Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

#1

Post by aemerson_ » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 2:26 PM UTC

Hi HN, today I’m revealing Altar II, an ultra-low profile (4.75mm) mechanical keyboard designed to replace your Magic Keyboard. It’s the keyboard I wish Apple made.

Altar II has fully mechanical switches, plus a magnetically detachable dial, haptic feedback, a red backlight, and a native macOS companion app.

I’m a heavy Mac user and I feel that Apple hasn’t given its keyboards the attention they deserve, in terms of hardware, software, and features, so I set out to try and change that.

It was a massive undertaking and it has taken almost 2 years to get to this stage. One of the main obstacles was fitting a reasonably sized battery into the chassis, and aggressive power profiling without messing with the user experience. Another issue was we couldn’t fit any components on the underside of the PCB because there was literally no space to do so (and there are a lot of components).

Around 4 years ago I posted my first keyboard to HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32507172). Its response blew me away and ultimately led to me quitting my job and making and selling keyboards full time. I’ve taken some of the feedback from that original post and incorporated it into Altar II (e.g. the detachable dial).

I’ll be around to answer any questions. Please let me know what you think, I’d love to get some feedback.

Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard
electronicmaterialsoffice.com

Re: Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

#2

Post by johng » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:34 PM UTC

Wow, beautiful. Both the site and the keyboard. I put a deposit down.

Edit: in reply to the person above because I keep getting a "You're posting too fast. Please slow down. Thanks." error because I've made 2 posts in this thread apparently...

Anyway, it would be neat if in the future the M-Dial slot could be used for a fingerprint reader or something else. Swappable items in that slot.

Re: Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

#3

Post by aemerson_ » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:39 PM UTC

johng wrote: post #2

Wow, beautiful. Both the site and the keyboard. I put a deposit down. Edit: in reply to the person above because I keep getting a "You're posting too fast. Please slow down. Thanks." error because I've made 2 posts in this thread apparently... Anyway, it would be neat if in the future the M-Dial slot could be used for a fingerprint reader or something else. Swappable items in that slot.

Thank you so much! Really appreciate it. Glad you like the website too, I put a lot of effort into it.

If you have any questions I'd be very happy to answer them.

Re: Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

#4

Post by charrondev » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:39 PM UTC

I’m assuming it’s not possible for it to include a fingerprint sensor?

As much as I’d like a mechanical keyboard for my Mac that’s always the part that gets me. I end up using the one my Magic Keyboard 20+ times per workday.

Otherwise it looks beautiful.

Re: Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

#5

Post by johng » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:40 PM UTC

aemerson_ wrote: post #3

johng wrote: post #2

Wow, beautiful. Both the site and the keyboard. I put a deposit down. Edit: in reply to the person above because I keep getting a "You're posting too fast. Please slow down. Thanks." error because I've made 2 posts in this thread apparently... Anyway, it would be neat if in the future the M-Dial slot could be used for a fingerprint reader or something else. Swappable items in that slot.

Thank you so much! Really appreciate it. Glad you like the website too, I put a lot of effort into it. If you have any questions I'd be very happy to answer them.

Honestly the price seems quite low for what you get (at $249) and what looks like might be a small batch production. I hope you can make a profit after everything is said and done at that price!

Re: Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

#6

Post by GZGavinZhao » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:40 PM UTC

Opened the site, thought it was teenage engineering... Which is a compliment to me, because I always love their designs! Unfortunately as a HHKB user I'm not a fan of low profile keyboards otherwise I would've bought this.

Re: Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

#7

Post by sssilver » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:42 PM UTC

This looks wonderful.

I wish it had the option to be ordered with blank keys.

Re: Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

#8

Post by ls-a » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:42 PM UTC

Looks nice. However, 2 years and you still squished the arrow keys into the rest of the keyboard. Unacceptable "design" mate. You need to talk with your customers.

Re: Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

#9

Post by ls-a » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:43 PM UTC

charrondev wrote: post #4

I’m assuming it’s not possible for it to include a fingerprint sensor? As much as I’d like a mechanical keyboard for my Mac that’s always the part that gets me. I end up using the one my Magic Keyboard 20+ times per workday. Otherwise it looks beautiful.

Well there is this https://github.com/zimengxiong/tinytouch

Re: Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

#10

Post by pelagicAustral » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 3:45 PM UTC

Looks amazing. Would've been crazy good to include a few OLED keys a la Optimus Maximus [0], which has forever been a dream, even with all the negative reviews.

[0] https://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/