They’re noisy, clacky, impossible to use in an office, in your house without headphones, perhaps even annoying neighbours, need effort to make them work on USB, so why do people love them so much?
I’ve tested two. Didn’t like them because sometimes if you don’t hit the keys head on, they move a bit to the side with the spring and that’s jarring on your fingers.
Where do you stand on the debate?
Also, first post, so what better a topic!
I like them the best. Nothing has yet to beat buckling springs for switches and the caps and case of a model M are pretty damn good too. Other than the plastic rivets they are damn near perfect. A lot of modern keyboards have tight small metal cases that don’t sound nearly as nice as the one on the model M. That being said, if you don’t love them then that is ok too.
Has the form factor of keyboard layout upgraded since then? Yes absolutely
Have we found a more satisfying way to type then buckling springs? No. They are still absolutely the best tactile feedback typing experience I’ve ever found.
I had one when the first came out. They’re not actually good unless you have gorilla hands. It’s like the vinyl of PC hardware. I later replaced my M with a mechanical Northgate that had a much better feel. Plus function keys on the side which was more familiar for me because I still used VT terminals at school.
But for me the real revolution was the original MS Natural Keyboard. It saved me from carpal tunnel that plagued the generation that grew up with computers. Now kids want to repeat their parents mistakes.
However I’m still guilty of buying many mechanical keyboards because they look so cool.
I killed my MS Natural Ergonomic 4000 by fumbling half a cup of tea into it. I miss having the scroll/zoom in the centre, since I had to replace with the new Microsoft LXM-00004 model (with the stupid Office button) and that’s just got dead space there. Some customisable buttons would be perfect.
I’ve seen some ergonomic mechanical custom setups, but I’ve never been brave enough to start down that rabbit hole.
Definitely outclassed by modern tech, switches have advanced a lot, you can find whatever you’re looking for these days
