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Comment by phyalow | Hacker News Reader

We keep a running tally on our trading desk on how many starboard keyboards we each go through a year. Average seems to be about 3 per person! I did 5 last year, although one did get dirty and I just wanted a replacement hehe. Q/A must be terrible.

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I have a stack of new ones next to my desk at work. It feels like not even a day goes by that I have to replace one. The typical culprit is coffee, otherwise the keys fall off with relative ease.

A day? Have you guys considered putting coffee in a place where you don't spill it so easily?

I use the keyboard as my daily driver writing code for the Terminal itself. I’ve had the same Starboard on my desk for over half a decade. I guess they don’t stand up to fist mashing and coffee spilling? Typing normally on it works quite well :)

I'm guessing jnichols35 does IT support in a large-ish office?

That is correct, I just got a ticket in for another keyboard replacement due to a key popping off.

Edit: This is a new one for me https://imgur.com/gallery/QTFMw2D

So it's like, not just keycap? It's gone for good now?

I guess there's no incentive to make them more durable. You know this better than me, but I doubt corpos care about the cost of replacing those keyboards.

Just after I updated that comment I got another keyboard with multiple keys missing. I believe the keyboards are replaced for free as part of licensing them out.

I worked IT for a High School and kids would tear laptop keyboards apart. The school wouldn't replace them so I had to do my best to fix them. When I saw a keycap come off when I started here and they said replace the whole board I sighed with so much relief.

I hope this becomes a new TV trope, the trader perpetually spilling his coffee on a keyboard.

Your keyboard(s) must drink more coffee than you.

3 or more per person?? Any idea what these things costs?

I can barely get a replacement iPhone each year.

No idea, I think BBG just replaces them for free as part of a terminal subscription (~27k USD p/a per user).

The real reason they get broken so often- the temptation to obliterate a free, delicate artifact is pretty strong when you just make a losing trade to the tune of $2.4m.

How expensive are these things? Sounds like there could be a big market for repaired / refurbished keyboards.

From another comment, they are "free" with their $27K/yr subscription.

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