Hp49g - To buy or not to buy?

[rprosperi]

(10-05-2019 10:39 PM)Siegfried Wrote:  

(10-05-2019 08:51 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Only if you have one of the latest 49G+ otherwise, even if uglier, the 49g keyboard is more reliable.

How do you spot the right vintage?

There is no documented date for when production changed to the better plastic (less brittle, keys stopped breaking) but production was from Aug-03 until about mid-06 when the 50g came out, so any very late 05 or 06 is probably the new type. That said, I have 2 x 49g+ from 04 which I've never had a problem or failure with. They are not daily drivers, but are used several times a year.

And of course, it is also a function of how you treat your machines; the original keys are brittle and prone to break after dropping or being hit, though most often the actual physicla failure occurred later when pressing keys.

Also, I don't believe there is any way to know about the key type by simple inspection (i.e. they don't look any different).