In the Customization field, specify Mac layout.Add the New Model M to your shopping cart.They said yes, and gave me instructions on how to order it: However, they responded quickly, telling me that they could do a custom keyboard in mid-January and to contact them again then.įlash forward to mid-January, and I got in touch with Unicomp support again to see if they could build my custom New Model M. I knew Unicomp had been hit especially hard by COVID-19, delaying the upcoming Mini M keyboard that was due in March 2020, so I didn’t get my hopes up. I contacted Unicomp support in mid-December to see if they would be willing to build me a New Model M with the same layout as the Spacesaver M. Sure, I could reprogram something to take its place, but I decided that it would make my life substantially easier to have a keyboard with a Mac layout. Plus the base model lacked the Function key seen on Apple keyboards. My hangup was the Mac-specific keys along the top row that let me control brightness, volume, Mission Control, and other functions. Regardless, you can swap out the keycaps, and Unicomp sells a variety of keycaps. After all, I don’t look at my keyboard all that much, so I don’t care that much if my Command key is emblazoned with the Saint Hannes cross, a Windows logo, or a Linux penguin. ![]() I nearly ordered a stock New Model M with Windows keys and all the trappings of a PC keyboard. The Unicomp factory is only 3 hours north of my house, so I figured even if I wasn’t totally happy with the keyboard, I’d at least be doing my part to support one of the few computer peripheral manufacturers still making products in the United States. With the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns having a catastrophic impact on small businesses, I’ve made it something of a New Year’s resolution to do more to support small local businesses. While the Model M wasn’t my first keyboard, it was what I used in my high school typing class, and ever since I have longed for that clicky, bouncy, typing thrill. I recently found myself in need of a new keyboard. Recently, Unicomp invested in brand-new tooling to make the first brand-new Model M in a quarter-century, simply named the New Model M. That’s because, over the years, the old Lexmark tooling has worn down, leading to widespread reports of reliability issues and poor fit and finish. Unicomp even makes a Mac-specific model, the Spacesaver M, but I’d be hesitant to recommend it. Meanwhile, Unicomp has been churning out those classic Model M clicky keyboards since the days of Apple’s apparent doom. They’re now so popular that mainstream companies offer mechanical “gaming” keyboards you can buy in many brick-and-mortar stores, even Walmart. However, a group of Lexmark employees bought the factory in Lexington, Kentucky and formed Unicomp.Ĭlicky keyboards, once a niche item, have come back into fashion in recent years. The industry eventually moved to cheaper and mushier mechanisms like rubber domes, and Lexmark and IBM both bowed out of the Model M business in the late 1990s. In 1992, IBM offloaded most of its keyboard manufacturing to Lexmark, which continued to produce Model M keyboards for Big Blue. The Model M represents a long-gone era of keyboards designed to satisfy typewriter users, featuring satisfyingly clicky buckling-spring keys. It was the debut year of the Macintosh, of course, but it also spawned another piece of timeless computer hardware: the IBM Model M keyboard, which Matt Neuburg argued is the greatest keyboard of all time (see “ The Greatest Computer Keyboard of All Time?,” 27 February 2009). New Model M Is an American-Made Keyboard That Puts a Spring Back in Your Typingġ984 was a landmark year in computing. #1669: OS security updates, ambiguity of emoji, small business payments with Melio, Twitter now X.#1670: Arc Web browser hits 1.0 release, “Do You Use It?” polls about Apple features.#1671: Apple Q3 2023 earnings, new Beats headphones and earbuds, Stage Manager adoption rate, do you use Spotlight?.1672: The hidden power of Google Sheets, Launchpad usage levels, Emergency SOS via satellite in the Maui fires, do you use proxy icons?. ![]()
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