Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “This historic keyboard is BACK! – F104 Model F”.
We got a little piece of History here. We got the model f keyboard uh. They used to make these back in the 80s, and oh, my God, they’ve got a bit of a reputation. Uh, along with the model M IBM made these keyboards for quite a while and they’ve been out of production, for I think over 25 years now and one company – oh so heavy one company is now recreating them. It’S using die, cast aluminum. So there’s no CNC going on and, frankly I believe it look at how big and thick this thing is. I got ta weigh it. I want to weigh it first thing: it’s over five pounds for sure this thing’s awesome. Have you ever seen one this large before right, like we’ve done a bunch of full-size boards? This is nothing new in terms of that um! Oh yeah, it’s like 3.2 kilos! That’S what that’s! That’S like 10 pounds! No! No! No! It’S like eight pounds.
Seven! Six! It’S over six yeah, seven pounds so not quite 10, but oh man, this thing is chunky. Can I have a tape? Measure yeah that’d be good uh. Let’S measure this bad boy, it’s almost 19 18 and a half inches long. It’S pretty long and then we got just over seven like seven and a quarters wide and then how thick is it? I need to know the thickness so up near the front here at the max height it’s about an inch and a quarter thick.
It comes in a lot of colors, we’ve got the red, but it also comes in gray, beige, black silver gray, light blue and dark blue. I love what we’ve got the old school numblock caps, lock scroll, lock LEDs it’s! This really takes me back. I don’t know if I was old enough to actually type on one of the OG Model F or model M’s in school.
I am old enough where we had like ibms and model twos or apple twos in school, and they must use something similar. That’S right! There’S something incredibly distinct and interesting about buckling spring switches, and you know what I’ll be frank. I don’t like them.
There’S something comforting about this sound, but there’s also something terrible about it. You know like it’s. Is this like high-pitched, shrill kind of pingy noise sounds super rattly everywhere, however, I’m an uncultured Heathen um a lot of people, absolutely love these things. They grew up typing on them and they have got such crazy, fond memories. For me, that’s really not the case, but there is something really satisfying about the feel, at least up until now, I’d only typed on really old model. M’S we’ve got a couple floating around the office from the model M video that we did years back. If you want some more information, definitely go check that out and I haven’t enjoyed them too much and I think that’s just because they’re old, while I don’t like the way this sounds all that much. I really actually do like the way it feels, and I didn’t on the older switches. They just felt bad. They just felt kind of gunked up and old.
I don’t really know how to explain it, but I wasn’t a fan these though they feel nice and crisp. The big difference between a traditional switch that we know of today and uh buckling spring that we’ve got here, is that, instead of the spring being on a Center Post, it’s kind of just hanging out and when you press down the spring buckles and then connects on The side of the switch it’s a super cool design and you know it’s got a really unique, both feel and sound, but I’m a bigger fan of kind of where we’ve come to, rather than where we come from. While the typing experience is great, I can’t get over the sound and how pingy it is. It might be a little better if you were to open this thing and mod it a little bit.
Maybe add some foam maybe add a couple layers of tape, but alas, we’ve got the classic Model. M Model F experience right now. I can’t say if it’s perfectly replicating the original, but it does feel very similar and sound very similar to model M’s that I’ve personally typed on uh we’re gon na give it. You know a classic typing test plug it in, but not before a word from our sponsor dream.
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Most, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a keyboard. That’S got a cable this long. I know that I keep repeating that, but it’s like I don’t know what to tell you.
Every keyboard usually comes with like a six foot cable anyway. This is cool. We’Ve got this like huge socket here for the USBC and it’s actually way deep inside there, but luckily it should be easy enough to plug in sure a wrist rest, I think, is going to have to be necessary for just about anyone else who wants to buy This keyboard all right we’re going to try a buckling spring, see if I’m any less accurate. You know less speedy. 106. 96.
You know it’s not great. It’S not awful, though it’s okay for me, man, I get it. I I hate it and love it. At the same time, uh, I think that if you are in an office or if you have people around you, this is like the worst thing to have and they’re gon na hate you I I would like be more annoyed by this than I think, like a Set of actual clicky switches there’s something about the high-pitched spring ping, okay, that kind of just Trails after every single key switch. I think that, honestly, if you want to use this anywhere other than your own desk or your own office with no one around, you really should try to figure out a way to foam it or tape it or something. However, that might really detract from just the uniqueness of this keyboard there’s something incredibly special about this.
I still am not super crazy about the feeling it doesn’t feel like a linear. It doesn’t feel like a tactile and that’s because they’re just it’s so different. Actually, let me put some feed on real, quick and see if that makes me like this anymore. You know I’ll get just a little stick on feet. These are great. These are fine.
Oh yeah, with this you’re definitely gon na need a wrist rest. Oh that’s! Not going anywhere, those are some nice stable feet. Let me do another man. Oh thanks, Glenn uh. That being said, they actually come with a number of different options, or at least hours did. It’S got these little smaller uh flat, guys here, and then it’s got these little four square um guys right here.
Oh this is actually really cool they’ve, given you replacement switches as well. So what we’ve got they’re just Springs sitting on these platforms here this something you know we’re both kind of learning today. This is something I don’t know a ton about, because I as much as I kind of grew up with these, I also didn’t really yeah. So it’s just kind of hanging out in there that’s so wild and then this guy goes down and as you push down it Kinks the spring and then it makes contact really cool design. I don’t like it all that much, but I think it’s a really cool design at the very least and anyone you know, there’s one thing that’s got to be said, is anyone who rocks one of these? It’S definitely a conversation starter. One thing I forgot to mention is the color.
I personally wouldn’t have chosen red, but that being said, I do like it. It’S a really nice metallic kind of red, um they’re, calling it true red, I believe, which is a little weird uh. What is a true red, I don’t know all of those other colors I mentioned before, come in a paint or powder coat finish and at least on the website. They all look pretty good as they look as good as this red does right here, then they’re, probably all beautiful honestly. This looks a lot like it does on the website. So I don’t think you have to worry about ordering A Certain Shade and getting something completely different.
That’S that’s probably not going to happen here. As for the keycaps, what they’ve done is they’ve tried to replicate old school keycaps as well. They feel really bumpy and gritty on top on the sides, it’s actually nice and smooth, but as soon as you get to the top there’s that textured feeling and I actually kind of like it honestly, I would really like to buy a set of keycaps that are Basically like this, except you know, they fit across or box stem so that you’re not stuck trying to jam them onto a buckling spring that you don’t own. The other really great thing about the keycaps.
Is I just love this colorway. It’S really simple. You’Ve got like a beige and then a slightly less beige or gray kind of style, and then you’ve got just a little hint of blue and it’s a really nice blue that I think, goes really well with this uh, true red, that they’re calling my only other Issue, I guess, with the kind of fit and finish of everything, is I don’t like how recessed all of the keycaps are um into the keyboard. The row up here like the like row, zero or Row, one is actually pretty high up compared to everything else, and this might feel a bit better. If I had a wrist rest – and I changed the typing angle – a bit – but I don’t know, there’s something visually about it as well – that I don’t find as appealing as like this afro, I just love how high all of these sculpted almost sa, if not actually Sa profile keycaps, are they look great but then, as soon as you’ve got them almost like level with the edge of the the case? I’M just not crazy about that. Look.
The keycaps do come in a number of colors and languages, but I think that they’re all the same profile. So if you don’t like something super sculpted like this, if you want something really flat, um you’re, probably not going to find that here and this probably isn’t the keyboard for you at that point. But yeah just stuff like the numpad like I love the zero and I just don’t like how close the seven and the 4 are to the rest of the case. It’S a really minor thing same with the delete home insert all those guys. I really wish that they were just a bit more pronounced, but it’s really not the end of the world just kind of weird and you may or may not be a fan of it.
One kind of neat piece of history is the original model. F-122 key layout cost 295 dollars back in 1984., uh adjusted for inflation. That’S like over 800 bucks almost 900 today.
So this is a bit more uh premium and it comes at a higher price tag. It’S still nowhere close to. If you had bought one of these and then adjusted for inflation, which is actually pretty nice, if you head to Model F keyboards.com and want to pick one of these up for yourself, whether it’s this guy, the f-104 or one of the different layouts, this one specifically, Is going to run you a bit of a higher price tag of four hundred dollars, the other guys come in a little lower, more like 350.
I think the least expensive one is about 300 or 330, which is still a decent chunk of change for any one, and I got ta say you are getting what you pay for. This is an incredibly unique product, and on top of that, it’s not plastic. Uh. You’Re, paying for die, cast aluminum you’re, paying for a neat little LED screen, you’re paying for these unique buckling spring switches that you can’t find all that easily you’re paying for these unique keycaps that feel like you’re typing, on a keyboard from 25 30 years ago. Man.
It’S really like rose tinted glasses, like I don’t know if everyone just remembers these fondly and if they were to type on it today, they wouldn’t actually like it all that much um. I know that for myself to make this a lot more. Enjoyable, I’d have to open it up, go in and mod it a little bit just to become a little bit more modern. I guess, but overall it’s pretty sick. If you want to kind of break the bank a little bit and go extra, you can get yours custom, serialized, it’ll cost! You, though single digit is upwards of 200 and below that you’re. Looking at a hundred and and then for just thirty dollars, you get something standard, I don’t know what exactly they mean, I’m guessing that by single digit, all you’re paying for is a lower number so that you could say, oh I’ve got I’ve got number eight.
I’Ve got number nine. I’Ve got number one, you know so you’re paying 200 bucks for basically bragging rights. If that’s worth it to you, hey, you know feel free get number three or four whatever one you want, there’s one other really cool add-on, though that I actually highly recommend everyone and it’s their repair kit. One of my problems with a lot of Boutique keyboards.
These days, is They Don’t Really ever come with extras, or at least not anything in terms of like screws or Hardware, you might get extra feet, you might get some extra gaskets um, but that’s typically about it. So I would be totally okay with paying an extra. These are like 20 to 50 bucks if it just comes with an extra set of screws. This is a statement piece if you buy one of these, you know if you want to daily drive it good for you, I’m glad you like it.
However, personally I would probably get this try to mod it a little bit. There are a bunch of screws on the bottom here that you can take out and open it up and do whatever you want to it. But I think I’d just leave it and I would put it on a wall somewhere so that people could walk up and try typing on a Model F, because it’s an experience that kind of sticks with you. I remember as soon as I came here. One of the first things I did was seek out the model Amber Model F, that we have in stock, and I tried typing on it because I needed to see what all the fuss was about. I wasn’t crazy about it, then I’m still not crazy about it.
Now four hundred dollars just for like materials and uniqueness alone, I think that’s a fair price. If you want to take a look at another, modern, very unique, but similarly priced keyboard, you can check out the cyberboard video I did a couple years ago. That thing is also sick and it sounds a little better, but you know that’s always subjective. .