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When the UK's Daily Mail recently reported that a factory in India that was "the last company left in the world that was still manufacturing typewriters" had shut down, it set off something of a frenzy among worried fans of archaic office equipment. The good news: the death of the typewriter has been greatly exaggerated. The bad: We don't test them anymore.
Typewriters are still manufactured in China, Japan and Indonesia, and office-supply companies even produce custom models -- molded out of transparent plastic -- for prisons that want to make sure inmates can't use them to hide contraband.
Our last test of typewriters appeared in November, 1991, when we recommended models with word-processing features as an alternative for consumers who weren't ready to make the investment in a personal computer: Our advice: "If you need a machine for short reports and routine correspondence, stick with a typewriter." Our top picks at the time were models from Sears and Smith Corona that retailed for about $200.
Today, we may not test typewriters, but we regularly review laptops, netbooks, tablets and other machines that have taken their place. And if you still need a typewriter, now you know where to go to find one.
Contrary To Reports, Typewriter Industry "Far From Dead" [Minyanville.com]
Computers and Computer Ratings [Consumer Reports]
—Marc Perton
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