IBM 4704 Model 100 "F50"

Guchay

05 Aug 2019, 05:17

The IBM 4704 Model 100, nicknamed the F50, is a small macropad-like keyboard from the same family as the Kishsaver. This thing is dense, made out of cast zinc like the kishsaver, making it weight 2600 grams! That's almost as much as a Model F XT, which weighs around 2700 grams. It features relegendable keycaps which I plan on making use of after I get this thing converted. Like other Model Fs, it has capacitive buckling springs and feels fantastic to type on. The strange thing about this F50 in particular, is that it is dated 1991, around 8 years(1983) after the introduction of the 4704 terminals making it one of the newest, if not the newest, 4704 keyboards ever found?? People like to nag at alps for how unorganized their products were, but after digging through many IBM keyboards I've also found weird inconsistencies in their model numbers and date codes. This board is truly amazing and will pair perfectly with my SSK!
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Chyros

05 Aug 2019, 10:26

Very nice! These seem like an excellent addition to any setup :D .

orihalcon

05 Aug 2019, 15:35

Nice specimen indeed! The dating on these is weird, sometimes they'll get refurbished and I've seen F107's with date stickers showing as late as 1996, some of them being internal stickers on the curved backplate. The F107 I listed yesterday (and which promptly sold in less than half an hour) had a date of 1991, see here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/273955609150

Guchay

05 Aug 2019, 16:51

orihalcon wrote:
05 Aug 2019, 15:35
Nice specimen indeed! The dating on these is weird, sometimes they'll get refurbished and I've seen F107's with date stickers showing as late as 1996, some of them being internal stickers on the curved backplate. The F107 I listed yesterday (and which promptly sold in less than half an hour) had a date of 1991, see here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/273955609150
Awesome! Thanks for the info!

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