In any case, it would be fun to find out who here among us has the earliest XT produced.
Well, not all of us.
You're right, they can't really be compared, unless you are talking about the dreadful inter-Jobs years when Apple tried to compete in the PC clone space. They can only be contrasted for the profoundly different experience they are intended to deliver to the user. However, I kind of feel that the vastly different design philosophies between them serve as a sort of Rorschach Test for their respective adherents. I mean, if build quality and two shades of nearly colorless "warm gray" get you hot...
The switch and the build quality are great yes. Get me hot? Not so much.
I used both when they came out but back then I did not think about the keyboards much and there weren't 73187363 options like today. Of course there is some nostalgia involved.zslane wrote: I also sometimes wonder about the folks here who love the Model Ms and Fs so much. How many used them when they originally came out? And how many are riding some kind of faux nostalgia for a product they only know about historically? And of those who actually used them back in the early 80s, did you love them back then too? Cuz I've had the "pleasure" of using them since they were introduced and I've hated them from day one (it didn't take the introduction of the Macintosh to induce it, is my point I guess).
I'm old enough to have learned to type on a Model F, a 5150 XT was the first computer our family owned... timing is a bit off though, probably around 89 or 90. There's definitely nostalgia involved.zslane wrote: I also sometimes wonder about the folks here who love the Model Ms and Fs so much. How many used them when they originally came out? And how many are riding some kind of faux nostalgia for a product they only know about historically? And of those who actually used them back in the early 80s, did you love them back then too? Cuz I've had the "pleasure" of using them since they were introduced and I've hated them from day one (it didn't take the introduction of the Macintosh to induce it, is my point I guess).
This is where the rubber meets the road.
Well, there was a period in between punch cards and PCs that is getting forgotten in the above. And probably because few people got to experience it.Hypersphere wrote: The IBM PC changed my life. It was a computer, but it was personal. Not long before the introduction of the PC, people did their computing on mainframes. You had to punch a deck of cards and carry them to the mainframe temple, where the computer priests ran the job for you. Then came endless treks back and forth between your office and the computing center as you tried to eradicate bugs. After the PC, all this changed. It was possible to interact with the computer in the comfort of your own office or even your own home.
They're nice boards to use, and they were built well, but piss-ugly IMO. Maybe IBM didn't really put much flair into their boards, but that's part of their charm IMO. They have nothing to prove, they don't need to play the cool kid. They command respect simply by virtue of their charisma.zslane wrote: The AEK/AEK-II, which was comfortable to use but lacked character. The Snow White motif was a little too IBM PC-ish for my tastes even though the computers I had in that style at the time (a Macitosh SE and then a Mac IIci) were brilliant machines. I don't think Apple has ever really improved on the AEK family of keyboards. But they would still have been much better with double-shot sphericals!
I look back at the Honeywell terminal keyboards that inspired the Round 5 and Round 6 keycap group buys and I don't see any attempt (on Honeywell's part) to play the cool kid either. But I feel they have far more character, charm, elegance, and "charisma" than anything IBM ever made for their PC. The same can be said of the Symbolics Space Cadet, the Data General Dasher, and others.
That's for sure, anything Honeywell has a 1000 times more charisma than big blue:zslane wrote: I look back at the Honeywell terminal keyboards that inspired the Round 5 and Round 6 keycap group buys and I don't see any attempt (on Honeywell's part) to play the cool kid either. But I feel they have far more character, charm, elegance, and "charisma" than anything IBM ever made for their PC. The same can be said of the Symbolics Space Cadet, the Data General Dasher, and others.
I didn't know you were a hater? I do know you swear like a sailor. 
But the Honeywell keyboards are nice I know you like them come on.