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

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

#131

Post by xp84 »

locknitpicker wrote: post #78
wuliwong wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my setup my laptop is close enough that I can reach out and use the fingerprint reader on it. It is stupid but I got used to it pretty quickly.

> In my setup my laptop is close enough that I can reach out and use the fingerprint reader on it. Some mechanical keyboards ship with an embedded USB hub that supports a couple of USB ports that allow users to pick and choose what devices to plug in. I wonder why this feature isn't widespread.

Not arguing with the general usefulness of the USB hub, but Apple chooses to make their Touch ID sensor 100% proprietary, so the inclusion of a hub is a separate topic to the comment you're quoting. There's no USB Touch ID reader, other than a whole dang Apple-branded keyboard (which is wireless but will work as a USB device).

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

#132

Post by LoganDark »

swingboy wrote: post #97

Great looking keyboard but why are the numbers on the number keys so large? They stick out like a sore thumb.

Agreed, I love a lot of the design but the unnecessary "quirkiness" in aspects like this are a bit of a turn-off.

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

#134

Post by energy123 »

dmhmr wrote: post #120

Love what you did, the dedication for 2 years to launch this is awesome. Apple keyboards are near-horrific IMO so you are filling an important niche for sure. I know it is a silly complaint in the mech KB space but the price compared to something like a Keychron K3 makes this a no-go for my preferences. The K3 is very close to what I'd consider suitable as a daily driver at work. Thank you for including audio of the…

> Apple keyboards are near-horrific IMO

I visited a mechanical keyboard shop, tried about 20 of them including low profile variants, then visited an Apple shop. Both shops allowed me to sit down and measure my typing speeds on a computer over many trials.

The apple magic keyboard, full-size, gives me about 10-20% faster typing speeds. Over the previous three years I had only used mechanical keyboards.

I also found it very aesthetically pleasing to type on, rivalled only by the Logitech pebble in terms of subjective feel. There's something about feeling the whole aluminium frame and plastic membrane flex when I hit a key hard that I find pleasing in a way that isn't matched by many other keyboards.

I bought one, and it's the only piece of apple hardware I own. My 3 mechanical keyboards are collecting dust.

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

#136

Post by Stitch4223 »

Sold me one, even though it doesn’t have Touch ID. It can be forgiven given the rest.

The mdial is amazing. The Nixie tube numbers are fun. The sleekness. And this website with all demo’s is really well made. Also the “about” site is cool.

You were not underpromising when stating Apple didn’t spend enough energy here. This is a leap. And I fully trust you’ll deliver.

If anything, why not work at Apple after this adventure and get these things (or another next level keyboard) out at massive scale?

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

#137

Post by numpad0 »

I don't even know if this is going to be a big or a tiny ask, and I don't know if I'm going to end up with this beautiful product at all, but just in case it's going to be trivial to do so, could you add an option or extra keycaps to have Caps Lock key physically engraved as "Control"? IIUC the ctrl-caps swap itself isn't so rare, but actual keycaps engraved as such seem to be relatively rare.

It's apparently a UNIX thing, and old Apple, NeXT, some of DEC, Sun, HP UNIX, Sony NEWS, even IBM XT, many of modern Mac JIS, etc. seem to/did/do have the legends for that key as "Control", "CTRL", or "Ctrl". I think that adds even more to the cool factor.

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

#138

Post by lsaferite »

ndiddy wrote: post #108

The thing I find most attractive about mechanical keyboards is that they send a keypress when a key is only partially pressed down. When combined with the tactile bump and audible click created by actuating the key, this means that typing on a mechanical keyboard is much less fatiguing than using a rubber dome or laptop keyboard because you're only pushing the key down partially until you feel the bump and hear the c…

You should check into hall effect mechanical keyboards. They can have a floating actuation point for retrigger that is based on detecting press, partial release, press. It's really pretty cool.

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

#139

Post by aemerson_ »

ary wrote: post #49

To everyone who is about to pile on regarding the lack of a fingerprint sensor: you know it's not possible, we all know it's not possible, the creator of this project knows it's not possible. What are you adding to the conversation when you complain about it? So it's a dealbreaker for you, don't buy it. To @aemerson_: Congratulations on taking a risk. On first look this is great work. The attention to detail on both…

Thank you, it's been a real labour of love!

People are raising a good point RE Touch ID. It is possible to add a fingerprint sensor. But that fingerprint sensor will never be able to do the things that Touch ID is most useful for: i.e. use Apple Pay. It would be incredibly confusing to have a fingerprint sensor that was usable for some things and not for others. Therefore the better experience today is to not include a fingerprint sensor at all, imo.

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

#140

Post by throwaway89201 »

copperx wrote: post #127
runjake wrote: post #122

LOVE the industrial design. HATE the font, especially on the number keys. But, great job overall!

The keyboard seems to be missing important symbols, such as - and =, so it's likely not the final design.

Those characters are present. The design of the number row is just so 'out there' that you missed them.
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