Briefly: Mechanical keyboard producers have spent years attempting to recapture the texture and sound of basic keyboards like IBM’s iconic Mannequin M. In 2017, a revival undertaking reproduced the Mannequin M’s predecessor – the 1981 Mannequin F. The undertaking not too long ago launched a number of new fashions with in depth customization choices.
For just a few hundred {dollars}, keyboard fans can now order a variety of devoted reproductions of IBM’s 1981 Mannequin F keyboard. The brand new choice lets connoisseurs take pleasure in some great benefits of top-tier basic keyboards with out Eighties design constraints.
Refurbished and reproduced Mannequin M or Mannequin F keyboards have been accessible for some time for round a pair hundred {dollars}. Nevertheless, the refurbished fashions weren’t designed for contemporary gadgets. The revival initiative from Mannequin F Labs maintains IBM’s authentic excessive industrial requirements in a big selection of type components for contemporary use instances.
The keyboards are primarily based on IBM’s expired bucking spring swap patents, which undertaking founder Joe Strandberg considers superior to fashionable cherry mechanical switches for typing (the jury is out on how they evaluate for gaming). In addition they use case designs of zinc, aluminum, and metal to keep up that authentic IBM heft, ranging between 3.2 and eight.3 lbs.
Outdated designs and requirements mixed with fashionable USB-C interfaces enable for optimum compatibility. Moreover, the keyboards work with Android and iOS. Open-source firmware lets customers customise the keys for various languages, layouts, and different wants.
Clients can order from over a dozen type components. Some hew near the unique Mannequin F design, whereas others mix the Mannequin M design with Mannequin F-based internals. Compact and cut up keyboard designs are additionally accessible. Customers can select between keyboards with 77, 62, 50, 104, or 122 keys. All fashions let clients select between numerous colours and keycap types.
Expectedly, the key disadvantage right here is price. After IBM stopped making the legendary keyboards within the Nineteen Nineties, producers transitioned to membrane and cherry keys to supply shoppers cheaper choices. Mannequin F Labs as an alternative seems to supply uncompromising construct high quality.
Though the brand new Mannequin Fs run between $350 and $580, Strandberg claims they price simply half the inflation-adjusted value of IBM’s originals. In alternate for paying $200 greater than most fashionable mechanical keyboards, you get sturdiness. Mannequin F Labs claims it designs its merchandise to final many years like lots of the 80s fashions folks nonetheless use in the present day.