41–50 of 94 posts
I love and loathe Apple keyboards. On the love side, the original 1984 Mac, and the Apple ][. On the loathe side, most anything in this century. I like the IBM model M's, too, so there's that. My daily drivers now are Cherry Blues or Browns.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple has put out two versions of their tenkeyless keyboard -- one powered by AA batteries (and with a substantial battery hump to hold them), and a low-profile version with an internal battery that charges via Lightning. I had been using one of the latter for at least 5-6 years (before a key died, courtesy of something falling on the keyboard). I've had my current keyboard for about 4 months, and I haven't yet had t…
I would hope they can achieve a 50 year battery lifespan... After all, in the life of a keyboard it probably types 10,000 characters per day for 50 years. Call that 400 Million events that need to be sent to your mac via bluetooth low energy. The system can be entirely powered down when no key is pressed, so the only energy loss is a pre-keypress amount. That works out to about 3 Watt-hours (assuming each keypress is…
Knowing Apple they'd probably solder or glue the battery so that you have even one less thing to worry about
That model, but without the numpad, is still my favorite keyboard (the A1242). I've tried mechanical keyboards for fun, but I keep coming back to this one for the low profile. It was only sold for a year or so before the wireless model replaced it, and it's hard to find them now. What I did was to look for used iMacs from 2010, see which ones have the A1242, then ask the seller to only sell me the keyboard. Based on…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't widely known, but the Magic2 keyboard can be turned into a wired keyboard by simply plugging in a thunderbolt wire. It will function entirely without bluetooth.
(This also seems to fix Bluetooth connectivity issues. I've got a Mac that likes to forget its connections, and doing this appears to force a "oh, I recognize that device".)
I think keyboards could be more powerful. I remember apple had a keyboard with usb ports[1] and sun had keyboards with speakers[2]. I don't why keyboards can't have some inexpensive useful features. [1] https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/imac-aluminum-faq/im... [2] https://archive.org/stream/bitsavers_sunsparcSPationVer11999...
That model, but without the numpad, is still my favorite keyboard (the A1242). I've tried mechanical keyboards for fun, but I keep coming back to this one for the low profile. It was only sold for a year or so before the wireless model replaced it, and it's hard to find them now. What I did was to look for used iMacs from 2010, see which ones have the A1242, then ask the seller to only sell me the keyboard. Based on…
This isn't widely known, but the Magic2 keyboard can be turned into a wired keyboard by simply plugging in a thunderbolt wire. It will function entirely without bluetooth.
Then I started using this keyboard and my tendonitis went away in a few weeks and never came back. Thank you Apple.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't widely known, but the Magic2 keyboard can be turned into a wired keyboard by simply plugging in a thunderbolt wire. It will function entirely without bluetooth.
I doubt many people don't like the Magic Keyboard because it's wireless, but rather because it has a different key feel. Although I have an A1243 at home and had a Magic Keyboard at the office and didn't feel like there was much of a difference between the two. If my A1243 failed for some reason, I'd probably just get one of those (since buying a mechanical keyboard with a Mac layout is impossible).
I have one I got gently used from a coworker, who special ordered it... it's got a sticky spacebar that will random lock up and need to be lubricated; the keys are just printed on ABS so they're already wearing out and they look ugly as sin (plus they get so grimy so quickly).
the only pro on this thing is the volume wheel / media keys, and the fact that the mac will recognize it and follow the "correct" behaviour. had tons of problems with previous keyboards since mac osx doesn't seem to have the same level of customization as eg kde.
they're also advertised as having cherry keys, but they're really no-names -- not even Kalih, Outemu, or Gateron (who at this point are as reliable or better than cherry).
Hard pass. My coolermaster keyboard ended up being a lot better. not holding my breath that apple gets its shit together and adopts a better keyboard layout. did wish someone made a mechanical that maybe used a dip switch or something easy to switch between layouts.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I doubt many people don't like the Magic Keyboard because it's wireless, but rather because it has a different key feel. Although I have an A1243 at home and had a Magic Keyboard at the office and didn't feel like there was much of a difference between the two. If my A1243 failed for some reason, I'd probably just get one of those (since buying a mechanical keyboard with a Mac layout is impossible).
I can highly recommend ... not buying the DAS keyboard with mac layout. I have one I got gently used from a coworker, who special ordered it... it's got a sticky spacebar that will random lock up and need to be lubricated; the keys are just printed on ABS so they're already wearing out and they look ugly as sin (plus they get so grimy so quickly). the only pro on this thing is the volume wheel / media keys, and the f…
So no worries, I'll just buy a Magic Keyboard if mine breaks. Or maybe I'll buy the Matias clone of the A1243.