You’ve clearly not owned Atari gear :-). The keyboard eventually goes. I think I’m on #3 for my Atari 1200. I never owned an ST so I cannot speak to the durability of those devices.
atari computers never made it to ireland or at least i never saw one in the flesh.
as a fan of sinclair i know about bad keyboards :-) but they could be repaired. there was a thriving market in add on real keyboards. looking today and i can find
which for a system over 40 years old is not too shabby.
it's not like some modern machines where if the keyboard was broken by someone eating toast nearby the machine can only be fixed by the manufacturer for considerable cost.
as a fan of sinclair i know about bad keyboards :-) but they could be repaired. there was a thriving market in add on real keyboards. looking today and i can find
https://blog.adafruit.com/2023/06/14/a-zx81-replacement-mech.../
which for a system over 40 years old is not too shabby.
it's not like some modern machines where if the keyboard was broken by someone eating toast nearby the machine can only be fixed by the manufacturer for considerable cost.