle finger while keeping your other fingers on the home row. Yeah, I didn't think so.)
2) It's LOUD. Prior to my M15, I last used a Northgate Omnikey Evolution, one of the loudest keyboards ever. The M15 is significantly louder. Forget using this keyboard around anyone.
3) No palmrest. This might have been deliberate, as the "proper" (and fastest) typing position is one with the hands floating above the keyboard, but I'd like to be "lazy" when speed isn't essential.
4) The plastic is not as tough as that on regular Model Ms. Indeed, the case appears to be susceptible to hairline fractures. The M15 that sold before mine had a hairline fracture reported near the ESC key, and mine seems to have developed one on the right side of the housing, in the blank area near the edge. It doesn't affect the functioning of the keyboard at all, but the material could be a little tougher.
5) It's hard to get the rubber feet unscrewed to extend the legs further. As far as I'm concerned, though, the ability to extend the feet beyond the legs is a bonus.
6) In some configurations (all the feet extended), the "n" key sometimes bounces and registers two keypresses. This could just be my model (and keyboard tray) but it slows down my typing a bit.
Speaking of speed, this keyboard inspired me to learn to properly touch type (as I've seen people claim about other good-quality keyboards). I've consequently upped my typing speed from around 55-60 to 65-70 WPM. I'm still faster on my Thinkpad though, hitting around 80. I've used Thinkpads for six years, so it's probably mainly an issue of familiarity.
Overall, the M15 is a comfortable, tactile, and LOUD keyboard that can make your PC "truly personal," to paraphrase HP's cheesy ad campaign.
Would I pay $500-$600 for it all over again, knowing what I know now? Absolutely. Would I ever pay $1600? No way. If I were going to spend that much on a keyboard, I would just pay someone to make one for me.
A friend used my computer last night and encountered the M15. Imagine this in an Oxford-educated southern English accent:
Pulling out the keyboard tray: "Someone ripped your keyboard in half."
Upon discovering Erase-Ease: "Is there a delete key where the spacebar is supposed to be?"
What fun.
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Forgive me if you've seen this:
http://www.osnews.com/story/23862/Rare_IBM_Split_Keyboard_Hits_eBay_Goes_Over_1600
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The author is a member here (salcan). I haven't seen him in a while, though. I sold him a keyboard awhile back.
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The author is a member here (salcan). I haven't seen him in a while, though. I sold him a keyboard awhile back.
Yeah, I still lurk a bit. Been busy lately.
Anyone have any idea why the price spiked? This is really baffling me.
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A friend used my computer last night and encountered the M15. Imagine this in an Oxford-educated southern English accent:
Pulling out the keyboard tray: "Someone ripped your keyboard in half."
Upon discovering Erase-Ease: "Is there a delete key where the spacebar is supposed to be?"
What fun.
Hahaha :) I have a friend with an accent exactly like that so this is particularly entertaining