Let me recommend the original 101-key IBM keyboard, last manufactured by Lexmark
(IBM spinoff) in maybe 1994 or 1995. Elegant? Absolutely not. Sturdy?
YES!!!! Built like a rock. Absolutely wonderful positive touch, like the old
IBM Selectrics, but each key press makes a noisy click. No Windows keys and no
internet keys, but so what?

I've used one for many years. It follows me to whatever system I have. I will
be in deep trouble if the industry ever gets around to eliminating the PS/2
keyboard connector altogether. The keycaps on the keyboard never wear out, and
the lettering does not wear off. If you drop an IBM keyboard on the floor and
manage to crack or break a keycap, no problem, just replace.

I used to sell refurbished (disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled) IBM
keyboards for $40, but nowadays nobody wants to pay anything for a keyboard.
And $40 for used keyboard is unthinkable to most people. I keep a stock of them
here, because I just haven't gotten around to throwing them away. The $40 +
shipping price still stands. $40 pays for my time to clean up an IBM keyboard
and make it like new again.

The newer IBM-branded keyboards are pretty nice, too, but not in the same league
as the old ones. I guess I'll switch to a newer one if and when I move to a
system with no PS/2 keyboard port... Ben Myers

On Fri, 5 Sep 2003 23:31:04 -0700, Steve wrote:

Hi,

I guess I've been out of the loop too long. I was at CompUSA looking at a
whole isles worth of keyboards for my new system and came away thinking that
for something a person would spend hours working with the quality seems like
they were meant to be about as enduring as Gillette disposables. Can anybody
recommend a corded keyboard that, dare I say, strikes one as being elegant,
sturdy, and a fitting part of a $2,500 system?

Thanks for the input, Steve.