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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: vibe on Thu, 22 September 2011, 15:15:05

Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: vibe on Thu, 22 September 2011, 15:15:05
Hi everyone! Lurked for a few days reading up...

Y'all should consider trying to make a keyboard decider flowchart with left/right branches?

After my third dell quietkeys just died in six years (didn't really die but certain keys stopped working even after cleaning) I've decided to try to get a "real" keyboard.

I have an old Model M sitting on a shelf, but I have never used it for more than a day, it's too loud and takes too much pressure IMHO.

Should I trade it to someone here to get my first experience with a real switch keyboard? Is that even feasible?


Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: Deadly55 on Thu, 22 September 2011, 15:26:26
What no red  love? I can't read the choice for the browns and kro bits due to:

Yes I'm on a phone.
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: vibe on Thu, 22 September 2011, 15:27:05
I couldn't help but notice they mostly end in Filco, lol.  But thank you!

Not really ready to spend over $100 on a keyboard :(

But it did confirm "cherry mx brown" which I concluded from other reading around here.
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: fohat.digs on Thu, 22 September 2011, 15:28:24
I would be happy to trade you a beige Dell AT-101 with black ALPS sliders, straight up, for a Model M.

I also have an Apple 3501 with white ALPS, but it would require an ADB adapter, so that probably won't work.

If you are in the domestic US, we would each pay our own shipping of around $15

Harry
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: vibe on Thu, 22 September 2011, 15:30:22
Thanks Harry, something to consider - not sure if it's appropriate to do open trades in here outside of the classifieds?

Kinda just getting a feel for my options right now before I decide to either fleabay it or trade it here.
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: fohat.digs on Thu, 22 September 2011, 15:51:30
I don't have a lot of money to spend right now, either, so I was offering a transaction that did not include any cash or fees.

The time, effort, and fees make it so that it is not always worth the trouble unless the selling price hits a certain threshold.

I am also pretty new here, so somebody please stop me if I am about to break a rule.
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: N8N on Thu, 22 September 2011, 16:04:23
might want to figure what kind of keyboard that you want.  Sounds like you're looking for blacks or reds; you might be able to find an old Cherry brand board w/ blacks that someone might want to trade you.
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: vibe on Thu, 22 September 2011, 16:09:51
By the way, is this anything special or just the average run-of-the-mill Model M ?

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/382/label1h.jpg
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: vibe on Fri, 23 September 2011, 05:31:56
This morning in desperation I took apart one of my dell quietkeys and cleaned the heck out of it and got it working again!

Whew - so much better than the cheap keyboards sold today.

There are several threads around here that agree it's one of the better rubber dome designs for low end keyboards.

But I am still going to upgrade to mechanical as soon as I can figure out what I want and can afford. Going to watch some more youtube keyboard videos.

What is the shortlist for cherry browns? Something old that I can get cheap to get my feet wet?
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: Lanx on Fri, 23 September 2011, 06:46:23
scour ebay, i got 2 cherry brown boards for 25ish each scouring ebay for a month or so, one was new with a broken controller and one was used, otherwise pay around 100ish for the many options out there.
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: N8N on Fri, 23 September 2011, 08:03:20
Vibe, have a look at seller "rawko" on eBay.  he sells used Cherry POS boards for cheap.  The G80-8200 aka MX8000 are NKRO over PS/2, have programmable and relegendable keys, and are dirt cheap when bought used (as in around $30-35 shipped.)  The downside is that while they are very close to a standard ANSI layout they have an ISO enter and backslash/pipe key, and they take up a lot of desktop real estate compared to, say, a Filco (but really, not so much compared to a Model M) due to the integral mag stripe reader.

I've got one with browns and one with clears; actually I posted the browns one for sale in the classifieds if you don't want to be arsed cleaning it up yourself.  (used POS boards tend to be chock full of chow and require a good scrubbing before use in civilized environs...)
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: Lanx on Fri, 23 September 2011, 08:35:07
yea g80-8200's were the ones i got, really really ugly tho, imo and feel "plastic-y" but whatever it's cheap cherry browns.
Title: as a keyboard newbie should I trade a model M or sell it and buy something?
Post by: N8N on Fri, 23 September 2011, 09:03:52
I didn't say they were pretty :)  I do like the keycaps for feel better than just about anything else though.  For typing on the browns are OK if you like browns, but even though clears are my favorite key switch I didn't like the flex of the PCB w/ the heavier clears and ended up buying a Filco after using the POS board for a while because the plate mount is so much more solid feeling.  You just don't notice the flex as much with browns because of the lighter springs.