Oh, yea i forgot the cable is a little short...

i just got this! and I am typing with it right now!!! and it's great!!! and loud lolz

How did you pop off the key in the picture? I have had an M1 for awhile now, and I desperately want to pop off my keys so I can vaccum up the floor of the keyboard (tobacco, dust, ash collects there). If I try to pry off any of the keys, there is enough tension that I feel like I'm going to rip out the guts if I pull any harder, and I'm afraid to try pliers. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

and wow those LEDs are bright, don't look into them directly and turn the locks off if you leave your pc on while you sleep

What kind of "an enthusiast and self-confessed keyboard snob" treats n-key rollover as trivially as Cyril did for the purposes of reviewing the M1? When ABS markets a keyboard that says '6-key rollover' and the USB HID spec says that it can only take 6 state-changes (even though the keyboard controller might be able to handle more), brushing off "ASDFG" cannot be allowed. Further, rollover averages among keyboards in entirety are more likely to be 3 keys than 5 or 6, given the number of 2-key/3-key we can find.

Further, if "ASDFG" doesn't register, it should make for a warranty call, not a review. Even worse with the M1 is anecdotes that the keyboard is not PS/2 compatible so we could never know whether it is internally n-key rollover.

I have never liked technology 'improvements' that actually offer poorer functionality. The change of out-of-the-box plug and play from PS/2 to USB is disturbing, since you should double-fist a PS/2 keyboard with an n-key rollover capable keyboard and get all the keypresses, but to do the same with USB, you'd need to install a driver (otherwise HID specs force you to the 6-key limit.)

Item #3 in the keyswitch diagram is...

Steam !

Talk about retro! With steam powered key switches this is the original keyboard, 19th century style.

Have two of these, and a das keyboard, but i prefer the das keyboard by far, as its smoother keystrokes have a better feel./

the ABS space doesn't seem to fit well and doesn't have smooth action (note the review stated having to silicon spray it to get it to stop squeeking)

the ABS keyboard isn't "bad" but if you are comparing to Das, then it's not really a comparison, but then again, Das costs 2x as much. Also note that the ABS is superior to the cheap $10-20 keyboards out there, its just not as nice as Das.

I notice that on my USB keyboard that the number of simultaneous keypresses differs with regard to which keys I am trying to press. If I start going from left to right down the home row I get only 4 (ASDF) but if I alternate from both ends I can get 6 (alskdj). It seems to matter the region, or possibly even side of the keyboard.

Now I just read that USB and PS/2 differs in how many you can depress at the same time, with PS/2 (surprisingly) having the ability to register MORE.

Of course, once you've opened the ABS M1 can of worms, then there's the Diatec Filco Majestouch.

Same basic keyboard, with Cherry switches - your choice of black (linear, which means not tactile OR clicky, but very durable - rated for 50 million key strokes) or brown (ergonomic soft-tactile - very light weight, still tactile, but not clicky.) There's also a couple variants with blue switches (same as the Das Keyboard,) and there's a variant of the Tenkeyless model called the Filco Zero with white (clicky+tactile) Alps switches, much like the ABS M1, but with sound as well. (From what I hear, they feel the same, though.)

From what I hear, they paid for higher QC than ABS did (which is why you get the odd ABS board that can't do Ctrl-S, for example.) And, they've got bluetooth, N-key rollover, and N-key rollover "Tenkeyless" (no numeric keypad) variants, in addition to a "regular" variant. The N-key rollover versions are PS/2 and USB, FWIW - N-key rollover only works properly on PS/2.

There can be only one great keyboard...the original MS Natural Keyboard. True comfort and perfect key separation.

Hmm, aside from the US keyboard layout with the silly enter key sausage (from my UK point of view), the faults are:

1) Put the damn LEDs on their associated keys!
2) Huge-ass logo
3) No USB hub, which must add like $1 to the BoM for a keyboard - not a problem for all though - many monitors include them.

My current keyboard has purple LEDs, that's quite nifty.

My work keyboard makes baby jesus cry.

Watching Cyril crush the keyboard with those giant mitts made me think of this joke:

So a bear walks into a bar and says to the bartender, "I'd like a gin and..........................................................................tonic."

The bartender asks, "What's with the long pause."

The bear looks at the end of his arms and says, "Whaddya want? I'm a bear."

Screw it, I finally caved and ordered up a Unicomp Customizer.

The need to start putting raised edges or something on WASD when they want to call something a gaming keyboard. I don't care where F and J are when I'm shooting things.

Still loud? Well, not as loud as a Model M but not as quiet as my old beige Dell QuietKey? Sigh.... so close!

I still love my Unicomp remake of Model M. :D

The last few keyboards I've bought ('few' being the last 3 or 4) were all cheap garbage that stopped working after a few months (and, interestingly, they were all Microsoft keyboards). This looks like a good buy for someone looking for a solid, long-lasting keyboard. It'd be even better if it came down a few bucks. $69.99 is a little steep I think.

Lack of a USB hub isn't an issue, just buy a separate one. They're certainly cheap enough.

A USB hub away from awesome.

Sweet review. The keyboard looks pretty hot. I prescribe a length of black duct tape to fix the gaudy logo issue.

This is for typing world....

Even rubber made dont easily get ruined. But I believe this is more durable specially for heavy hands. =)