Got myself two Model M's at a nice price! A couple of questions...

[jkercado]

They're pretty old, 1989 vintage, black label, removable cord. Pretty good condition although one of them is missing a couple of keycaps (they both have doubles). Other than the cable, is there any significant difference between the black labels and the blue labels (of which I have one, built in 1993)? The plan was to re-sell these keyboards, but now I'm thinking of keeping one of the oldies and sell my blue label unit.

Opinions?

[Internetlad]

Short answer: Nope

Long answer: There's some debate on the issue. Some swear that they can feel a difference between IBM M's, Lexmark M's and Unicomp M's but they were all made out of the same style parts from the same diagrams with the same machines. I can feel a slight difference between my 92' Lexmark M and my 2011 Unicomp Spacesaver, but as far as quality goes, they're the same design. Moreso for the IBM/Lexmark M's

TL;DR: No difference in quality besides individual wear. Keep them all. Hooray!

[fohat.digs]

I have found that each board has its own personality.

If I were in your shoes, I would keep the blue label "stock" and use both older boards for at least a couple of hours each and decide which one felt and sounded better.

Then I would take it apart, thoroughly clean it, and do a bolt-mod and floss job. I would put the best set of keys on it (because it will become your new favorite) and put it in rotation with the stock blue label.

Fill out the key set on the other one, clean it and test it to make sure it is all OK, and sell it on ebay for $30-40 Buy-It-Now + $15 shipping as "cleaned, tested and guaranteed". If it has the heavier plate and wire stabilizers on the longer keys, advertise that, people like it. IBM changed those specs sometime about early-mid-1989.

Good luck!

[jkercado]

Tested them both and they work beautifully. I'll quote here my current Facebook status:

Acquired today two more IBM Model M keyboards. Built in 1989, still work perfectly. The keys aren't even glossy, and we're talking about 23 years of use. Wow. If you want to survive the nuclear zombie holocaust, it seems you have to *be* an IBM Model M.

There's one of the blacks that I'm liking a lot. Feels very, very smooth, with little spring pinging, and better than my blue. It had an old MS Word cheat sheet glued to the top, but it came off cleanly, and a little bit of foaming bleach assured me that the difference in plastic color between the exposed and hidden areas was just old dirt. I also like the removable cable--the cable on my blue has cracked everywhere and has like a mile of electrical tape holding it together.

[Internetlad]

I find a bath in oxyclean gives it an unforgettable look and smell.

Yes, Smell.

[fohat.digs]

I use Oxi-clean along with powdered laundry detergent (Charlie's is best) and it takes care of 99% of everything in under an hour.

DO NOT get that solution in your eyes!

[Internetlad]

DO NOT get that solution in your eyes!

To be fair, that's true of most objects. Thumbtacks, car floor mats, cameras. etc.

I see what you mean though.

[jkercado]

I use Oxi-clean along with powdered laundry detergent (Charlie's is best) and it takes care of 99% of everything in under an hour.

DO NOT get that solution in your eyes!

Dawn dishwashing liquid and a little scrubbing was enough. It's looking pretty now!