For those that love this keyboard: the new MacBook magic keyboard feels similar and is great, but be warned that the current standalone magic keyboard hasn’t been updated from butterfly keys yet.
Teardown of the Apple's A1243 Keyboard
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Re: Teardown of the Apple's A1243 Keyboard
#72Earlier 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 have an A1243 at home and a Magic Keyboard 2 at work. The difference in feel doesn't bother me, but the fn in the left corner gets me every time. Caps lock is mapped to control on both, but apparently I use that other control key when switching browser tabs.
So you have the short version of the Magic Keyboard right? Because the full-sized Magic Keyboard should have the Function key in its rightful place.
Re: Teardown of the Apple's A1243 Keyboard
#73Why isn't this a blog post? /old man rant
Not just an old person thing. Anyone who’s brain functions for longer than 10 second bursts prefers a blog post over a series of tweets
Re: Teardown of the Apple's A1243 Keyboard
#74I forgot about these until this post. I used to have one when they came out, and I worked at a retail store where all of our kiosks had these. Does anyone else get electric shocks often from them? I would get them anytime I touched the metal case of it. I never thought to google it or anything.
This is a characteristic of your mains AC supply. You won't get a shock off things not connected to the mains AC earth (usually plugged in appliances and radiators/water pipes).
The MacBook power adapters here (NZ) don’t have an earth pin, but my MacBooks give me vicious shocks. I always wondered if finding an earthed adapter (must be available in other countries!?) would fix this.
Re: Teardown of the Apple's A1243 Keyboard
#75After going through the entire thread, it seems that since ZX Spectrum everything is more or less the same only thing that has improved were materials and the fact we are buying our computers each 1 - 2 years. Concepts I saw were very much the same as back then.
Re: Teardown of the Apple's A1243 Keyboard
#76my fav apple keyboard is the from the green PowerMac G4 generation, with the clear plastic casing, and hefty mass. Just don't look at the underside, where food crumbs, hairs that fall into the key holes are forever trapped. https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageApple/comments/ax9hqm/got_an...
I like the A1048 that immediately followed this one even better[1]. Sharper keycaps and (imo) a crisper feel, though that could be subjective. Definitely also a crumb tray!
Most keycaps could be interchanged between these keyboards and the truncated one from the original iMac (M2452)[2] which I did on a couple of keyboards, mostly because I liked the way it looked. I only stopped using my 2452 last year when I decided I really, really needed a keyboard with a forward delete key.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Keyboard#Apple_Keyboard_... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Keyboard#Apple_USB_Keybo...
Re: Teardown of the Apple's A1243 Keyboard
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
There actually isn't a Das keyboard with a Mac layout for there are no mechanical keyboards with a Mac layout on sale, period. Trust me, I've looked. So no worries, I'll just buy a Magic Keyboard if mine breaks. Or maybe I'll buy the Matias clone of the A1243.
Here's one with a UK Mac layout: https://www.keyboardco.com/keyboard/uk-va109mac-pbt-backlit-... I'm currently dithering between buying that or the Das as my own A1243 is slowly dying, but at least that one looks like all the buttons are in the right place.
That's not a Mac layout. Function key is in the wrong place (it should replace the Insert key) and it's missing an Eject key.
I don't know why people find it so hard to believe when I say that there are no mechanical keyboards with a Mac layout. There just simply aren't. The best is the Matias Tactile Pro and even that has slight shortcomings (short Option and Eject button replaces F19). Pretty much everything else is just the manufacturer's generic PC keyboard with Mac-specific keycaps.
This one is exactly that: a generic mechanical keyboard with Mac-specific keycaps. Just look at the non-Mac variant: https://www.keyboardco.com/keyboard/uk-va109m-sakura-pbt-bac... It's exactly the same layout.
Re: Teardown of the Apple's A1243 Keyboard
#78That 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…
Check with your local Apple authorized service provider (AASP)! At least in the US, they can still order those keyboards from Apple as repair parts. You don't need a computer serial number (or maybe you do, but the AASP can just stick a serial number on it). Pricing should be the same as the original retail MSRP, but it's possible some AASPs could add a markup if Apple allows them to (which I don't know).
AASPs were also able to order the iMac Pro space gray keyboards the same way, back when they were exclusive to the iMac Pro and weren't sold standalone.
Apple low-profile keyboards have been my keyboard of choice for over 10 years on any platform and for any use (gaming included). I know a lot of people swear by mechanical keyboards, but personally I type much faster with the low-profile keys and love the feel of them.
Re: Teardown of the Apple's A1243 Keyboard
#79For those that love this keyboard: the new MacBook magic keyboard feels similar and is great, but be warned that the current standalone magic keyboard hasn’t been updated from butterfly keys yet.
The new MacBook keyboards use the same switches as the current standalone Magic Keyboard. Apple has never released a standalone keyboard with butterfly keys.
Re: Teardown of the Apple's A1243 Keyboard
#80For those that love this keyboard: the new MacBook magic keyboard feels similar and is great, but be warned that the current standalone magic keyboard hasn’t been updated from butterfly keys yet.
The new MacBook keyboards use the same switches as the current standalone Magic Keyboard. Apple has never released a standalone keyboard with butterfly keys.
I'm waiting for the new F-key layout (layout of the M1 laptops make more sense)