Leading Edge DC-2014 (Blue Alps) – but not cheap

[ander]

This Leading Edge DC-2014 just popped up on eBay. Not cheap—BIN @ $149 shipped, or Make Offer—but seller says it's been disassembled and cleaned and works fine, and good Blue Alps boards don't appear very often.

You can bet I'd buy it, if I had that kind of dough to throw around. That's like, what, only $1.50 per switch? It doesn't seem quite so unreasonable when you think of it that way.

[fohat.digs]

That's like, what, only $1.50 per switch? It doesn't seem quite so unreasonable when you think of it that way.

I had a buyer recently scoff at $0.45 per switch + actual postage for original white complicated Alps already desoldered, so you never know.

[merlin64]

Looks like its even got a pencil tray! =)

[chyros]

Looks like its even got a pencil tray! =)

Oh wow, that's what it is! I'd seen a gutter like that on a few keyboards and dismissed it as just decoration, but a pencil tray makes perfect sense .

Yeah this is not cheap - but these never sell cheap actually. Even ones with low starting bids always end up costing this much in the end. Personally I think this board has tons of personality but I guess everyone else will just use it to harvest its switches, haha xD . For one in seemingly this good condition it's not a bad price, tbh.

[ander]

Someone got it for $129.

[jevvix]

Heck of a deal. Haven't seen any for sale in a few months and even then those were BIN'd immediately @ 150.

[chyros]

Indeed, not bad at all! Did someone here get it?

[ander]

Indeed, not bad at all! Did someone here get it?

'Twasn't me... If it were, I'd be posting photos and telling you how great it was. Isn't that the other purpose of Great Finds? You know, "Look at the Great Find I found, and you didn't..."

But of course we're all overjoyed whenever any of our KB-maniac brothers and sisters acquires something new 'n' great, right? Well, most of the time.  :?)

[False_Dmitry_II]

Especially when we weren't actually after it ourselves. Personally I'd just go for new Matias rather than this. Because you're playing the condition lottery with these, no matter how it looks.

[ander]

Especially when we weren't actually after it ourselves. Personally I'd just go for new Matias rather than this. Because you're playing the condition lottery with these, no matter how it looks.

Well, you could pick up a Dell AT101 in good shape for $40–50 and replace its Alps Blacks with Matias switches for $60. But then you're already up to $100–110, and you have to do all the switch-swapping. Which most of us would enjoy, of course—but it is time-consuming, and your time is worth something too.

Maybe this is an ignorant question, but: Are Matias switches similar enough to Alps Blues that could you replace any defective Blues with Matiases and not really notice the difference?

[ander]

Keep in mind, too, that there are always some keys many of us never use. For example, I could easily do without:

tilde
caps lock
scroll lock
pause
insert
tenkey: /  *  -  +  Enter  Del

So if need be, that's 10 "backup" switches right there (at least in my case).

[chyros]

Are Matias switches similar enough to Alps Blues that could you replace any defective Blues with Matiases and not really notice the difference?

No. In fact, they're not even similar enough to White Alps.

[False_Dmitry_II]

People say that, but I've never had any white alps good enough to compare favorably against matias. Especially once looking at the feel from the whole board. They may have a smaller tolerance even from new in terms of spring strength comparing matias vs white alps. Because that consistency is one of the things that I really noticed when I typed on my completed Dell Matias.

You could certainly move a blue alps from one of the lesser used places and then put a Matias where it came from.

I know that when fohat built his he bought something like 6 blue alps boards at least and picked the best switches from each before building a single board with those. That's what it would realistically take for the creation of a single blue alps board that would definitely be better.

[nubbinator]

I know that when fohat built his he bought something like 6 blue alps boards at least and picked the best switches from each before building a single board with those. That's what it would realistically take for the creation of a single blue alps board that would definitely be better.

Not really.  When I put together a Kingsaver with Blue Alps, it would have only taken two boards to make a perfect keyboard.  As it was, there were enough good switches, that it was only really the function row that had some less than perfect switches on it.

[fohat.digs]

I think that there may be some exaggeration going on. I think that I bought about 3 LE2014s plus a partial baggie of leftovers from a semi-retired Geekhacker, and built a full-size and a TKL from that. And after selling off a few switches some time back, I still have another baggie in reserve with enough to do another TKL.

Almost all of the ones I had were usable, although I did spruce them up as best I could. And I have no qualms about filling in with good clean white Alps on all the "ignored" keys to conserve the more precious blues. The technical specs on white and blue are nearly identical (as they are on the orange/salmon/black variants), so substitutes and infills are entirely acceptable.

My advice for a normal (ie not fanatic) consumer would be to buy a new bag of Matias and install them for a dependable "sure thing"

If you are cheap and/or inpatient, the Dell AT101W is an excellent recipient chassis and is also available in black. And I think pearl/pebble keys in a black case looks great, so you can keep looking for the rarer PBT Dell key cap sets.

And if you have more time and money, the Northgate Omnikey 101 is the premier chassis to receive your endgame Alps switches.

[chyros]

People say that, but I've never had any white alps good enough to compare favorably against matias.

I know what you mean, but regardless, whether they are in good condition or not, I would argue there most definitely is a difference, which is what the question was.

I have several White Alps boards, and luckily enough all of them are in excellent condition. I have had really bad Alps boards too, but not White ones, fortunately. I don't have a full keyboard with Matiases either, just a tester and a bunch of Matias switches, but from what I can tell a large part of the advantages of Matias switches is that they're generally in unused condition. They're nice switches though, I think it's great Matias brought these to the market.

Who knows, maybe Matias will gift me one of their boards someday to review .

[Ludovician]

I have yet to try any Matias switches but I have three white Alps boards and one with blues. One of them is a Focus FK-2001 in excellent condition which I'm typing on now, another is some mystery board I picked up for $20 but its condition is terrible so I don't like using it due to how the switches feel, and the other one is in immaculate condition but it just happens to be a BigKeys LX so I scoff at the thought of trying to use it. The blue alps keyboard I have is in terrible condition but I figure I'll be able to harvest and clean them at some point to use or sell.

Even in the condition the blue switches are in, I still think they feel better than my whites on the FK-2001, so I can't wait to get some good-condition blues.

[False_Dmitry_II]

It was probably a combination of exaggeration and just remembering that it was a high number. That's still over $300.

And one of the reasons that I was so impressed with the consistency is that because I was placing each switch by hand I took the opportunity to pick out each one. I would literally sit there and test before putting it into the Dell. Plenty of times I tossed them back in, and this was with Matias. I probably only did that because I was so used to dealing with more worn out alps and attempting to make it usable; which is generally all I manage.

So if I tried doing the same with blue alps, my original number may be correct. I probably need to try someone's finished blue alps, but more than likely I just won't see it as worth the dwarfing amount of money. If you won the condition lottery on one board, that's still Matias at something like 1/4 the price per finished keyboard.

[ander]

I think that there may be some exaggeration going on. I think that I bought about 3 LE2014s plus a partial baggie of leftovers from a semi-retired Geekhacker, and built a full-size and a TKL from that...

Either way, you'll have to agree, it's cool having your various KB exploits referred to as the stuff of legend.