Keyswitch identification? Microsoft Basic Keyboard 1.0

[neobadandy]

Can anyone identify the keyswitches in a "Microsoft Basic Keyboard 1.0" Model RT9840?
I have the opportunity to purchase one cheap and I was wondering if it had rubber dome, or something nicer.
The seller claims it has mechanical switches, but I don't think it does.

Thanks to anyone who takes a look at my post!

[Willy]

Can anyone identify the keyswitches in a "Microsoft Basic Keyboard 1.0" Model RT9840?
I have the opportunity to purchase one cheap and I was wondering if it had rubber dome, or something nicer.
The seller claims it has mechanical switches, but I don't think it does.

Thanks to anyone who takes a look at my post!

A quick trip to Google lead me to believe that it's likely membrane.

[Hellmark]

Every microsoft board I've ever seen, even really old ones, have been rubber.

[ComradeSniper]

Every microsoft board I've ever seen, even really old ones, have been rubber.

Same here, I don't know of any mechanical microsoft keyboards.

[jevvix]

My googling also said rubber dome.

[neobadandy]

Thanks, that's what I thought, but it was just a hunch and I wanted to make sure.
I just ordered a Dell AT101W off ebay, I think I paid too much for it though, I didn't notice that it had some scratches on it until after I bought it when I looked at the pictures on a different computer screen. Oh well, I'm still excited for black alps.
Thanks again,
Cheers.

[tuxsavvy]

Can anyone identify the keyswitches in a "Microsoft Basic Keyboard 1.0" Model RT9840?
I have the opportunity to purchase one cheap and I was wondering if it had rubber dome, or something nicer.
The seller claims it has mechanical switches, but I don't think it does.

Thanks to anyone who takes a look at my post!

That is misleading and/or the seller simply has no clues, though I'd like to think it is the former case. A real mechanical keyboard feels way different from a cheap membrane keyboard. The mechanical keyboards are also well noted for their heavier price tag against the cheap membrane keyboards.

I also want to apologise for taking this topic somewhat off for that matter but that is just wrong. Thankfully you haven't purchased that keyboard.

[Hellmark]

I've seen a few sellers on ebay try to pass off rubberdomes as mechanical keyboards. When I see it, I try point it out, just incase they're mistaken. Several times they've ignored me. One time I even had a seller start trying to rip into me, and was upset that I pointed out the keyboards weren't mechanical.

[kittyjess]

Every microsoft board I've ever seen, even really old ones, have been rubber.

I've seen a Microsoft branded AT101 from the early half of the 90's but, well, what was a long time ago and the exact details are lost to the seas of time.

As for MS made keyboards, as far I know all of theirs have been rubber domes.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

RT9840 suggests NMB (RT stands for Right Touch). So far as we know, the only mechanical keyboards from NMB are the 8000 series. I am not aware Microsoft have ever sold anything but rubber dome, and looking at its cheesy curved design, no, not likely to be mechanical : )

It will be rubber dome over membrane, but whether it's full travel, reduced travel, or scissor switch, I don't know. From the looks of it, scissor is pretty unlikely.

Just looks like another mediocre rubber dome like any other. Hopefully it's better than the Dell RT7D50 (not a typical NMB model number) which is truly horrible. Microsoft rubber dome keyboards are typically middle-of-the-road, neither good nor bad, but it depends on the OEM, the phase of the moon, and how many times China has retooled since the last batch (and indeed how many times it's changed factory since last time).

That's what makes rubber dome so awful: the utter lack of consistency even within the same product range: for example, the basic Dell KB1421 is from an unidentifiable OEM, but feels very good, while the KB522 multimedia equivalent is from Logitech and feels terribad.