IBM 4704 "Kishsaver" family • Before the IBM [wiki]Model M[/wiki], there was the even meaner, tougher and rarer Model F. Until recently, Model Fs were all quite large. But last year, thanks to Kishy and SmallFry's detective work, the "Kishsaver" 4704 series burst onto the scene. These are seriously rare and high end, metal bodied keyboards. And with Xwhatsit's controller inside, they are perfectly usable today! If only there were enough of them to go round…
IBM 3276 & 3278 beamspring series • Continuing with IBM's very finest, we go back to the granddaddy of them all: the legendary Beamsprings. The 3276 and 3278 lines are hardcore keyboard dinosaurs. Seriously, you should hear them in action. Even a Model M sounds quiet and humble in comparison! And yet they are unsurpassed in key feel, and type so smoothly your fingers will thank you just as much as your ears take a pounding. And if noise really is music to you, engage the solenoid!
IBM Model F Unsaver • The IBM trifecta is complete with the board with the perfect name: the 104 key Model F Space Unsaver! The reference is to the famous SSK. This big board is nowhere near as small, but compared to the 122 key battleship it's descended from, the name is still deserved. The Unsaver has the sweet, precise, sharp feel of capsense buckling spring, and more function keys than you can shake a stick at. All without the excess of a numberpad! Keep that mouse hand nice and close. But your screen, well, not so quite.
Cherry MX 5000 • Oh there is one black sheep. Cherry snuck into IBM's party with a daring, delicious and rightly famous board of its own. The MX5000, also known as G80-5000, also known as the Cherry ErgoPlus or simply the Cherry 5000; it's "the squid" in Korea. This is the quintessential Ergonomic spilt mechanical keyboard. It's also nightmarishly hard to obtain! It comes with vintage MX browns, and with a sense of bittersweet sorrow from whoever you're buying it from, in exchange for all the cash.
And the Wingnut for Best vintage keyboard 2014, as voted for by the members of deskthority, goes to...
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