Some people are perfectly happy with the $2 keyboard that came with their Gateway. Personally, I would rather write with a pencil than use one of those mushy plastic heaps. I have always tried to find nice keyboards, but they always have been second best to the metal clicky keyboard on the IBM 286 that was my computer at my first job. Ever since then I have never really loved my keyboard, until now.

I finally decided that I would try and find a stellar keyboard. I had a few requirements. It's gotta have a nice T layout for the arrow keys. The windows key is useless, and having one usually means the control key on the left hand side is too small. So just 101 keys. And it's gotta have tactile feedback, and it has to sound good. The Holy Grail of keyboards is the original IBM Model M. I had a pretty tough time finding one. So I had to settle for second best, a 1994 buckling spring keyboard made by Lexmark for IBM.

I love this keyboard. It sounds great, and it has a nice heavy feel. The keys are all in the right place, and are all the right size. I bought two, one for home and one for work.