Author Topic: Model m with us layout but made in uk plant?  (Read 1593 times)

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Offline nogoodnames444

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Model m with us layout but made in uk plant?
« on: Wed, 31 January 2018, 18:46:23 »
I have a model m that was made in 99 but it has a us ansi layout but it was made in the uk plant does anyone know why?

Offline fohat.digs

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Re: Model m with us layout but made in uk plant?
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 31 January 2018, 20:20:49 »
I have had 2 or 3 of those, ANSI layout.
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Offline nogoodnames444

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Re: Model m with us layout but made in uk plant?
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 31 January 2018, 20:59:48 »
I have had 2 or 3 of those, ANSI layout.
Yeah I wonder why because it seems weird that they would do that since they are made for each market

Offline fohat.digs

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Re: Model m with us layout but made in uk plant?
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 01 February 2018, 06:45:48 »
How did they get into the US anyway? One thing might be that after the mid-1990s the Lexington plant was making Lexmarks (and later Unicomps) so maybe the fact that the Greenock units were still branded IBM made them more desirable to some customers.
"However, even though I was born in the Mesozoic, I do know what anyone who wants to reach out to young people should say: Billionaires took your money. They took your chance to buy a home. They took your chance at a good education. They stole your opportunities. Billionaires took the things you want in life. If you really want those things, you have to take them back.
That's the message. That's the whole message. Say that every day, not just to reach America's frustrated young white men, but people of every age, race, and gender.
Late-stage capitalism is a wealth-concentration engine, focused on vacuuming up every dollar and putting it in as few hands as possible. Republicans are helping that vacuum suck.
How does a tiny fraction of the population get away with this? They do it by dividing the other 99% of Americans against themselves."
- Marc Sumner 2025-05-30

Offline jdcarpe

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Re: Model m with us layout but made in uk plant?
« Reply #4 on: Thu, 01 February 2018, 08:09:19 »
Yeah, I have several US ANSI Model M's made in Greenock, too. I will check the dates on them later, but your theory sounds plausible.
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Offline ch_123

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Re: Model m with us layout but made in uk plant?
« Reply #5 on: Thu, 01 February 2018, 16:28:14 »
This was very common after 1996 when Lexmark sold their keyboard-making business to Unicomp. IBM still continued to produce their own Model Ms in the UK until 1999, including ones for the US market. This seemed to be limited to the standard 101-key, and the 122-keys - M13s, SSKs and other more specialized variants came from Unicomp (and Maxiswitch, for the M13s up till 1998 or so).

As to why IBM kept producing their keyboards instead of buying Unicomp ones, and how much of the parts were from Lexmark/Unicomp (I've seen 'blue label' Greenock-made Model Ms whose innards have Lexmark copyrights on them) remains a mystery.

Before 1996, there were US ANSI layout Model Ms from the Greenock plant which had their own part number. These were usually sold in EMEA markets which preferred the US layout (e.g. the Netherlands)

EDIT: To ruminate a little further on the topic: IBM had a contract with Lexmark until 1996 to produce keyboards, and the expiration of this contract is what led to their keyboard business being sold off. Reasons for continuing production in the UK likely involve one or both of the following reasons:

1) Unicomp's capacity for production was insufficient for IBM's needs (keep in mind that they did not retain the IBM/Lexmark factory, they moved to a smaller one in the same city).
2) IBM had external incentives for keeping the keyboard line in the UK running. For example, they continued manufacturing laptops and servers into the 2000s in the UK, long after it made any economical sense to do so, mainly because the local authorities paid them to keep the jobs open. What this meant was that the items were 80% assembled elsewhere, and then shipped to the UK for some final bits of work and inspection.

All the above aside, after the turn of the millennium, you will find examples of Unicomp-made IBM-branded 101-keys. This probably corresponded with IBM losing interest in the Model M, and contracting to Unicomp to provide spares.
« Last Edit: Thu, 01 February 2018, 16:37:40 by ch_123 »