Is this the new iMac keyboard?

See that? That's the rumored, "super slim," brushed aluminum keyboard said to be accompanying Apple's new iMac computer. It certainly appears to share the key design of the MacBook like we heard but seeing "Photoshop" in the exif data doesn't give us a high degree of confidence here. Regardless, a forum jockey over at the Rhapsody Apple forum in Hong Kong will sell you the keyboard (s/he has more than one) for 1,200 of the local stuff or about $153.40. Word to the wise, the consensus amongst rumor sites shows the new iMac coming as early as August 7th so you might want to hold onto that wad for a few more days to see what happens. We've got a bigger version of that image above along with the Apple development team sticker reportedly affixed to the backside of the unit in the gallery below.

Update: Full-sized image (and plenty more) just received from our tipster. You know, we 're starting to believe that this is the real deal. But did they really remove the Apple logo from the command key?

[Thanks, Hacken L.]

Gallery: Is this the new iMac keyboard?

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[Kris Janssen @ Jul 27th 2007 3:44AM]

Ergonomy ZERO

[Argot @ Jul 27th 2007 6:32AM]

And uuuuugly! Looks like they've ripped out a Sony VAIO keyboard and put it on a slate of aluminum.

[moidsc @ Jul 27th 2007 10:59AM]

It sure looks like a macbook's keyboard. And if they can do that on a portable, they could develop it a bit more and do a standard keyboard like this.

[Ryan Buchanan @ Jul 27th 2007 11:45AM]

I highly doubt these photos were made completely in Photoshop. Just because it has the exif data doesnt mean anything. Photoshop would add that if you even just cropped a picture and saved it in Photoshop. Plus these pictures are wayyyy too well done, high quality, and there's too many of them. Photoshopping these would've taken ages. If it's a fake (which seems likely due to the faulty Apple logo), I believe it was an actually built keyboard. Very nice clone though if it is fake.

[Mike Klein @ Jul 27th 2007 12:05PM]

My keyboard is bigger than your keyboard. Pffttt....

[Bobs @ Jul 28th 2007 6:35PM]

As far as im concerned, ive got one of the biggest keyboards ever made. The G15 is freakin wide. my mouse has lost land because of it. i need a bigger desk...

[Jeremy @ Jul 29th 2007 2:12AM]

You don't need a bigger desk... just a trackball ;-)

[drtekger @ Jul 27th 2007 3:45AM]

Joint damage ONEHUNDRED

[Elevator @ Jul 27th 2007 3:52AM]

I hope it is real, but the apple logo is wrong.

[Jack @ Jul 27th 2007 10:20AM]

"Apple logo is wrong"

??? What? no its not. The picture is just slanted so it looks funny from that angle. Look at the other photos!

[Elevator @ Jul 27th 2007 2:43PM]

no look at the SHADOW on the apple logo... the light/shadow is coming from the wrong side.

[Joseph @ Jul 27th 2007 4:24PM]

errors: Letters are centered on the keys instead of being in the bottom left corner. Arrows are centered on keys.
Font: Avant Garde Gothic. Apple has never used this font and it is a strange font to base a keyboard on.
Key misplacement and missing F keys: Expose & Dashboard would be on the right side not the left. With the large amount of people running dual OS's i find it hard to imagine they would stray too much from puting FKeys on the keyboard.
The Aluminum texture is not as smooth as the Mac Pro / G5. It has the painted texture of an ACD.

conclusion? Fake! 3d+photoshop rendering. Nice though.

[Staticoranges @ Jul 27th 2007 4:55PM]

@ Joseph:

So Apple isn't allowed to change the design of a keyboard? The letters have to be on the bottom left? Personally, I like them in the center. And there are F keys. They're the small ones at the top.

[potato @ Jul 27th 2007 9:08PM]

Joseph: Dead wrong. My MacBook Pro's keys are perfectly centred on the keys, not on the bottom left. While I am no font expert, the font appears in a very similar style to what is on my MacBook's keyboard. Thirdly, all the F keys are there, look at the picture, the F keys go all the way up to F16, heck, there appears to be an F17 and F18, which is a bit odd but entirely possible.

This may be fake, but as a long-time Apple user, nothing jumps out at me as being questionable.

[SteveHiggs @ Jul 28th 2007 4:01AM]

The Apple logo on the back is perfectly fine (shadow etc). the regular way we think of things, the light comes from the top left, this is the way interfaces etc work, however if you notice, in the picture of the back the light is coming from the bottom, almost the bottom right. IE. the apple logo is carved IN not popping out. which is indicative of what Apple does on the power blocks etc.

[gekke gerrit @ Jul 27th 2007 3:53AM]

This is a fake apple imac keybord.

[Ireland @ Jul 27th 2007 5:41AM]

Yeah I agree, this keyboard is meant to be thin, but it's clear shown to be 1M thick.

[Jason @ Jul 27th 2007 8:03AM]

I think the cord is a sure sign this is fake. I thought all the current imacs come with cordless keyboard and mousesses. (mice)

[slug @ Jul 27th 2007 8:09AM]

@Ireland

haha are you 1M thick?? look at the scale at the bottom of the ruler doofus!!

[Ireland @ Jul 27th 2007 9:53AM]

Newsflash: 'slug' actually thought I was serious when I said the keyboard is 1 Meter thick!! LOL

[slug @ Jul 27th 2007 10:20AM]

i have heard all the scotish man, english man and irish man jokes.
The irish always come out bottom, so i wouldnt be suprised if you were being serious! haha!

[Jack @ Jul 27th 2007 10:27AM]

@ Jason

No, iMacs come with the option of wireless mouse and keyboard. Also, the only thing wrong with the cord is that there is 1. a label (which would probably be because it is still in testing and needs to comply with gov. safety regulations, 2. there is no apple logo on the back of the USB - which can be explained as this unit is still "Not [a] cosmetic unit" (as shown on the back of unit)

[Mark @ Jul 27th 2007 7:17PM]

@ Jack, the usb cable that comes with the iPhone has the usb logo but not the apple logo, I think apple might be doing away with it.

[kakapo @ Jul 27th 2007 4:04AM]

not aluminium - plastic
key placement is sloppy
have you EVER seen an  keyboard that poorly designed and built? EVER? Even when there was only a wooden ?
Serial numbering is wrong for dev products (don't ask me how I know) :)
PLUS - if this was real - we would be seeing a full photo! not some BS close-up crap!

Cheers!

[Ed @ Jul 27th 2007 8:43AM]

From its version name "Al-1" I'd say it was Aluminium.

We are seeing full photos...

[Nubaeus @ Jul 27th 2007 4:06AM]

I don't understand why ANYTHING apple does it gets posted.



What's next?? 'STEVE JOBS LEARNS HOW TO WIPE HIS OWN ASS!'

[Nubaeus @ Jul 27th 2007 4:07AM]

Correction, EVERYTHING

[Sean DL @ Jul 27th 2007 4:42AM]

That is because everything EVERY company does gets posted. EVERY COMPANY. It just happens that Apple fanboys make better fakes then Dell fanboys...if Dell fanboys existed.

Just look through the archives. The proof is there.

[Boz @ Jul 27th 2007 4:15AM]

One of the photo's is very low quality and the other is crystal clear. I would think that Engadget would avoid these kinds of posts. Its not all about creating rumor... Its about building credible information from good sources.

This guy has clearly just photoshop'd this stuff together. Peace of cake to do. Although i actually think that he may have made the keyboards from scratch. If they were real then he/she would have more shots of them.


But don't get me wrong... Engadget is my portal to all things shiny and big credit to all the guys and gals that make it happen.

[killian @ Jul 27th 2007 8:42AM]

peace cake? like peace pipe?

[Staticoranges @ Jul 27th 2007 9:49PM]

More pictures? Why would you need more pictures? We've got pretty much every view of the keyboard, what more do you want? One of those 360 degree things? And I like the peace pipe comment.

[Staticoranges @ Jul 27th 2007 9:49PM]

More pictures? Why would you need more pictures? We've got pretty much every view of the keyboard, what more do you want? One of those 360 degree things? And I like the peace pipe comment.

[AJ @ Jul 28th 2007 1:59PM]

yeah you're right, seeing as how it has 1 less picture than the official iPhone gallery, the iPhone is just a photoshopped vaporware product.

[Twins Fans @ Jul 27th 2007 4:34AM]

I saw everything pics. But the photo were deleted by the site in Hong Kong . The Base of the keyboard was Aluminum material from Mac Pro. All the Macbook like button is embedded in the Aluminum Frame, which is absolutely slim and breathtaking. I believe this is a real keyboard released with new iMac on the coming months.

[James @ Jul 27th 2007 5:07AM]

On the ruler shot, anyone made a better guess at what the icon is? my guess is possible "TIMEMACHINE" icon?

[Alex @ Jul 27th 2007 2:52PM]

It also might be a sleep icon so that you can sleep the computer right from the keyboard (maybe holding down a few seconds)

[John @ Jul 27th 2007 5:16AM]

That's a funny ruler...

1m at 1:100 scale

[Ondra Soukup @ Jul 27th 2007 6:22AM]

That's for eg. architects. If you turn the ruler around there is also 1:50, 1:200, 1:250 and stuff like that....6 scales in total.
For better orientation, so you don't have to calculate how much is 37mm * 250 scale all the time :)

[melloncollie @ Jul 27th 2007 9:52AM]

It's really called a scale, not a ruler. Like the guy above me said, it's traditionally a metric scale for measuring out anything that's drawn out with the standard metric scaling.

[jeti @ Jul 27th 2007 5:22AM]

NOTE: Never use a Gaussian blur to mask information. The 'unsharp mask' filter works better than you think.

[herak @ Jul 27th 2007 5:49AM]

so dose running th epic of th ebarcde through some software teh code is PT402708 on the barcode. anyone able to run that through a database?

[Ramin @ Jul 27th 2007 5:37AM]

hmmm..looks very fake and the Apple logo doesn't look right either!

[Kakairo @ Jul 27th 2007 6:02AM]

The command key is missing the Apple logo. Even licensed third-party keyboards (like the Logitech I'm typing on now) have the Apple logo on there. I say fake.

[Coleman @ Jul 27th 2007 9:39AM]

My Kensington kb does *not* have the Apple logo on the command key. I still call it the Apple key tho...

[Jack @ Jul 27th 2007 10:16AM]

If you look on the back it says "Not cosmetic Unit". IF this keyboard is the real thing, when it ships, it will be nicer looking. Also they will fix the small things like this apple not being there as well as top row of keys - everything is centered (and if you ask me, that part is ugly). The rest of the keys are in the traditional bottom left format (not including letter/number keys which are always centered).

[Anthony @ Jul 28th 2007 8:13PM]

There is precedent for it. Supposedly Steve Jobs was very much against the original Apple II line having an Apple logo on the keyboard.

[Bobo @ Jul 27th 2007 6:04AM]

"You know, we're starting to believe that this is the real deal."

Uh... no.

[Boz @ Jul 27th 2007 6:10AM]

Can Engadget post a LINK to the full resolution image that they received because this one has been pixelated to fit to the post.

Just so that we can analyze the keys and the markings. But i think that within the next hour or so if Apples legal starts crying then we will know whether its a real or a duff.

Thanks

[Mark @ Jul 27th 2007 6:20AM]

I don't think that apple would move the volume control buttons over to the F keys about the number row, that's not necessary, also, what are the media control buttons next to the volume control? Also not necessary.
This is clearly not apple's doing.
Apple does gods work.

[Matt McLellan @ Jul 29th 2007 5:27AM]

Agreed, I dont believe they would put media controls or move the volume from the num-pad