Guest post by Lately I bought the Apple Aluminum Keyboard, and thought people might be interested in how it worked out after extended use. It was bought because it is quiet. If your priority is quietness, its far and away the best that’s readily available. Tried out in a store you could tell it would do the trick on quietness. It seemed it would probably be OK to type on. But this is something you only find out by long sessions.
Physically it is small. By comparison to the Logitech or Model M the width is about the same, but the depth is about a third less. It is much lower. There is almost no space around the edge, the keys come right up to it on all sides. It is fairly heavy for its size and seems completely rigid with no trace of flex. It doesn’t move at all on the desk. The upper surface is made from a smooth plate of aluminium probably 3mm thick. Underneath, there’s a thin layer of smooth and shiny plastic which fits seamlessly. It seems to be screwed on, probably the screws are under small slightly sticky bumps which serve as feet. At the far edge, this plate becomes a raised plastic bar, around 6mm high, which puts the board at a low angle. This bar contains a USB socket in each end, mounted flat. There is no means of adjustment of the desktop angle, which is about the same slope as on the Logitech.
The keys seem to be full size in top area. They are not at all splayed vertically. The result is that the spacing on the backplate is greater than usual – probably 2mm, whereas normally, the bases of the keys almost touch. The keys are very low indeed and the travel is very small, probably about 2mm. The effect of the low travel keys and the heavy backplate is that in use its almost completely silent.
When you decide to use a Mac keyboard you have two choices about key mappings. The first is to arrange the mappings so the keys conform to their labels. This will lead to one kind of irritation. There is no # key label. Keys like `, @ and ” are in the “wrong” places. The | key seems to be over on the right, which would be very irritating. These people, you think, must never use pipes or comment their code!
The other thing to do is leave it mapped as a standard 105 key board, and have the letters where your fingers expect them to be, just not as they are labelled. This is the choice I made, only swapping esc and capslock. Its an irritation also, but a minor one.
How does it feel to the fingers to type on for extended periods? It gets cautious approval. The initial impression differs a bit from the impression after a week or two. At first, the effort is quite small, and the amount of movement also very small, but the keys when struck nevertheless give definite positive feedback. You do perhaps notice a tendency to strike them more heavily than one would expect, because there is not, as there is on the old sprung boards, any progressive resistance, so you need to give them a bit of a bang to make sure you trigger them. But this is not heavy by the standards of the old sprung boards, and at first you only just notice it. The same effect on the usual poorly designed OEM keyboards is much more marked and does lead to one banging the keys quite hard, which is tiring and doesn’t feel good. Often on these boards you get both mushiness and high effort – the worst of both worlds. This one is very much better than these, it is on the whole low effort and firm.
However, after a week or two, the way the strike does lead to something of a banging action by the fingers becomes more noticeable. It is not very marked, its just that you realize it is less comfortable in extended use than it seemed. The effect is a bit like buying a speaker with over emphasized lower mid range. At first it seems pleasantly warm in tone. After two weeks, you are turning down the bass and wishing you had bought something drier and more neutral. I don’t want to make too much of this. Its a factor, its real, but all keyboards have some disadvantage, and this is not at all extreme. However, if you were simply comparing this one with a good buckling spring board, you would probably, at the two or three week mark with that, have stopped noticing the keyboard at all. I don’t think, if given the choice purely on the basis of finger feel and typing comfort, and after a longish period of use, that any experienced typist would choose the aluminium one. Which is not to say its bad to type on, it is not, not at all. It’s just not at the same level as a sprung one. While it feels different than a good OEM membrane board, because of the low travel, it is probably neither much better nor much worse in terms of the fingers in overall use.
The combination of the angle and the lack of any adjustment is less appealing. It is very low to the desk. The consequence is that with the slight tilt, the hands and fingers are rather awkwardly angled upwards. I don’t like this effect at all, it feels as if RSI could be in the offing and as if the tendons on the back of the hand are being perpetually strained. I have tried propping up the front to make it either flat, or tilted down and away from the user, and this is a lot better. It may end up with a couple of small pieces of wood glued on the bottom to remedy it. Some kind of adjustment would improve the thing enormously, but one realizes that however functionally necessary, it would look like unacceptable clutter to Cupertino. With a more conventional keyboard, the angle is about the same, but it seems not to be an issue. It may be to do with the way that the flatness of the Apple keyboard forces a sharper bend upward of the fingers and back of the hand. At least, that’s my impression.
What’s the bottom line? What should you recommend when people ask? What do you say about it?
The nearest analogy might be the Mac Mini. It is unique in desktop machines: it’s the only fully featured machine that you can put in a briefcase or coat pocket or backpack and carry around with you. In exchange for this extreme portability, you make some compromises on price and performance. But if you really need the portability, these will seem very acceptable. There’s no other way to get it, and the product itself is well made. If you really need a quality product that is a desktop box that will fit in your pocket, this is what you should buy. Similarly, if you really want a silent keyboard, and if possible a well made one, this is the one to get. You do make some compromises, but there is no other serious contender. This is my own case. I wanted silence, and the compromise in pure typing functionality is real, but small enough to be acceptable if that’s what it took to get it.
If silence is not important to you, but writing comfort and ergonomics are, what then? No, in that case you’d probably be better off with something else. Keyboards and screens are probably the two most important aspects of their setup for writers, and probably the three rules are: the screen should be as big as possible, the keyboard must be tried for an extended period at the desk before judging if it’s right or not, and the default recommendation is for it to be sprung if that can be afforded.
It is striking that if you ever talk to experienced secretaries of the previous generation about keyboards, they invariably express nostalgia for the ‘clickety clack’ keyboard. These are also ladies who, despite spending a working life at the keyboard, appear never to have encountered RSI. If your user can afford a sprung keyboard, this is what to recommend. There are degrees of clickety clack -ness. The Model M is at something of an extreme, too clunky for most. The Apple Extended was of the same order, but needs less effort and is less noisy, but it has the same comfortable effect of simply vanishing in use, once you are used to it. The Cherry sprung keyboards have excellent reputations, but I’ve no personal experience. The Matias uses the same springs as the Extended and has been well reviewed. I have not tried it, but based on the reviews, it can probably be recommended fairly confidently as an Extended equivalent.
If you recommend the original Extended, then you are recommending buying a used board, and matching it with an ADB to DIN converter, and then remapping the key caps. I’m fine doing this for myself, but a bit dubious about it for someone else, who may depend on the machine for his living. However, if they are former Apple users, perhaps upgrading from an old ADB machine, and already have the Extended, its a reasonable choice.
If money is an issue, and with writers it mostly seems to be, I would suggest the Logitech OEM or the similar feeling Microsoft Wired OEM. Its about right in feel, not too mushy, not too much effort, positive action. Yes, you do end up thumping it a bit. Yes, on some keys you may find it hard to get the force exactly right – this happens to me with one or two of the control keys, and so you end up using more pressure than you might like. But they are solidly made, you can get them anywhere, they are quite inexpensive, they are adjustable in height without glueing stuff on the bottom, and their height above the desk, at the front, is going to let you position wrist and hand angles better, more naturally. You can pay a lot more and do a lot worse than with either of these. People who have either of these seem quite happy.
The one I’d most rather use myself, were noise not an issue, is the small sprung one that came with an old SE 30, many years ago. That is compact, high enough off the desk, and has great feel. After many years of use, some of the keys are a bit worn, but it feels as comfortable as ever. On that or indeed on the Extended, I write away without ever thinking about my hands. The only bits of Apple equipment that I’m still using. Which just shows you, perhaps, how personal a matter this is!
Some sources and makes
www.pckeyboards.com (source of Model M equivalents)
http://www.tastaturen.com (source for sprung Cherrys)
http://matias.ca/tactilepro2/ (modern replacement of Extended)
Das Keyboard is a fairly expensive modern sprung entry, well reviewed.
Cherry makes large range of quality keyboards, including sprung.
The Apple Keyboard has the @, #, and | keys in the same place as any other keyboard (specific to the region model of the keyboard, there are different layouts for different country’s default keymaps). For example, here’s the US keyboard (note the keys are where they are expected): http://tinyurl.com/keyboard-apple .
The author is refering to the keyboard keeping it’s USA layout regardless of what country you purchase it from.
For example im in the UK, UK keyboards have the quotes on the number 2 button, however the mac keyboard has the @ symbol on the number 2. It’s something im used to and just ignore the button logo.
I love the metal apple keyboard, i use it both at work on my Windows PC and at home obviously on my iMac.
I love it because of two reason, the first is that i can type for long periods of time, i can type quickly and also accurately. Ive found the keyboard hard wearing and also responsive. The two USB ports underneath are also quite handy.
The second reason why i like the keyboard is that it is styled in laptop/notebook fashion, in that the keys are exactly the same as my macbook and the newer macbook pros. Meaning when i swap from my imac to my macbook the keyboard is exactly the same size (key spacing) and has the same key tactile feedback.
I’m not sure, but I think the comment you replied to is prompted by this remark in alcibiades’ article:
I’ve never seen a Mac without those keys, or with those keys in “nonstandard” places. The comment requires some explanation: where did alcibiades obtain this keyboard? Did he inquire about the discrepancy? In the US you can by different keyboards: US English, Western Spanish, French, or Japanese. What keyboard variants do they sell where alcibiades lives?
Bought my aluminum keyboard at John Lewis – a department store that is a fairly large Apple dealer.
keylabels on aluminum keyboard
shift+2 = @ and also euro
there is no key labelled #. Promise!
| key is right next to the return, shifted
” is one to the left of | with ‘ under
tilde is bottom left, next to left shift
keypad
top row goes numlock = / *
keylabels on standard UK keyboards
shift+2 = ”
# is right next to return
| is bottom left next to shift, shifted
tilde is bottom right, shifted #
@ is bottom right, shifted, next to #
keypad
top row numlock / * –
Its not a big deal, but this is why you have to choose between having the keys where you are used to them, or having them correspond to their labels.
Edited 2009-02-09 21:01 UTC
It would be nice if you told us in which country.
That’s where they are supposed to be, if you have a US keyboard. See the tinyurl a user posted on page 1.
From article:
That’s an incredibly ignorant remark, given that for me, all keys seem to be in their rightful places. It may be irritating for you to use a US keyboard layout, but to claim that this is the ‘wrong’ layout is silly at best.
JAL
It is not ignorant at all. I am reporting facts as they are in the ground in the UK. It may be that you are unaware that British English keyboards differ from US English keyboards? Here is a careful explanation of what the situation is.
First, there is only one sort of Apple keyboard on sale in the UK and it is laid out as I describe. I cannot seem to find any large size pictures of it. This is the one on the Apple site:
http://www.apple.com/uk/keyboard/
But this is not the one on sale in J Lewis or elsewhere in the UK. Don’t ask me why they do not put up a picture of the variant of their keyboard which is actually for sale in the UK! Why is this not the one they sell?
Doubtless because there is a need for the £ character, this being the currency in use in the UK!
As far as I know, there only ever has been one sort of Apple keyboard here. I have several of varying ages, and they are all exactly the same. They all have no # keycap, and they have a £ keycap which is upper case 3.
This is quite well known, and there is a correspondence about it here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=383690.
Second, the US English keyboard is different from the British English keyboard. You can see images of them here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#UK
The problem is, the Apple keyboards sold in the UK are a thing unto themselves. They are not a pure US layout. Neither are they pure US International. They are closer to a US layout however than they are to a British English layout.
The problem you have, and it is not one of my making, its just the way things are, is that if you have learned to type on what in the UK is a standard UK English keyboard, which is what 95%+ of keyboards in the UK are like, you expect it to look like the one in Wikipedia for the UK in the link above. Your fingers know where things are.
This is why, when you go from a standard British English keyboard to a UK Apple keyboard, you have, as I said, two choices. One is remap the keys, so they correspond to the labels on the caps. The other is to leave the keys where they are, in which case they are where you expect them to be, but they do not correspond to their labels.
Its not a huge deal, but it is an actual fact, and I do not expect to be called ignorant for reporting it!
Yes, your apology is accepted. Thank you.
If it were not for the last sentence, I’d’ve kept quiet, but you do not seem to understand what I was referring to was your remark that “These people, you think, must never use pipes or comment their code!”, as if it were impossible to use pipes or comment your code without a UK keyboard layout.
Yes, it is incredibly stupid of Apple to sell a UK keyboard that’s more like a pound sign-fitted US keyboard, and I understand the inconvience for someone who is used to the UK keyboard layout, but it is still perfectly possible to use pipes and comment ones code with the US layout.
JAL
You probably wanted the International English model (MB110Z/A). The keyboards come in various key layouts: International English, British English, German, Belgian, Danish, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Swiss, Swedish, and Norwegian. You probably got a British or Dutch version. In Britain, the American layout (what Apple calls “International English”) is actually pretty common, but Apple sells the British model. Both are available to the UK (the part number for the International one is MB110Z/A and for the British one is MB110B/A). It could also be a Dutch one, which is very close to the British model.
Some of Apple’s non US keyboards have always been a bit unique. I don’t have an example handy at the moment, but I do recall that at least on the laptops I’ve seen the layout has been slightly different from just about every other keyboard.
I continued to use my old extended kyb for YEARS!
eventually it had to be passed over as my machines moved to USB only. I dont see why apple (or another company) cant remake what, to me, was a wonderful product with a couple of updates (usb port and usb connectors)
You can get the keyspan, ADB to USB adaptor. This is what I use and it works fine.
This comment is written using Das Keyboard. A superb keyboard if you have to write letters, papers, or other lengthy documents.
For gaming, multimedia, typing in the dark, and other fun I recommend the Logitech gaming keyboard G15, although the older G15 (blue keys) was IMHO better than the newer model (with orange keys).
I also own a Microsoft natural keyboard. Some Microsoft keyboards are nice, but the natural keyboard only collects dust in my room. The keys need too much pressure, it is not pleasant at all to use it for creating long documents. Maybe the Logitech natural keyboards are better, but I don’t own one.
Interesting. Microsoft natural keyboards are my favorite, at least the ones they were selling like ~10 years ago (I mistakenly bought a 5 pack at a really good price). I’ve been using them ever since and now hate using any other keyboard.
I also own a MS Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 (one of many keyboards). I also found that it needs too much pressure when typing. My Dell Inspiron 9100 laptop has a brilliant keyboard and I started looking for something similar, but for a desktop computer. I found the Enermax Aurora which is a brilliant match. I love this keyboard! Sturdy, heavy, flat, nice keyboard travel and quiet. This one will stay with me for a while.
I must note that I never use the default keyboard layout. I touch type and only use the Programmer Dvorak layout (software switch able). The only real important key layout for me is the arrow keys and Ins/Del/PgUp/PgDn etc… I prefer the upside down T layout and 2 rows of 3 keys.
I use the Matias Tactile Pro and will never give it up. That and my IBM M for my PC are only the ones I use. I can’t stand mushy keyboards regardless of how pretty they look. If sound is a problem there is an easy solution: buy everyone around you ear plugs!
They’ll have to pry my model M from my cold dead hands. The tactile response this keyboard gives is actually amazing. I hate most membrane keyboards (especially the apple ones. Those I hate with passion), because I always end up pressing the keys too hard just to be sure I reached the bottom.
Hear, hear!!
I will probably die before my Model M does. Best keyboard ever. Loud?? Hell yeah!
Model M FTW!
I use the aluminum bluetooth version of this keyboard, and love it. No USB ports or numpad, but the thing is small, and it’s absolutely identical to my macbook’s keyboard. I don’t use the numpad anyway, so that’s no loss for me, and as for the USB ports… with two d-link 7-port self-powered USB hubs on my desk, I have more USB ports than I think I’m going to need for quite a while
. It’s a good wireless keyboard for the money, if you’re looking for a bluetooth one with good battery life, and in all other respects (key spacing/travel, etc) it’s identical to the wired one reviewed here. It’s a good balance, imho, not the top of the line in comfort but nothing to sneeze at either.
get a cherry g80 and you will never buy another keyboard
I did want one of their Happy Hacking printless micro 88-key keyboards, but for some bizzare reason they don’t have a straightforward version, with all sorts of odd limitations. This one – for Mac http://www.notestation.com/smk-88.htm has two USB plugs, one for the keyboard, and one for pass-through to the hub on the keyboard!! Madness.
I’ve not been able to find such a keyboard that doesn’t compromise somewhere. My ideal keyboard would be a printless 88-Key micro bluetooth keyboard using Mac layout.
My only complaint with the Apple Aluminimum Keyboards (I have the wired, and wireless ones) is that the function keys are messed up, after Apple decided to put Exposé on F3 and Dashboard on F4 – most annoying, as all the F keys I use the most F8-F11 I have to use with Fn—which is fine on the Bluetooth keyboard, but horrendous on the wired one where the Fn key is where the Home key is on a PC keyboard.
Other than that, I find both excellent in every manner.
You know you can change this in System Preferences, right?
OT: I used to use a big, clunky, plastic keyboard until a year ago when I decided to buy the Apple Aluminum one. It’s the perfect keyboard for me. I can type both fast and accurately, as opposed to typos-all-the-time with the old keyboard. Oh, and it is silent!
Edited 2009-02-09 18:35 UTC
I have this keyboard, I bought it specifically because I liked the feel of the MacBook keyboard I was using.
Also, I think it’s much better than the older Apple keyboard, which I found a bit sticky for me.
I was disappointed that the keyboard map out of the box didn’t “work” on my Mac Pro, but I did whatever I did and the “keys match” now. I don’t recall the details.
I used to use a Das Keyboard II. I loved using it very retro. Had a lovely satisfying CLACK! to each key stroke, and there was the added geekiness of having an all black keyboard (added bonus: my wife couldn’t use my machine
).
About half a year ago I switched to the wireless apple one. Though its been slated in some of the reviews, I enjoy using it and its my main keyboard now.
I am using a Deck Legend keyboard with Cherry mechanical switches. It uses the linear switches instead of the tactile ones (that give a click when the threshhold is passed) because it is meant as a gaming keyboard, and the linear switches also last longer. So there’s no click as you press down, but there is a pretty hefty thid when you bottom out, so I’m sure it wouldn’t be welcome in a lot of offices.
It feels pretty good to me typing. I pound it a lot harder than I did my old Cherry keyboard (which was ironically a membrane keyboard), but I like it. And it’s great for gaming.
In the end, the individual LEDs behind each key and the n-key-rollover (I can press every key at once and have them all register) put it over the top. The price puts it right back under the top though
I absolutely love the Apple aluminum keyboard, it is a vast improvement over the previous plastic model. In fact I’m considering getting another.
My previous keyboard (PC) was an expensive buckling spring model M clone from Unicomp, and although I have no complaints about it, it just isn’t in the same league as the current Apple model.
It might be of interest to some of you that I (and at least two other persons on this planet) have found the Apple Aluminium Keyboard to be a cause of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI syndrome) on the fingers. I detailed my findings and methods on that matter over a year ago: http://jeff.ecchi.ca/blog/?p=519
So I sold the keyboard and went back to a “cheap” generic Dell keyboard (the plastic ones that come with desktop computers). I’m quite happy with it.
From TFA:
I’ve found that most of the people who prefer the Model M also learned keyboarding on a typewriter – so they’re used to keys that require more force than (most) computer keyboards. Which makes sense, since the Model M is quite similar to the keyboards on IBM’s old electric typewriters.
I have a few HHKB Professional II keyboards and absolutely adore them. The feedback from the keys is wonderful. The key pressure to me seem “just right”. They are not too soft, as I feel the Apple keyboards for the Macbook Pros are. I spent years (nearly a decade) searching for the right keyboard. I must own or have tried nearly every keyboard from low-end to very high-end, such as DataHand and Kinesis.
The HHKB is my favorite keyboard and I carry one with me on extended business trips. I also carry a Wacom Intuos3 6″x11″ on most trips. I have tried quite a few mice over the years as well. I own a few Intuos3 in various sizes for home and work as well.
As a programmer who uses ViM heavily, the lack of a dedicated number pad hardly phases me, especially when paired with Vimperator for Firefox. The commonly used modifier keys just seem to come so naturally with the compact HHKB layout. I really adore it. Key combinations to control KDE and Konsole are a breeze.
I have quite a collection of keyboards. As a programmer for many years, I am very fussy about what keyboard I user. Comfort, key travel, silence, layout etc. are all very important to me. I’m not one for multimedia keyboards.
Anyway, a few months ago, I came across the Enermax Aurora keyboards. They are absolutely brilliant. A brushed aluminium design, very heavy for it’s size (so it doesn’t move), very flat, laptop style keys with small travel, normal arrow/pgup/pgdn etc. layout, USB 2.0 ports and even Sound & Mic ports. A brilliant keyboard and types extremely nice. Another really good thing is that it is about half the price of the Mac aluminium keyboard.
I bought the US layout keyboard, but I can’t really comment on the key layout. I touch type and only every use the Programmer Dvorak layout, no matter the keyboard. So RSI is not an issue for me – Dvorak layout is absolutely brilliant.
Product information
http://enermax.de/products/peripherals/aurora-premium/?L=2
One of many reviews
http://www.trustedreviews.com/peripherals/review/2006/08/19/Enermax…
Edited 2009-02-10 07:18 UTC
If the prices in the review are still current, the enermax is more expensive than the apple. The apple is a bit under £30 in the UK, the enermax seems to be quite a bit over £40.
Umm.. I didn’t really pay attention to the price in the review. Here in South Africa, the Apple Aluminium (wired) keyboard is around R900 and the Enermax Aurora (black) is R450. These were current prices from about 6 months ago.
I just had a look at http://www.ebuyer.co.uk and your were right. Amazing how pricing structures differ. Clearly we are being ripped off in South Africa when it comes to Apple products! 🙁
Edited 2009-02-10 10:19 UTC
The keyboard I use was only in
production a short while. Still
found secondhand some places. I
don’t want to mention it in case
the supply worsens !! I read
several threads on keyboards a week
and years !! go by without a mention
of the particular style.. A few
similar are in production, but appear
to be not quite as cool
Alcibiades, thank you so much for this article which comes exactly at the right time for me! After using an Extended keyboard with a Griffin iMate ADB-USB adapter for years, I’m now in the situation where I have to be as silent as possible while typing.
At university we had Sun keyboards (type-6, I think), they felt quite soft, but more “standard” than notebook-like, and were rather silent. Does anyone know how silent current Sun (type-7) keyboards are? (You can get them with “PC layout” these days, with Control and CapsLock at the usual places.)
I am really disappointed with that (usb+numpad) keyboard after about few hours of typing.
This one is not for touch typist. I still could not recognize the keys position by touch, which leads to miss or double presses.
Also lowest-row keys are so much harder to use … space-alt-ctrl etc.
the only advantage is that its much more silent, even comparing to T40 series thinkpads one.
FYI, this keyboard will not work with most KVM switches. See http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5259865 for discussion. I bought two of these and had to return them (thanks, Amazon!) after my PCs said “Keyboard disconnected” and wouldn’t boot. Apparently, KVMs show up the same as “passive” hubs, and only a powered version will work. Nice feel, tho I do agree with the author and prefer my ThinkPad for extended writing (workstations are mostly for graphics work).
I got a mechanical Cherry with my Olivetti 286 in 1989, and then another one from Vobis in 1994. Always loved those keyboards. Any chance to get a wireless USB one like those?