leading edge 3014 with painted case (AT101-layout blue alps)

[jacobolus]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271700091511

[fohat.digs]

Is this original except for the paint job?

I didn't know that there was ever a straight-ANSI blue Alps keyboard!

[FrostyToast]

Is this original except for the paint job?

I didn't know that there was ever a straight-ANSI blue Alps keyboard!

I think CPT had one from the same company that he harvested for his Kingsaver.... Although i could be wrong.

[jacobolus]

Is this original except for the paint job?

I didn't know that there was ever a straight-ANSI blue Alps keyboard!

Yeah, looks like it. There were at least 2 straight-ANSI blue Alps boards, maybe 3–4. They’re pretty rare though.

[fohat.digs]

I am out of the dogfight and can brag, because I have the pinnacle of awesomeness in straight-ANSI Alps keyboards with blue Alps transplanted into a Northgate Omnikey 101 chassis, but for anybody out there who needs a conventional layout and wants blue Alps, one of those rare ones just mentioned will be your only way to get it without a soldering iron.

But don't take my word for it.

Bob ("Mr Northgate") Tibbetts says that complicated whites and complicated blues are supposed to be identical.

[orihalcon]

Leading Edge 2214 is another:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=63979.0

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leading-Edge-DC-2214-Vintage-Keyboard-/201187069165

Don't think it's a coincidence that one went for $114 and this one has a $114 starting bid!  Seller on that one refused to pull a cap, but there was another 2214 that sold a few months before on ebay for around $160 that the seller did pull a cap which were blues.  Starting to think that any Leading Edge board that ends with "14" are blue alps or were at some point in production.

[RoflCopter4]

Is there a way we can settle this once and for all? Are blue Alps the same as white Alps or are they not? There is fairly little information out there contrasting the two and what does exist seems mainly to be subjective. Is blue Alps really worth 4 times the price?

I know I've asked a fair few questions about Alps lately, I don't mean to be annoying anyone, I just find it relatively difficult to dig up reliable info on this.

[CPTBadAss]

I didn't have the board in the OP, just the caps. I had a Datacomp XT clone. You can see pics of the board of you look up my Kingsaver review.

And roflcopter, I own both white and blue alps. They don't feel the same to me. Whites feel crisper and heavier. Blues feel smooth and are relatively light. I definitely prefer the Blue Alps to White. That's why they're in my Kingsaver.

[jacobolus]

Is there a way we can settle this once and for all? Are blue Alps the same as white Alps or are they not? There is fairly little information out there contrasting the two and what does exist seems mainly to be subjective. Is blue Alps really worth 4 times the price?

They are absolutely not the same. Blue Alps switches have a different spring, a different tactile leaf, a different switchplate, and (I think, though this hasn’t been analyzed in detail) additional factory-applied dry lubricant on the slider.

There’s no inherent “worth” to switches: blue Alps switches are much rarer, and keyswitches in general aren’t that expensive relative to other things in the society, so the blue ones can command a higher price. I can definitely imagine someone preferring white Alps switches, which are a bit more tactile and a bit stiffer.

[orihalcon]

Is there a way we can settle this once and for all? Are blue Alps the same as white Alps or are they not? There is fairly little information out there contrasting the two and what does exist seems mainly to be subjective. Is blue Alps really worth 4 times the price?

I know I've asked a fair few questions about Alps lately, I don't mean to be annoying anyone, I just find it relatively difficult to dig up reliable info on this.

I've also read "Northgate Bob" says that complicated whites are the same as blue alps.

I get the frustration on not being objectively being able to tell if they at least would "feel" and sound the same whether they internally are the same or not.  With how geeky we think we are, I am surprised there is no database that actually has standardized graphic representations of each type of common switch out there.  You could graph force transmitted through the switch over time, decibels over time, and actuator position over time.

The sound at a standardized distance from the switch could be also put in the database and played back so that you could get some idea of the click sound compared to others recorded by the same setup. Position would tell you how high up the actuation point is, and force graph would tell you how tactile it is.