deskthority

(Not sure where to post this, so I thought of DT.)

I'm working out a trade with an IBM collector. I would be receiving either a 1985 IBM F122 "battleship" or an M122 Type 1 also from 1985 (10/'85), in exchange for a collectible Model M (101 standard ANSI) I've owned for some time. I think in most cases, most people would choose the F122, but I'm intrigued by the M122 for a few reasons:

-It's from 1985, and I've never owned any Model M from '85. (Bid on a few auctions, including one in particular for an '85 M industrial that went up over USD 1000, but never won.) This M122 is also a low serial number, 218 for its part number (1389162).

-Ms are easier to work on (for me) than Model Fs, example, I've disassembled F XTs to do foam replacements and not been able to reassemble the Fs--painful memories there.

-The owner sent me sound test examples for both boards and the sound is pretty similar. Yes, the F122 is more pingy, but both have a deep metallic sound. (The M122 is more "springy.")

-Both are big and heavy, but I'm not sure 9lbs/4kg+ is my ideal weight. I don't mind that the M will be lighter.

-Both boards are dirty and very heavily used, and would require cleaning, but the F122 is dirtier and missing some keycaps, whereas the M122 has all its keycaps.

-I don't plan to mod the board beyond doing a bolt mod if I do get the M122.

-I already own some Model Fs, including a 1981 F XT that I daily drive (typing this on it).

-Either board would go into my rotating group of keyboards. Wouldn't be selling or trading it off to someone else.

So that's about it. Thank you for any ideas or suggestions, or factors I may not be thinking of.

Still, F122 is better option.

There's nothing better than an F122, in my experience.

Chances are that Model F is going to need some work if has been used heavily. F122 are awesome boards, I own one myself but I rarely use it and defiantly don't daily the keyboard. I seem to always default to a normal Model M as my daily. You are getting a more expensive board going with the Model F so I would go with it even if I was going to restore myself. You could always sale it in poor condition and get more for it.

I'm not really a keyboard collector as much as I'm an IBM battleship collector. I don't really rotate out keyboards; I have two in current regular use... a 1984 F122 in my home office, and a bolt-modded 1985 M122 for the office station in my Sprinter van. I am of the opinion that from a functional design stand point, this case/legs fully extended/layout is the apex; there is nothing better.

They are both modded; the M was modded with a bolt mod by ClickyKeyboards - to allow it to withstand the rigors of spending its life bouncing around in the back of my van- and both keyboards are using an almost entirely custom set of keys mapped to the same layout. Having all these buttons mapped to what I want and two layers makes almost everything I regularly do on a Mac doable with the press or one or two keys.

But which would I pick? The F. I will agree that the 1985 M does have a slightly different sound and feel to other Ms (I have type I M122s from 1988, 1992, 1994 and 2001 as well, plus a few 87/88 1391401s) but the F is a much nicer board overall. I mean, in my opinion; I think the F is 'crisper' and the metallic sound is more nice somehow. We aren't talking keycaps for the most part: both boards are running numpad and nav keys from 1391401s, some relegendables and Mopar arrow keys from Joe, and everything else is Unicomp except the spacebar on the F (which is original).

I mean honestly, you can't really go wrong with either; you are choosing between the two best keyboards made post the debut of the PC, in my opinion. But the F is so much more of an industrial machine.