I'm in keyboard heaven right now.

[chyros]

So I had this Cherry G80-3000 with doubleshot caps and MX Blue switches that I got from the uni. It proved to be quite popular because I got a fair few buy and trade offers for it, presumably for the caps. I asked to trade it for an Alps Green or even better, Alps Blue board. Someone from Deskthority then got me an Acer KB-101A.

It arrived today, and I was rather pleasantly surprised:





From the state of the keyboard there is not the slightest doubt at all this this keyboard is in fact TOTALLY UNUSED. That's right, an UNUSED ALPS BLUE KEYBOARD. God knows how rare those must be by now. There isn't a speck of dust, scratch, mark or anything like it, the caps have that very fine matte look to them, and the keyboard hasn't yellowed in the slightest.

Best of all is the switches though. They're genuinely divine to type on, very smooth, and with a lovely tactility. The sound is even better, it's simply gorgeous. I put together a quick typing video to share the awesomeness.

I'll be doing a full review on this board in due time of course, but I couldn't help but make this post about it already. This is without a doubt the best keyboard I've ever used.

Hope you guys liked this post .

[Photekq]

Jesus christ. That thing is worth about 4x the Cherry board if it's actually unused. Nice one.

[chyros]

Thanks! Indeed, this thing could've fetched a very nice price indeed. The guy I traded it with got it for 60 euros shipped - quite a good deal.

I actually meant to put this in the Keyboards forum btw, but I seem to have misposted it xD . Too many windows open, I guess. Could a mod please move it?

[Touch_It]

What is this, a blue alps board with an ansi layout unused.  VERY NICE.

I hope to try them one day.  But usually blue alps boards bring 100+ easy, in worse layouts and in worse condition.

[Joey Quinn]

God level trade! Ansi and Blue Alps, I'm literally drooling.

[saturnotaku]

That sound is amazing. If only Cherry MX Blue could sound so good out of the box.

[ttzhou]

love the look of that board - great find. ALPS are amazing, but sadly the GMK TA keycaps aren't compatible with them... they would look brilliant on this beige.

[fohat.digs]

You won the lottery.

[chyros]

You won the lottery.

I know, I still can't even believe I got this lucky xD . I never even dreamed that Cherry would land me something like this xD .

God level trade! Ansi and Blue Alps, I'm literally drooling.

I didn't even realise ANSI would be rare on boards like these, but I guess it makes sense, seeing as old layouts were mostly ISO and big-ass enter, right? Strangely, this board came from Germany Oo .

[jwaz]

You are in keyboard heaven. That is one awesome board.


edit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acer-KB-101a-Vintage-Mechanical-Blue-ALPS-Keyboard-/291419269145?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43d9f12819


   I'd say that puts yours in the $250 range.

[chyros]

You are in keyboard heaven. That is one awesome board.


edit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acer-KB-101a-Vintage-Mechanical-Blue-ALPS-Keyboard-/291419269145?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43d9f12819


   I'd say that puts yours in the $250 range.

HOLY SHIIIIIIT

:DDDD

[intelli78]

Fap, fap fappin on heavens door

[yomammary]

Holy crap!

[hwood34]

damn, that's a steal right there

[Firebolt1914]

Wow great find! How do you like blue alps so far?

[fohat.digs]

I'd say that puts yours in the $250 range.

or twice that

[jwaz]

I'd say that puts yours in the $250 range.

or twice that

yeah... def not, but it's definitely worth some bucks. enjoy it chyros!!

[Air tree]

Great find and a beautiful board. After trying white alps, I'm keen to try blues, as I heard they are even better.

[RickyJ]

Huge congrats on the clean blues!  Mine took some cleaning (we didn't know better as kids), but it blows Cherry out of the water.

[chyros]

Wow great find! How do you like blue alps so far?

They live up to the hype. I prefer these over any other switch I've tried so far, even including buckling springs.

Great find and a beautiful board. After trying white alps, I'm keen to try blues, as I heard they are even better.

I love White Alps, they're great switches, but these blue ones are definitely even better. In my review, I'll be comparing these to SKCM Whites, I have a keyboard in almost as good a state with those in it to compare them to. Credit for finding this board goes to the guy I traded for it, though xD .

Huge congrats on the clean blues!  Mine took some cleaning (we didn't know better as kids), but it blows Cherry out of the water.

Cheers mate, and yeah I agree!

[CPTBadAss]

Cannot contain my Jealousy. Congrats!

[jacobolus]

NIB-ish blue Alps switches are really nice. I've had a few blue Alps boards, and one in particular was basically flawless, completely smooth, no scratchiness at all. (The keyboard of a luggable which was mostly unused and clearly had stayed folded up with the computer part over the years, so no dust could get in.) Very fun to type on.

Still worth at least trying to swap in some thick Alps dyesubs (from e.g. an SGI AT101 board, or similar), in my opinion, to see whether you prefer them to the keycaps the Acer board came with. (Do you have a close up picture of the bottom of one of those Acer caps?)

By the way, the best page about this keyboard is Sandy’s (in Japanese):
http://sandy55.fc2web.com/keyboard/acer_kb101a.html

[morpheus]

What the.......

Such an amazing keyboard....so jealous right now.

[Yoe]

Wow… that's a nice board! Congrats!

[Dihedral]

dammit chyros my envy just went somewhere into the kupier belt.

[chyros]

Cheers guys!

Still worth at least trying to swap in some thick Alps dyesubs (from e.g. an SGI AT101 board, or similar), in my opinion, to see whether you prefer them to the keycaps the Acer board came with. (Do you have a close up picture of the bottom of one of those Acer caps?)

Yup.



The Acer one is the one in the middle. It's standard Alps thickness (6312-TW on the left to compare). I do have thick PBT dyesubs from the AT101 I disassembled (on the right), but they don't really impact keyfeel. The sound is slightly different; slightly higher-pitched (yes, thicker but higher-pitched, I think that's a consequence of it being PBT).

By the way, the best page about this keyboard is Sandy’s (in Japanese):
http://sandy55.fc2web.com/keyboard/acer_kb101a.html

Yeah I can't read that xD . Cheers though, lots of internal pictures .

[rowdy]

And it's even got the plastic wrapping on the completely intact coiled cable!

Very nice - congrats

[CPTBadAss]

I hope that one day, I too will stumble into a Blue Alps board.

[chyros]

I hope so too, these deserve a good home . It's not TOO uncommon for one to pop up on eBay, so I'm sure you will eventually . Just don't get greedy and jump on a super dirty one - as always with Alps, be vigilant of the quality of boards.

[CPTBadAss]

I mean I've got my Kingsaver with Blue Alps right now but I'd like to find one that isn't $10983450345 on eBay.

* CPTBadAss is greedy

[chyros]

Oh you've already got one? Haha, you should let others get a chance to try them xD . Nice review, cool to see you like them so much too . I see it originally had Green Alps - I'm very curious to try them out someday .

[CPTBadAss]

The Kingsaver travels a lot so people have tried it. But I'll be bringing hat along with my entire collection to Keycon. It's very hard for me to pick between the Kingsaver and my 4704 62 key in terms of favorite keyboard .

[ander]

Nice, dude! What a find.

When you think about it, it is a bit funny that people would spend significant time typing about keyboards—it's a bit like buying a parrot and teaching it to say "I'm a parrot! I'm a parrot!"

Unused Blue ALPS though. Undeniably cool. We share your joy.

[Dihedral]

I mean I've got my Kingsaver with Blue Alps right now but I'd like to find one that isn't $10983450345 on eBay.

* CPTBadAss is greedy

How are the blue alps in your kingsaver. I know it's one of your favourite boards but are they as good condition as chyros' board?

[chyros]

Nice, dude! What a find.

When you think about it, it is a bit funny that people would spend significant time typing about keyboards—it's a bit like buying a parrot and teaching it to say "I'm a parrot! I'm a parrot!"

Well, that's true, but then again, what else are keyboards and parrots for? XD

[ander]

Well, that's true, but then again, what else are keyboards and parrots for?

I just wondered if I was the only one who'd grasped the irony, y'know?

[chyros]

Made a (video) review about it finally; check it out here: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=71338.0 (or see the video here:

).

[ander]

Goodness, chap, you sound like a professional news reader. So in addition to the thoughtful and entertaining review, it also seemed quite professional. Nice job!

[chyros]

Haha thanks mate xD .

[jacobolus]

I mean I've got my Kingsaver with Blue Alps [...]

How are the blue alps in your kingsaver. I know it's one of your favourite boards but are they as good condition as chyros' board?

I can’t imagine they’re in quite as good condition, considering what perfect shape chryos’s board is in.

[CPTBadAss]

I mean I've got my Kingsaver with Blue Alps right now but I'd like to find one that isn't $10983450345 on eBay.

* CPTBadAss is greedy

How are the blue alps in your kingsaver. I know it's one of your favourite boards but are they as good condition as chyros' board?

Brb, let me fly to the UK so I can assess how good a condition mine are versus Chyros. )

I honestly don't know how good chyros' stuff is. My donar board was in great condition but it was yellowed as ****. I only know for certain that my switches all feel fine. I've tried at least 5 blue alps boards in various conditions and mine aren't dirty or anything.

[chyros]

I mean I've got my Kingsaver with Blue Alps right now but I'd like to find one that isn't $10983450345 on eBay.

* CPTBadAss is greedy

How are the blue alps in your kingsaver. I know it's one of your favourite boards but are they as good condition as chyros' board?

Brb, let me fly to the UK so I can assess how good a condition mine are versus Chyros. )

Do it mofo .