Lo and behold, I discovered there is such thing as a Logitech washable keyboard
. The keys are spaced a reasonable distance apart to avoid fat-fingering and give satisfying, if not exactly IBM Model M-like, tactile feedback when struck. As a bonus, there's a little brush clipped to the bottom of the keyboard for dusting stuff out from under the keycaps, and the USB connector on the cord has a tethered cap to cover it when you're giving it a scrub in the sink.Very much liking it so far. Living at my keyboard as I do, this definitely has potential.
knock off keyboards may have the keying feel of a model-m, but do they have the gorilla killing durability?
ReplyDeleteThis is not a "knock-off" of a Model M. The only way in which it resembles a Model M is that both are rectangular and have buttons you can press to make letters appear on the screen.
ReplyDeleteThis one is more lightly-built than a Model M, but Logitech makes good hardware. It is also a lot more waterproof than a Model M, and 100% more resistant to cookie crumbs and shit getting lodged between the keys.
I'm glad you like your Model M. I like Model Ms too! It's good to like things! :)
I like ice cream.
ReplyDeleteI also like keyboards that feel like keyboards.
I don't get mad and throw my ice cream across the room if I don't like the flavor.
Cruddy keyboards on the other hand....
Maybe it's a personal failing.
Actually it resembles a Model M in another way besides being rectangular with buttons to press, it is a Qwerty keyboard! ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm typing with that very same waterproof keyboard to leave this comment! I had a bigger and heavier keyboard with a nice resistant feel, that was a discontinued model from some out of business company, but, alas, I literally spilled Coke on it. It was not waterproof. My tax professor said (in 1996) that if one spilled coke on a keyboard it could be saved by holding the thing under water to rinse the coke out, as keyboards were washed with water at some point in their manufacture. I have to write to him to say it did not work (on my vintage 1996 keyboard, no less).
guardduck,
ReplyDelete"I also like keyboards that feel like keyboards."
Was "The keys ... give satisfying, if not exactly IBM Model M-like, tactile feedback when struck." hard to parse or something? :s
Was commiserating on the non-satisfying nowhere close to IBM-like feedback.
ReplyDeleteApparently my verbiage was fabricated in a manner that was itself hard to parse.
Should buy one for my teenager.
ReplyDeleteBut is it wine proof? Inquiring minds want to know.
ReplyDeleteWhere's it made? (He asked hopefully)
ReplyDelete@the other Robert:
ReplyDeleteEvery Logitech product I've ever owned was made in China.
My sister has a history of destroying a couple keyboards a year with assorted liquids. I got her a Sealshield a few years ago. It still works and is dishwasher safe.
ReplyDeleteRobert,
ReplyDeleteSadly, China.
I've been using a USB-corded Model M for the last five years, purchased new from pckeyboard.com.
ReplyDeleteBuckling spring keys are the only ones that feel right.
Tam said:
ReplyDelete"Sadly, China."
Well, fornication...
I have restored my first Model M to service: it just needed a little cleaning.
ReplyDeleteManufacture date: 4 October 1990.
For those Keyboard purists who want a solid, mechanical keyboard there is not beating the daskeyboard. They are however *horrendously* expensive, so while I'd love to have one at home and at work (and annoy my officemates with hyperclicky keys at machinegun speeds) I only have the one I'm typing on now.
ReplyDeleteI believe I have the model keyboard Tam is talking about at work and it is both solid to type at and will survive the odd coffee spill :)
OMG STOP COPYING ME
ReplyDelete--erm. I mean to say: I bought one of those recently, and I'm also pleased at a.) how easy it is to restore to like-new status, and b.) feels sort of like a plastic Model M. You can even dunk it completely, as long as you don't submerge the USB plug.
Magic, I say. Sorcery and witchcraft. But I'll take it.
Chiclet style keyboards are decent. They definitely work well on the macbook. I recently picked up my first mechanical and man is sweet. My warhorse is a Das Keyboard Professional. Although, you can not go snorkeling with it.
ReplyDeleteI bought 5 of the model m's due to your comments on this board years ago about them. And now you are changing?
ReplyDeleteAll 5 of mine are grinding away still. Great boards, they just keep going and going.
"I bought 5 of the model m's due to your comments on this board years ago about them. And now you are changing?"
ReplyDeleteWhile the Model M is the awesomest keyboard ever, I haven't used one since... '93? Whenever I sold my XT.
This blog has been almost entirely written on a Logitech Elite I bought when I bought my previous desktop back in '03.