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Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

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Re: Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m honestly almost a little bit appalled by myself when I realize that I probably would be willing to pay an extra $50 to have a TouchID interface on my ErgoDox EZ Shine, just to save myself from having to reach over and extend my arm an extra half of a meter several times a day when I am stationed with my keyboard and external monitor, and my MacBook Pro that is connected to them sits out of reach over there where…

I want them to add touchID to the magic trackpad. I use the magic trackpad with my mechanical keyboard and it's great, except for the point you made.

That's actually a really great idea! I can't believe I never thought of it.

Re: Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

#132
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also spoiled by (what I consider) a great keyboard, the Kinesis FreeStyle 2. I don't think I'm going back to this Apple keyboard, but boy would Touch ID be useful.

I have a Freestyle 2 and the Freestyle Edge (the blue version). I completely understand what you are talking about. Freestyle 2 (blue) is good. Feels good, bluetooth just works, battery life is great. Non mechanical, but if you like Apple Keyboards that shouldn't matter. Also no backlight if it matters. The Edge has survived multiple coffee spills (although the backlight on the "2" key doesn't work anymore, after the…

That's quite the review, I'll definitely consider it for the future. The thing with the Freestyle 2 is, it's actually very cheap for a split keyboard. But to hit that price point, it's really quite a conventional keyboard in other aspects.

I once built a custom keyboard but made a couple of mistakes, and I realized the Freestyle is not bad at all :)

Re: Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

#133
post #17

By the numbers, the secure enclave implementation is $50. I wonder if Logitech will get a shot at TouchID like the Crayon did for the Apple Pencil? I'd pay $50 to add it to my K380. $99.00 Magic Keyboard - US English $149.00 Magic Keyboard with Touch ID for Mac models with Apple silicon - US English $129.00 Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad - US English $179.00 Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad for Mac…

I’m honestly almost a little bit appalled by myself when I realize that I probably would be willing to pay an extra $50 to have a TouchID interface on my ErgoDox EZ Shine, just to save myself from having to reach over and extend my arm an extra half of a meter several times a day when I am stationed with my keyboard and external monitor, and my MacBook Pro that is connected to them sits out of reach over there where…

My laptops operate almost exclusively in clamshell mode. So, having a Touch ID on the external keyboard would be great!

Sure would be nice if it worked with Intel-based hardware, though. ;(

Re: Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

#134

I wonder if keys in this keyboard can be rearranged to Dvorak layout? I once bought to their keyboard with numpad only to discover that for some silly reason they rotated the keypress mechanism letters F and J by 90degrees. This, of course, made key rearrangement impossible.

This is why I learned to type without looking at my keyboard. I'm also a dvorak user, and since it's almost impossible to get a macbook with dvorak layout, I invested the time to learn to touchtype. It will pay off, I promise you.

Also, the look on the face of some coworker/familymember/whoever that takes over your keyboard and they type gibberish is worth more then the two weeks of training.

My external keyboards now all have blank keycaps.

Re: Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

#135
post #95

Can anyone think of a reason why this peripheral still has a lightning port and a USB-C to lightning cable rather than a USB-C port and USB-C to USB-C cable?

Apple peripherals use lightning, and Apple doesn’t seem to be willing to change that policy.

Main devices uses usb-c, so a lightning to usb-a cable, would not be appropriate.

Re: Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

#136

I wonder if keys in this keyboard can be rearranged to Dvorak layout? I once bought to their keyboard with numpad only to discover that for some silly reason they rotated the keypress mechanism letters F and J by 90degrees. This, of course, made key rearrangement impossible.

This is why I learned to type without looking at my keyboard. I'm also a dvorak user, and since it's almost impossible to get a macbook with dvorak layout, I invested the time to learn to touchtype. It will pay off, I promise you. Also, the look on the face of some coworker/familymember/whoever that takes over your keyboard and they type gibberish is worth more then the two weeks of training. My external keyboards no…

Thanks, of course, but I've been using Dvorak since 2007 and of course I touchtype. Still, I prefer keys to be in their proper positions.

Also, I did rearrange keys on MacBook (2009) and MacBook Pro (late 2013) without issues. The problem was with their wired keyboard (MB110).

Re: Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

#137

Meh… no touch bar.

I wonder if people have come around to the touchbar. It was almost universally derided on HN when it became a thing. Personally, I haven't, which is one of the reasons I'm glad I switched to the M1 Macbook Air which doesn't have the touchbar. Now I can change the volume and the brightness without having to look down!

Nope, it's still absolutely atrocious. My least favorite thing about my Macbook by far.

It still speaks volumes how out of touch Apple is that it got included on a device that is supposed to be for professionals.

Re: Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

#138

Not really on point, but perhaps worth noting that having had some wrist stiffness and pain lately, I tried a Magic Keyboard (not this one, the one with the numpad) as an intermediate step between my previous Majestouch 2 and Ergodox/Moonlander/Kinesis esoterica, and over the last few weeks it's actually been pretty good. I don't know if I'll stick with it indefinitely, but I'm glad I decided to give it a try; the lo…

I concur with this. My experience with Apple’s short-throw low profile keyboards has been great. It reduces the angle of my wrist at the the keyboard. Yes, I’m sure it could be typing differently, but I find these to be the most comfortable for my typing style. I’ve tried to find non-Apple brand with similar feel, but nothing has matched the quality or comfort.

A custom mechanical keyboard with low profile switches is probably what you're looking for. Although they are a lot less spongey feeling than the mac keyboards.

E.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/j1877x/k...

Re: Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

#139
post #95

Can anyone think of a reason why this peripheral still has a lightning port and a USB-C to lightning cable rather than a USB-C port and USB-C to USB-C cable?

Yes, because there’s no benefit to their business to invest time switching it to USB-C, and significant upsides to existing customers if they continue using Lightning. What use case do you envision should be higher priority to Apple’s customers than being able to recharge their keyboard, trackpad, and phone from a single Lightning cable left plugged into their desktop computer’s USB port?

Maybe getting rid of all the e-waste generated by having a proprietary standard that is not used anywhere outside the apple ecosystem? I think that's quite a compelling reason.

Re: Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The downvotes clearly indicate an unpopular opinion That's one conclusion. Could also be your attitude / way you expressed your opinion too. ;)

> That's one conclusion. Could also be your attitude / way you expressed your opinion too. ;) Maybe, but I'm generally not a jerk around here, I just really don't like this design and expressed it. It really does hit me as shockingly bad. Like "why did they do that?" bad. That others like it as much as I hate it is a real surprise to me, but that's life.

> I'm generally not a jerk around here

Scanning over your recent comment history, I agree with you. I wouldn’t even say the comment in question was jerk like, but rather hyperbolicly negative. You were essentially damning an entire company over a keyboard button position you disagreed with. We get it, you think it should always be far top right. I definitely see your point of view, but I can also see the point of view where they put it. I’m undecided which is better, but that doesn’t change the fact saying their entire design team sucks over that might be going to far. As someone who easily gets fired up with passion when I dislike something, I completely empathize. That’s why sometimes you need to take a breadth before posting.

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