IBM's Model M Keyboard

The IBM Model M Part No. 1391401.  The Cadillac of Keyboards.  Yes, the 'Clicky-Click' Keyboard.

Back in 1984, IBM's typewriter division went to work on a keyboard.  They came up with the Model M.  The Model M, in my opinion, is the best keyboard out there bar none.  You can take your new fancy-pants keyboards of today and split them, fold them, or even take all the keys away, but they'll never equal the IBM Model M Keyboard Part No. 1391401 with Buckling Spring Technology.  Yeah, it's loud and you have to push harder on the keys but name another component that was made almost twenty years ago and still runs like a dream.  Maybe it's because I grew up on these keyboards with their phonebook cords, large backspace key, and the backslash key in the right place but I've never met its equal.  It's just too damn fun typing on them.  I've been after a Model M for awhile now and there are plenty on ebay--in fact you can still buy one brand new ( IBM sold its typewriter division years ago)--but I don't want to pay the shipping.  I went to Value Village today for the second time hoping to get lucky.  I did. 

Now I didn't find a Model M but I did find a Model M2 Part No. 1395300.  This particular keyboard was actually made by Lexmark for IBM but it still used the Buckling Spring Technology that made typing so damn fun.  I'm not going to stop looking for my Model M but this will do nicely for the time being.  Be warned though, this keyboard is one of the loudest keyboards you'll ever have the pleasure of using.  Take a listen to me typing away with my new keyboard!  As far as I know, the M2 was basically an M, but stripped down to nothing but the bare essentials (the essential being the Buckling Spring Technology.) 

The Model M2 differs from the Model M in a couple of ways.  First of all it doesn't have the spill guards on either side of the board.  (Do these make sense to you anyway?  The guards do keep liquids that have spilled on the board from spilling on your desk but wouldn't you rather that happened then have your keyboard soaked in Dr. Pepper?)  Secondly, they decided to go with plastic control arms under the Enter key on the numeric keypad which tend to break easily.  The cord is not detachable either and it looks like a piece of telephone line cord instead of the wound telephone cord that the Model M had.  The IBM logo that should be on the left and inside an oval (in either blue or grey depending on the year) is found on the right beside the Scroll Lock indicator.  It's blue and is in a rectangle that rings all three indicator lights. 

This keyboard is also a lot lighter and smaller as well.  But the most important thing, the Buckling Spring Technology is most definitely the same and feels simply wonderful. 

The layout on this board is beautiful.  As mentioned the Backspace key is the full inch long key with the three quarter inch long backslash key right underneath it;  where it belongs!  

The other beautiful part of using this keyboard is what's not there.  There aren't any CD player control buttons or Internet shortcut buttons.  Hell, there isn't even a Windows key! 

Getting back to my story, I got to Value Village and I spied a pile of keyboards.  No one would get rid of their Model M on purpose but I was hoping that someone's Mom was throwing out her old 386 and just bundled the keyboard up with it.  I went over and started pulling out boards but I couldn't find a Model M.  I noticed that one keyboard had the IBM logo on it but at the time I didn't know about the Model M2.  I pressed down on the keys and felt that satisfying click!   What was going on here?  I flipped it over and re-read the label.  I saw that this was labelled an M2.  For $3.99 I couldn't go wrong despite the fact that the numeric keypad seemed to be jammed up pretty good.  The Number 3 key and the Enter key were stuck.  I use the keypad a lot but I thought I might be able to fix it.  I got it home and took a look at it.

Looking closely at the broken keys it appeared that there was a piece of plastic jammed underneath them.  Thinking I could simply pull it out I got a screwdriver and pulled out the defective keys.

Apparently, the M2 is a bit of a rarity today, so I'm glad I started my Model M collection with it.  I've typed this entire article with it and so far, I've haven't been disappointed.  Once I find a Model M I promise to post about it!  For now though, I'm going to enjoy typing on my M2.  I just wish I had more to type!

I got most of my information regarding the Model M2 from 3m3718.com.

UPDATED July 15, 2003:  I did end up getting a Model M.  Read about it here!

chessthecat.com