life expectancy of a keyboard?

[Maximilian]

Bin it and use "on-screen" keyboard. Its awsome! see when i just cant be bothered pressing keys, i use the mouse and turn that on... tis great!

But seriously i think you should just bin it and buy a new one. Yea you could clean it but think of everything inside it... hairs...food... random nameless goop! I wouldnt touch the inside of a keyboard with a bargepole.

PS i just though of a great new idea!!! keyboards with!! wait for it...... NO HOLES BETWEEN THE BUTTONS!!! Instead of stupid bulky buttons, have small ones that click when you push them, and plastic laminate covering the entire thing. Isnt that amazing?

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: Kaspian

Originally posted by: Excelsior

Originally posted by: Kaspian

Originally posted by: Excelsior
Kaspian - a few bucks? where can you get a decent keyboard for $3?

Clean it. If you bought a new KB everytime it got dirty..well, youd be wasting a lot of money. I clean mine every now and then. Just pop off all the keys (it isnt hard to put them back in the right place). Clean each key (not too thoroughly, just check them over), then clean the hell out of the part under the keys, using soap and water.

Well, I guess if you are on a tight spending budget, or have time to clean it (time is someting I dont have), then yes, cleaning the kb its an option. Also, you are right, you cant find a decent kb for around $3.00. All the kb that I've owned have been on the $10-$20 range. I still stand by my opinion on the issue, when it comes time to "clean" my kb, I just get a new one. The way I look at it is that I'm not buying a kb, I'm buying time.

If time is something you don't have, then what are you doing on AT? Sounds like you are just lazy.

Well, right now I'm at work if you need to know. And when I do finnaly get some "me" time, do I spend it cleaning a $10-$20 kb? or do buy a new one and I find something more entertaining to do?

Hey man, thats fine if you want to be wasteful and buy a new KB all the time.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: Soviet
PS i just though of a great new idea!!! keyboards with!! wait for it...... NO HOLES BETWEEN THE BUTTONS!!! Instead of stupid bulky buttons, have small ones that click when you push them, and plastic laminate covering the entire thing. Isnt that amazing?

Oh...you could have made such a fortune...if someone else hadn't already come up with that concept .

http://www.dealsonic.com/stwhfowakeps.html

 

[GeekDrew]

As soon as I have the money... I'm going to buy an IBM model M. Good luck to me in finding one... the computer I got in '95 had one (was rebranded, though), and I don't think that I've typed as fast or as accurately since then.

Right now I'm using the keyboard that came with my MX Duo. I'm not particularly fond of it... and because the mouse it shipped with isn't working quite right, I requested a replacement under warranty from Logitech... they sent me an LX700 duo, which seems to be inferior in every possible way to me. The keys are *even softer* (how they manage that, I'm not quite sure), the mouse's feel is weird, etc.

But I'm rambling at this point. </post>

 

[Cerb]

Dude, you can get a brand new one for $60. Check the external links from the WikiPedia article I linked to. You can even get them black, so they look good w/ newer parts.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: Cerb
Dude, you can get a brand new one for $60. Check the external links from the WikiPedia article I linked to. You can even get them black, so they look good w/ newer parts.

I've heard that the newer ones aren't of the same build quality that the older ones are... anyone here have experience with that in particular? If they are actually still the same, then I'd probably just get a new one... but if they aren't, I'd rather buy an old IBM, if I can find one for a reasonable price.

 

[jahutch]

To the original poster: Simple answer. If your current keyboard is not a good one, replace it with a good one. If it is a good one that you like, then clean it. I would assume its not a good one - maybe I'm super clean but it seems like you have to do some crazy stuff to get a good keyboard "sticky" in 6 months. I have a macally icekey keyboard i just love - it has laptop scissor keys. The keys aren't hard to press but there is definite tactile response. Its a mac keyboard (I use a mac and PC) but works fine in Windows too. I recommend it to anyone willing to spend a bit extra on a KB.