After IBM had spun off its keyboard manufacturing division into the company Lexmark, and after Lexmark started to decline, a small company in Lexington, Kentucky, purchased the tooling for the IBM Model M and manufacturing rights and started to produce Model M keyboards. These keyboards are made in the United States. They are not cheap, as a result, but have a price that is not terribly uncommon for mechanical keyboards.

For a long time, however, Unicomp really only made variations of the original fullsize designs. The endurapro, ultra classic, spacesaver M and classic trackball variants were effectively the same keyboard but with small differences. The spacesaver M was configured specifically for mac users, the endurapro offered a trackpoint nub in the midst of its keyboard, akin to a keyboard from a ThinkPad laptop. The ultraclassic was in itself a variant of the Classic 101 but with the option of having Windows keys. Apart from those very similar variants, there was but just one radical departure from the design and it was in the form of the PC 122 keyboard.

Some fans of the Model M were hoping that Unicomp could make a keyboard akin to the exceedingly rare variant of the IBM Model M called the IBM Model M SSK. This keyboard being a tenkeyless has made it a highly sought after commodity in recent years, since it seems to represent a larger trend in PC keyboards. A lot of people, whether because they have small desks or because they don’t use the numpad, seem to want tenkeyless keyboards. Many companies offer them but the only one that had buckling springs as the IBM Model M SSK.

That was, of course, until Unicomp announced in spring of 2020 that they would finally release their own ten keyless buckling spring keyboard. Theirs was called the Unicomp Mini Model M.

I was very excited to get my hands on one and I did not feel any qualms about preordering way back in March of 2020 since I felt like it’d be well worth having a smaller Model M that could fit on my desk. Of course, the pandemic happened, and it really hasn’t stopped. It was only a month or so ago that Unicomp was able to finish production of this. I received my Mini M yesterday and thus far I am pleased by it.

The Mini M does not feature the Unicomp logo like an Ultraclassic would. This is something of a plus. I am not an anti-Unicomp person but their logo design is deeply flawed and demands remedy. The Mini M, unlike the SSK, features locklights. Some of the keys feature sub legends. Among these are keys can can act as a numpad.

When I first tried out my Mini M I found much to my surprise that the numlock function had already been activated and I had to figure out how to shut it off so that I could type normally. For the record, the sequence to toggle the numlock is SHIFT + ScrLk.

Curiously the locklights are dark blue instead of green. I don’t actually mind this change.

There is a slight issue at the time of writing with either the firmware/driver in the sense that you have to unplug and plug the keyboard back in upon computer startup. This is somewhat annoying to me. I think Unicomp will fix this problem.

The key feel is spot-on and I enjoy how responsive and tactile this keyboard is. It is noticeably louder than my rattling ChonChow keyboard that I used previously. It may be louder than other Model M keyboards. I am unsure.

I had gotten this keyboard on a moderate discount. I want to be clear that this keyboard isn’t exactly the cheapest. For $121 plus shipping you can have your own. The price is well worth it if you desperately want an SSK since the original SSKs on ebay can easily go for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on Ebay. Used fullsized IBM Model M keyboards on Ebay tend to be sold in the price range of $80-$120.