New Model M Is an American-Made Keyboard That Puts a Spring Back in Your Typing

Article Comments
41

Yes. Thanks for the advice about public holidays. That makes sense.

42

My understanding is they’ve been a bit understaffed since COVID, but they’re usually pretty good at support requests. If you haven’t heard from them by the end of the week, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with someone.

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43

Thanks. I’ll update here when I have an answer.

44

Still no answer now after nearly 2 weeks. Can you recommend a different e-mail address to write to?

45

Hi Matthew, I looped you in on an email with someone at Unicomp who should be able to help.

46

After much toing and froing by e-mail, my new, one-of-a-kind New Model M for Mac keyboard, customised as close to the Matias functionality as possible, arrived (here in Australia) last week. Once I’ve used it a bit more, I’ll write a few comments on my experience here.

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47

Awesome! I hope you’re enjoying it. I’m still loving my New Model M.

48

I’ve had my shiny new New Model M for a week now and I love it.

Pluses:

  • The key feel. The key height allows a slightly deeper press than on the Apple Extended Keyboard and the Matias, but it’s enough of a difference to feel meaningful. If you remember the Monty Python sketch of “woody” versus “tinny” words, you’ll understand what I mean when I say that this keyboard is definitely “woody” in travel distance.

  • The sound. Although it sounds plastic (which, of course, it is), it is nowhere near as loud as the Matias. The Matias drove my wife to distraction with the noise. In contrast, she likes the sound of the Unicomp. My marriage is assured.

  • Customisation: Unicomp makes it easy to customise the keys, so I had my keyboard made as close as possible to the Matias layout. So I have the Fn key to the left of Home and the Clear key at the top left of the numeric keypad, and the Command, Option and Control keys in the expected locations.

  • A nice long USB cable.

Minuses (all trivial):

  • The F keys are 12.5 mm further away from the number keys on the Unicomp, so I am having to extend my fingers a bit further. Not a problem, though.

  • The assignment of some of the F keys: Whereas the Mac instantly recognises the Matias keyboard, plugging in the Unicomp prompts it to ask the user to identify the keyboard. This supports the contention of Don Bowman of Unicomp that Matias has access to the Apple firmware that controls the F keys. This may explain why some of the F keys behave as expected (no printed actions) but others don’t (printed actions even when Fn is pressed to switch function). Unicomp uses its own method for the Fn key, which it appears the Mac doesn’t pick up in relation to the assigned F keys. In particular, F8 invokes Apple Music, which I have never used. Fortunately, noTunes blocks this.

  • The absence of F16, F17, F18 and Eject, which is no loss to me as I never use them.

  • The aesthetics: I prefer understated design, where function is obvious from form. The Unicomp body is black (Henry Ford’s choice for the New Model M, though other colours are available for other models), the alphanumeric keys are white, and the functional keys are grey. The colour groupings are logical but, to my taste, not necessary. However, I find the logo obtrusive and the two blue LEDs (Caps Lock and Fn) glaringly bright. I’ll find something to cover the LEDs to reduce their intensity. Definitely not show-stoppers, though.

My overall impression is that this is a keyboard I’ll be able to hang onto and enjoy using for many years to come.

Finally, two points on purchase:

  • As others here have mentioned, the Unicomp vendor software refused to accept my details, and it took an intervention by the helpful Don Bowman to go through. For some reason, the software refuses to accept any address that is not in the Fedex list. I used a forwarding service, which it didn’t like.

  • The forwarding service, VPost, is run by Singapore Post, which offers a cheaper postage service to countries outside the USA than Fedex or the USPS. But this is for values of “cheaper” that amount to loose change. Although the cost of the keyboard plus customisation was very reasonable, adding in the exchange rate and the cost of VPost (plus exchange rate on that too), plus GST (VAT), made this purchase highly expensive, and best suited to keyboard devotees such as myself.

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49

I haven’t had that trouble. My F8 key plays and pauses media normally in YouTube and other Web apps. One thing I like about this keyboard is I can press Shift-Function to lock Function in place to use the F keys normally in games.