what kind of switch is on this?

[wellington1869]

hi all - there are refurbished smk-85's on sale by dsi on ebay. I'm having the hardest time figuring out whether or not these contain white alps or not.
I know smk-85's contained various switches, some with white alps, some without. I tried emailing dsi asking about this one but I was basically ignored. There is even a long review of this board in the reviews section (this is the one with the gray/silver plastic body and black keys) but in the entire review I was not able to find definitive confirmation that they have white alps (what kind of review doesnt mention what kind of switch it is?! If it did, I missed it, but in any event I still dont know).

So can anyone confirm if this has white alps or not? Thanks!

[fkeidjn]

It's probably blue Cherries.  Just to make sure though, ask the seller to pull off a keycap and take a picture of the switch.

[Chloe]

White stem Strong Man switches, ALPS compatible:
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=168

xsphat had one with black casing, with black clicky ALPS:
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=579

[wellington1869]

thanks chloe.  I might take a chance on this board.

[wellington1869]

done, bought it (and my third purchase with the microsoft live.com rebate program 25% off
I'll have my own review of this up soon as it gets here... I also might pull the "click" out of it as described here.  Depends on how noisy it is I guess.

Incidentally I called DSI on the phone and he said it was white alps (though maybe he meant to say white alps compatible strongman I guess I'll find out when it comes (either will do).

[skriefal]

I can confirm that these are using white ALPS-compatible switches from Strongman.

[wellington1869]

I can confirm that these are using white ALPS-compatible switches from Strongman.

skrie - do you have this board? if so what do you think of it?

[skriefal]

Yes, I have a refurbished SMK-85 from DSI's eBay store.  It's a nice keyboard -- compact, but with tactile and audible feedback.  The key layout is actually very similar to the laptop on which I'm typing this message (Compal IFL90).  There is little or no difference between the Strongman switches and the real white Alps switches in two other keyboards that I own.

The only complaint I have is that the silver paint on the keyboard casing is a bit cheesy (chintzy?).  There are a couple small nicks where the paint is missing.  Oh well.

I like the SMK-85 much more than Cherry's ML-4100 (G84-4100).  The Cherry is just too small.  The SMK-85, while still very compact, is at least large enough to comfortably use for more than a few sentences.

[wellington1869]

Yes, I have a refurbished SMK-85 from DSI's eBay store.  It's a nice keyboard -- compact, but with tactile and audible feedback.  The key layout is actually very similar to the laptop on which I'm typing this message (Compal IFL90).  There is little or no difference between the Strongman switches and the real white Alps switches in two other keyboards that I own.

The only complaint I have is that the silver paint on the keyboard casing is a bit cheesy (chintzy?).  There are a couple small nicks where the paint is missing.  Oh well.

I like the SMK-85 much more than Cherry's ML-4100 (G84-4100).  The Cherry is just too small.  The SMK-85, while still very compact, is at least large enough to comfortably use for more than a few sentences.

Thanks for the deets. I'm looking forward to this board. I guess the cheesy plastic doesnt bother me so much (besides, if its plastic, it can be painted over fairly easily I think).  I like the layout too.

[Chloe]

I can't decide whether to get one of these or something with Cherry blue MX. I think I'd like something that felt different.

[wellington1869]

I can't decide whether to get one of these or something with Cherry blue MX. I think I'd like something that felt different.

get both! later on you can always sell the ones you dont use.

they all have their charms, thats why I figure the only way I'll ultimately be happy is if I have each in my hands for a while and figure out my own likes and dislikes (which apparently I myself dont really know yet).