The Joy of Typing: Unicomp Ultra Classic Model M Keyboard

I like clicky keyboards. Growing up in the eighties I was lucky enough to have a father who worked in the IT industry and we constantly had hardware around the house when I was young. In high school we were (lucky again) to have Apple and IBM computers available for anti-social types. That distinctive “click-clack” of early keyboards is one of my favorite sounds. And typing on one of those keyboards is one of my favorite feelings.

After heading to college I’ve been using laptop machines for most of my work. But reciently I’ve been putting together a desktop machine to use. I’ve used the fact I’m buying a new computer as an excuse to get a clacky keyboard.

After some digging around online I found a few sites where you can pick up an IBM Model M for a reasonable (and not so reasonable) price. I was happy to see one of the classic keyboards still available, but realized quickly that I wouldn’t be able to get a classic Model M in 104 key layout. This is a problem for me as I’ve been known to use xmonad as my window manager and I need the Mod 4 key to keep my hotkeys from clobbering each other.

Luckilly the Model M is still being manufactured by Unicomp. I decided to pick up one of their Ultra Classic models and see if it will work for me.

Overview

Unicomp sends your keyboard in a plain brown shipping box with some basic precautions taken to preserve the health of your board. There are some cardboard spacers keeping the board level and some bubble wrap protecting the base. The board itself is sealed in plastic and safe from the inevitable grime of the shipping center.

The board itself has quite a bit of heft. The Ultra Classic has a smaller case than the original Model M keyboards but is still a beast at 4.7 lbs (compared to the nearly 7 lbs original) which is more than my ThinkPad T-510. The cord is attached to the board as opposed to the original boards which had detachable cords. And I elected to purchase a 104-key model where as the IBM run was only available in 101-key.

Quality

I described the unboxing process as utilitarian above and that is true of the keyboard itself. There are few frills here. A few LED’s to show when you have caps, num, and scroll lock turned on, and the board is now available in a 104-key configuration, which is a nice touch for us Linux users who like lots of modifier keys. Unicomp even continues the tradition of putting the keyboard’s date of manufacture on the underside of the case.

Typing is where the board starts to shine. It is a Model M through and through. Loud, clacky, and that perfect feel under your fingers. After a few minutes of typing my fingers were flying over the keys. I’m a fairly quick typist, (60 wpm) and it’s nice to have a board that doesn’t fight against me.

Those who aren’t familiar with the Model M: the board provides two kinds of feedback when the keys are pressed. 1. An audible click-clack that indicates the keystroke has been registered and 2. a tactile click that occurs right when the key is registered. After some time spent typing with this board people start to work with that feedback, improving their strokes and speeding up their typing speed and accuracy.

The only complaint I have about the build has to do with the appearance of the board. The case shipped with a number of small but visible blemishes and the key-caps have a lot of leftover flash from the mold process. These are cosmetic issues, but the key-cap thing bothers me. I ordered keycaps with Tux printed on them to replace the Windows key and had to do some work on one of the keys to get it to fit properly. When I pay that much for something I expect a little more care.

The Feel

Any concerns raised by the blemishes disappeared once I started typing. This is the real deal. Sturdy, clicky, and reliable. You need a fair amount of force to make the keys move, but they’re still easy to press. I’m struggling to find a good comparison for those that have never used a Model M. They feel a little like you’re typing on a type writer, but the keys aren’t quite as heavy.

Whatever. The point is it is a joy to type on one of these boards. It may take a few hours to readjust if you’re used to the smaller scale boards that ship with laptops or a certain consumer UNIX vendor’s all in ones, but the time is well worth it. I’m really busy right now and don’t have time to write this post, but I needed an excuse to sit down and type more. That’s the kind of experience the Model M provides. You look for reasons to sit in front of your computer and write.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a mechanical keyboard at a fair price and don’t want or need to go down the rabbit hole of worrying about what kind of switch you have, if you should get back lights, or breaking out inkscape to create a custom key design the Model M is the way to go. Going for an original model online or picking up a newly minted board from Unicomp are both good ideas as the original design left little to improve upon. Complaints about minor cosmetic details aside I got what I wanted: a great keyboard that types wonderfully and annoys the neighbors when I leave the windows open.