WEBVTT

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we got a little piece of History here we got the model f keyboard uh they used to

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make these back in the 80s and

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oh my God they've got a bit of a reputation uh along with the model M IBM

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made these keyboards for quite a while and they've been out of production for I

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think over 25 years now and one company

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oh so heavy

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one company is now recreating them

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it's using die cast aluminum so there's no CNC going on and frankly I believe it

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look at how big and thick this thing is I gotta weigh it I want to weigh it

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first thing it's over five pounds for sure this thing's awesome

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have you ever seen one this large before right like we've done a bunch of

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full-size boards this is nothing new in terms of that

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um oh yeah it's like 3.2 kilos that's what

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that's that's like 10 pounds no no no it's like eight pounds seven six it's

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over six yeah seven pounds so not quite

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10 but oh man this thing is chunky can I have a tape measure yeah that'd be good

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uh let's measure this bad boy it's almost 19 18 and a half inches long it's

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pretty long and then we got just over seven like seven and a quarters wide and

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then how thick is it I need to know the thickness so up near the front here at

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the max height it's about an inch and a quarter thick it comes in a lot of

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colors we've got the red but it also comes in gray beige black silver gray

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light blue and dark blue I love what we've got the old school numblock caps

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lock scroll lock LEDs it's this really takes me back I don't know if I was old

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enough to actually type on one of the OG Model F or model M's in school I am old

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enough where we had like ibms and model twos or apple twos in school and they

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must use something similar

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that's right there's something incredibly distinct

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and interesting about buckling spring switches and you know what I'll be frank

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I don't like them there's something comforting about this sound but there's

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also something terrible about it you know like it's

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is this like high-pitched shrill kind of pingy noise sounds super

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rattly everywhere

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however I'm an uncultured Heathen um a

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lot of people absolutely love these things they grew up typing on them and

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they have got such crazy fond memories for me that's really not the case but

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there is something really satisfying about the feel at least

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up until now I'd only typed on really old model M's we've got a couple

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floating around the office from the model M video that we did years back if

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you want some more information definitely go check that out and I haven't enjoyed them too much and I

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think that's just because they're old while I don't like the way this sounds

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all that much I really actually do like the way it feels and I didn't on the

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older switches they just felt bad they just felt kind of gunked up and

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old I don't really know how to explain it but I wasn't a fan these though

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they feel nice and crisp the big difference between a traditional switch

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that we know of today and uh buckling spring that we've got here is that

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instead of the spring being on a Center Post it's kind of just hanging out and

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when you press down the spring buckles and then connects on the side of the

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switch it's a super cool design and you know it's got a really unique both feel

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and sound but I'm a bigger fan of kind of where we've come to rather than where

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we come from while the typing experience is great

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I can't get over the sound and how pingy it is it might be a little better if you

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were to open this thing and mod it a little bit maybe add some foam maybe add

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a couple layers of tape but alas we've got the classic Model M Model F

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experience right now I can't say if it's

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perfectly replicating the original but

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it does feel very similar and sound very similar to model M's that I've

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personally typed on uh we're gonna give it you know a classic typing test plug

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it in but not before a word from our sponsor dream arcades our recent LTX

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your dreams at the link below we got a really long cable actually unless I'm

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mistaken it's all coiled up here so I don't know the exact length oh yeah this

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is longer than six feet I'll tell you that much so this has got to be like an

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eight or nine foot cable which is great uh nice and sleeved most I don't think

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I've ever gotten a keyboard that's got a cable this long I know that I keep repeating that but it's like I don't

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know what to tell you every keyboard usually comes with like a six foot cable anyway this is cool we've got this like

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huge socket here for the USBC and it's

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actually way deep inside there but luckily it should be easy enough to plug

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in sure a wrist rest I think is going to

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have to be necessary for just about anyone else who wants to buy this

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keyboard all right we're going to try a buckling spring see if I'm any less

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accurate you know less speedy

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106 96 you know it's not great it's not

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awful though it's okay for me man

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I get it I I hate it and love it at the

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same time uh I think that if you are in an office or if you have people around

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you this is like the worst thing to have and they're gonna hate you I I would

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like be more annoyed by this than I think like a set of actual clicky

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switches there's something about the high-pitched spring ping

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okay that kind of just Trails after every

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single key switch I think that honestly if you want to use this anywhere other

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than your own desk or your own office with no one around you really should try

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to figure out a way to foam it or tape it or something however that might

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really detract from just the uniqueness

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of this keyboard there's something incredibly special about this I still am

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not

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super crazy about the feeling it doesn't feel like a linear it doesn't feel like

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a tactile and that's because they're just it's so different actually let me

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put some feed on real quick and see if that makes me like this anymore you know

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I'll get just a little stick on feet these are great these are fine oh yeah

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with this you're definitely gonna need a wrist rest oh that's not going anywhere

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those are some nice stable feet let me do another

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man oh

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thanks Glenn uh that being said they actually come with a number of different

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options or at least hours did it's got these little smaller uh flat guys here

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and then it's got these little four square

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um guys right here oh this is actually really cool they've given you

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replacement switches as well so what we've got they're just Springs sitting

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on these platforms here this something you know we're both kind of learning

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today this is something I don't know a ton about because I as much as I kind of

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grew up with these I also didn't really yeah so it's just kind of hanging out in

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there that's so wild and then this guy goes down and as you push down it Kinks

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the spring and then it makes contact really cool design I don't like it all

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that much but I think it's a really cool design at the very least and anyone you

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know there's one thing that's got to be said is anyone who rocks one of these

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it's definitely a conversation starter one thing I forgot to mention is the

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color I personally wouldn't have chosen red but that being said I do like it

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it's a really nice metallic kind of red um they're calling it true red I believe

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which is a little weird uh what is a true red I don't know all of those other

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colors I mentioned before come in a paint or powder coat finish and at least

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on the website they all look pretty good as they look as good as this red does

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right here then they're probably all beautiful honestly this looks a lot like

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it does on the website so I don't think you have to worry about ordering A

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Certain Shade and getting something completely different that's that's

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probably not going to happen here as for the keycaps what they've done is they've

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tried to replicate old school keycaps as well they feel really bumpy and gritty

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on top on the sides it's actually nice and smooth but as soon as you get to the

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top there's that textured feeling and I actually kind of like it honestly I

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would really like to buy a set of keycaps that are basically like this

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except you know they fit across or box

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stem so that you're not stuck trying to jam them onto a buckling

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spring that you don't own the other really great thing about the keycaps is

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I just love this colorway it's really simple you've got like a beige and then

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a slightly less beige or gray kind of style and then you've got just a little

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hint of blue and it's a really nice blue that I think goes really well with this

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uh true red that they're calling my only other issue I guess with the kind of fit

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and finish of everything is I don't like how recessed all of the keycaps are

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um into the keyboard the row up here like the like row zero or Row one is

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actually pretty high up compared to everything else and this might feel a

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bit better if I had a wrist rest and I changed the typing angle a bit but I

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don't know there's something visually about it as well that I don't find as appealing as like this afro I just love

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how high all of these sculpted almost sa

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if not actually sa profile keycaps are

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they look great but then as soon as you've got them almost like level with

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the edge of the the case I'm just not crazy about that look the keycaps do

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come in a number of colors and languages but I think that they're all the same

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profile so if you don't like something super sculpted like this if you want

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something really flat um you're probably not going to find that here and this probably isn't the

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keyboard for you at that point but yeah just stuff like the numpad like I love

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the zero and I just don't like how close the seven and the 4 are

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to the rest of the case it's a really minor thing same with the delete home

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insert all those guys I really wish that they were just a bit more pronounced but

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it's really not the end of the world just kind of weird and you may or may

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not be a fan of it one kind of neat piece of history is the original model

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f-122 key layout cost

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295 dollars back in 1984. uh adjusted

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for inflation that's like over 800 bucks almost 900 today so this is a bit more

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uh premium and it comes at a higher price tag it's still nowhere close to if

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you had bought one of these and then adjusted for inflation which is actually

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pretty nice if you head to Model F keyboards.com and want to pick one of

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these up for yourself whether it's this guy the f-104 or one of the different

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layouts this one specifically is going to run you a bit of a higher price tag

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of four hundred dollars the other guys come in a little lower more like 350 I

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think the least expensive one is about 300 or 330 which is still a decent chunk

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of change for any one and I gotta say you are getting what you pay for this is

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an incredibly unique product and on top of that it's not plastic uh you're

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paying for die cast aluminum you're paying for a neat little LED screen

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you're paying for these unique buckling spring switches that you can't find all

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that easily you're paying for these unique keycaps that feel like you're

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typing on a keyboard from 25 30 years ago man it's really

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like rose tinted glasses like I don't know if everyone just remembers these

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fondly and if they were to type on it today they wouldn't actually like it all

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that much um I know that for myself

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to make this a lot more enjoyable I'd have to open it up go in and mod it a

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little bit just to become a little bit more modern I guess but overall it's

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pretty sick if you want to kind of break the bank a little bit and go extra you

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can get yours custom serialized it'll cost you though single digit is upwards

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of 200 and below that you're looking at

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a hundred and and then for just thirty dollars you get something standard I

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don't know what exactly they mean I'm guessing that by single digit all you're

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paying for is a lower number so that you

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could say oh I've got I've got number eight I've got number nine I've got

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number one you know so you're paying 200 bucks for basically bragging rights if

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that's worth it to you hey you know feel free get number three or four whatever

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one you want there's one other really cool add-on though that I actually

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highly recommend everyone and it's their repair kit one of my problems with a lot

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of Boutique keyboards these days is They Don't Really ever come with extras or at

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least not anything in terms of like screws or Hardware you might get extra

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feet you might get some extra gaskets um but that's typically about it so I

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would be totally okay with paying an extra these are like 20 to 50 bucks if

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it just comes with an extra set of screws this is a statement piece if you

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buy one of these you know if you want to daily drive it good for you I'm glad you

00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:12.779
like it however personally I would probably get this try to mod it a little

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bit there are a bunch of screws on the bottom here that you can take out and

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open it up and do whatever you want to it but

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I think I'd just leave it and I would put it on a wall somewhere so that

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people could walk up and try typing on a Model F

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because it's an experience that kind of sticks with you I remember as soon as I

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came here one of the first things I did was seek out the model Amber Model F

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that we have in stock and I tried typing on it because I needed to see what all the fuss was about

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I wasn't crazy about it then I'm still not crazy about it now four hundred

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dollars just for like materials and uniqueness alone I think that's a fair

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price if you want to take a look at another modern very unique but similarly

00:13:53.160 --> 00:13:59.760
priced keyboard you can check out the cyberboard video I did a couple years

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ago that thing is also sick and it

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sounds a little better but you know that's always subjective