Apple's new metallic keyboards: in wired and Bluetooth flavors
The rumored pictures seemed plausible enough, and now Apple has confirmed the hopes / fears of typists the world over: there's a new desktop keyboard (er, two actually) in town. The new keyboards (one larger wired USB 2.0 edition with two USB 2.0 ports, one smaller Bluetooth 2.0 flavor) are crafted from anodized aluminum, and include dedicated keys for screen dimmer / brighter, expose, media controls, volume controls, and eject for optical drive. Clearly, they're making an obvious play to capture that good will the MacBook has garnered for its interesting spacing and flat keys, but it remains to be seen if such a laptop-ish keyboard can keep up with the more tactile big boys on the desktop frontier. But hey, with that much sexy, we're willing to find out. Click on for a few more glimpses, and just in case you were wondering, it's $49 for the tethered one, or $79 to go cordless.





























I have a feeling that people who refer to new tech devices as 'sexy' aren't getting much real sex. Is that an accurate assumption?
OK, that's what I was thinking. Could we move beyond now and put tech devices in words that are a bit more appropriate? Thanks.
New iMacs - beautiful.
New keyboards - hideous. White keys with silver and black iMac - yuck !
OK mini one is OK-ish (but would be much more useful with a builtin in trackpad, esp for mac mini)
Logitech should jump right in with a diNovo edge for Mac OS X.
Would be great if someone from Logitech wolud read this (since no contact email link on ther website) and act.
Hahaha! Now where are all those bitches that screamed out "This Keyboard is fake!!!!1111oneone" when first pictures appeared a couple of days ago?
And by the way most said it was ugly as hell and now as it is officially announced... it is SEXY?! Why cant people stand behind their opinion?
I can't see any F keys at the top, there goes my shortcuts! Looks nice though
it certainly looks good .. but i had an ultraflat keyboard from logitech once and those low profile keys were tiresome .. looked awesome .. but really added more effort to typing ... must be something with ergonomics ...
Sure, it looks nice, actually it looks REAL nice, but for a real typist, someone who actually sits at the computer for five hours or more a day and types almost that entire time because that is their job, knows that a keyboard like this is worthing NOTHING. It's far too much like a laptop keyboard, and laptop keyboards SUCK big time. I do transcription at home and a good keyboard is absolutely essential, and keyboards like this just don't cut it. It's fine for occasional use, sure, but not for people who actually work on them. I just hope that in the future all computer manufacturers do not turn this way and start making keyboards that real typists can't use. I will fight it kicking and screaming!!!
Ugh, no number pad on the wireless? That's one the main reasons to get them if you have a laptop!
Strange how Apple returned to including a right Option key instead of an Enter key on the laptop-like Bluetooth keyboard…
As a writer/programmer who has to do a lot of typing, compared to the standard desktop keyboards from Dell, HP, etc., and even Apple's old desktopy keyboard, I find the Macbook keyboard to be very easy to type on so I'm really glad to changed their desktop keyboard to this new design. The spacing of the keys make for less errors and the responsiveness/feedback is great.
I really do think it looks great. Too bad it's not made for serious keyboard work: style wins over ergonomics again.
Someday Apple will design hardware like it designs software: for the people using it, not the people looking at it. Form does follow function. This keyboard is a poster child for RSI.
Does anybody have any idea what size these keyboards are? (thickness / width + depth) I cant seem to find any information anywhere......
Good work.
My guess is that this is probably pretty nice to type on. The front of it is so thin, that it's almost like typing directly on your desk! Or do you *like* having your wrists at 90° angles while you type?
I can't wait to try it. Then I'll bash or praise. I just wish the wired/wireless keyboards were identical. Supposedly, the wireless one is smaller so it rests in your lap better... I dunno.
Does anyone now the weight of the wireless keyboard?
The old one is heavy and if this is 50% of that I will buy the new one.
very nice - i wonder what touch typers think of it. thats the real test
Why does Apple refuse to put a delete key on their laptops (and now bluetooth) keyboards. Just printing the word "DELETE" on the backspace key doesn't cut it. And no, I am not going to learn to hit Function-Backspace to get a delete. What BS. I just ordered the old bluetooth apple keyboard to go with my new mac mini since it has all the keys a normal keyboard has. Bah.
Checked out the keyboard in person last night...I expected to hate both the look and feel, and was really surprised to find that I like both. I have not used a MacBook too much, but I'm pretty sure this keyboard has a different tactile feel. It's nice and soft without being "spongy," and gives tactile feedback without being too clicky. I found that I could type on it very quickly without making too many typos...spacing looks strange but feels very natural. My only real concern is the ergonomics...I think it would be more comfortable if I could prop it up at a greater angle.
I am in the process of "switching" and I'm very picky about keyboard feel. I greatly prefer the feel of the keys on this keyboard over the older one (tried them back-to-back last night), so I think I'll be happy with it. I just wish they made a Bluetooth version with a number pad!
GS
Only if it was PC compatiable. I would like the Bluetooth version, but idk why they didn't make it full size, I like the full size much better. oh well I'll stick with my Saitek Eclipse (backlite).
About time!!! The MacBook keyboard is the best ever - I only hope that this is half as good. Since the MacBook came out, I have been using my MacBook instead of my G5 simply because of the keyboard.
Yet another reason that Apple is consider a design star As for IBM ditching it decades ago, since when has IBM ever been know for design or ergonomic savvy?
Far easier and quicker to type that the old style push button keyboards - also far easier to keep clean. My only wish is that it had aluminum keys instead of the white ones.
For all you haters out there: no need to worry, you will always have the have a million PC clone keyboards out there to keep you happy. Those of us that appreciate true design and ergonomics finally have one that we can use!
These new keyboards are NOT going to please everyone, but for those of us who live out of a notebook bag and want to keep a bit more of a distance from the screen this wireless keyboard would appear to be just the thing. Ultimately the ideal travel keyboard, however, the one thing that Apple fails to mention are its dimensions. Does anyone have a clue to its width, and height?
Thanks
Do any of you people bitching about not having the calculator hanging on the keyboard ever think of using your Dashboard. Up comes a calculator and it's a winner. For shame. To think a 90-year old has to tell you this!
Ordered a bluetooth for my IMac-G5 and also ordered my wireless keyboard (and already have the wireless mouse). Get all of it set on a board on my lap and there goes the pain from my broken shoulder.
Can't wait!.
Laurene Quateman
they don't have "dedicated buttons" for all that stuff, they just did away with the f1-12 alternate labels.