How about a standalone Macbook keyboard?

I like the design of the Macbook keyboard in that there are no gaps between the keys. So much dirt, dust and hair collects in my Apple Pro Keyboard. My keys also stick if I don't press them exactly vertically, which is really annoying. It feels like they are seizing up. I guess it's something to do with the key height. I like low down keys so you don't have to press them all that hard to get a response. I imagine it would make for quieter typing too.

On top of those things, I'd like to see some other features. The main one being to make it lighter and smaller (possibly have size options). I'd like a keyboard where I can reach all the keys including the numpad without moving my hands much. Does anyone remember the Psion palmtop:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/B0000...T8GHJKFDS4KA02

I want a keyboard that small for my desktop. It might even be customizable for an ipod. If you're a writer maybe then you can write stories on the move or rename tracks.

I'd also like a return of the power key on the keyboard. The new Macs have power keys in really awkward places.

Yeah, sorry for not being clear enough. I was suggesting Apple should make a new keyboard to replace the ones they ship with their Macs.

I think I've always hated my Apple Pro keyboard.

I've looked at the other keyboards available and when I came across the tactile pro, I thought I might buy it. Then I looked at the price tag and thought the same as midwinter.

I've looked at so many keyboard alternatives - even the little frog keypad - but PC keyboards don't usually have USB ports and they tend to break easy. Plus they have the Windows keys on them and I wouldn't be sure everything would work as it does on the Mac keyboard.

Those slimline metal keyboards look great. I've never seen the need for media keys though. If they were just programmable buttons then ok but you could just make two rows of function keys.

Does anybody use a PC keyboard with their Mac? If so, what kind is it and does it work ok with everything?

The main things I want are low key height, USB ports and a small form factor. Does anybody know of a Mac compatible keyboard like that under £50?

I just found this one that looks quite good:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper/revie...oard-usb.html#

but as usual, I don't know if it's Mac compatible (i.e programmable for say volume buttons) nor if it has USB ports.

Here's one specifically for Mac:

http://www.fentek-ind.com/kbmmacusb.htm

but why are they always so expensive? Plus that one has tall keys again.

There's also:

http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/sl...e_g84-4100.htm

but people have had trouble with them with Macs.

The extra USB ports are not a big issue as I can get a hub but it would be easier if they had two ports built-in.

I use a number of keyboards like iDave - powerbook, old g3 imac, Apple pro, some PC keyboards and out of all of them, I dislike the Apple pro one the most.

The other keyboards I use are soft and spongy - they feel more comfortable. As I type this, the keys are stiff and I make much more typing errors.

The powerbook one is my favourite of the ones I use.


Thanks, I was looking at those ones and they look pretty good. I like how the macally one has USB ports on the sides too like how the old keyboards were. If I couldn't get a smaller one, I'd probably just go for either of those.

How heavy are they compared to the Apple pro keyboard and are they about the same size?


I hadn't considered that but that would be a good idea. Someone at work got a wireless Mac keyboard but it's a big hefty Apple pro one again. I don't see much point in it being wireless because it's not very portable. A small multi-functional wireless keyboard would be ideal and again, having keys like the Macbook pro would make it sturdier and less likely to collect dirt inside.


That's actually another annoyance with the pro one because Apple have removed the choice as to which way you sit your keyboard. Of course it may mean a flimsy add-on. I think they should have designed them flat if they wanted it one way or the other. You can always tilt the keyboard up but you can't tilt the Apple pro one down.

Maybe we need a whole new style of input device altogether. Just one large SED touch panel that shows images of keys based on what app you use and it would have no physical keys at all. Something like this idea:

http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/

but the keys are virtual. That way the trackpad could be integrated too. Maybe Apple's recent multi-touch screen patent could be used for that. I think I'd probably prefer tactile keys though.


Haha, adapt and overcome .

Hmmm, I would prefer if the middle bit with home key etc was missing. It seems they have put those keys just to the right of the return key. Plus they haven't squashed the arrow keys into a small space like the old imac keyboard. I'd just need to get a small hub to make up for the lack of USB ports.

Yeah sure, checking e-mails while the wife's asleep . The "etc" says it all:

http://www.coolbuddy.com/videos/video_clip.asp?id=67

(you need flip4mac for that clip)

On a laptop, I wouldn't see much use for the backlight because the display illuminates the keys but on a standard keyboard, I think it would be ok. On the other hand, it's not good to use your computer in the dark because it hurts your eyes so I tend to have the lights on anyway. But the choice is always welcome.

OK, I just bought a keyboard like this. It was an Advent keyboard (ADE-KBW100) with the scissor keys, aluminium look. I knew of possible issues beforehand such as the Windows key not being in the same place as the command key and I had considered the Kensington slim-type but I was in a store today and they had these for £20, so I just decided to get it. They are so light compared to the Apple Pro keyboards.

All the standard keyboard functions work out of the box as I'd expected but as I'd also suspected, some of the special keys don't work, like the media keys. It's weird because the stop key mute/unmutes the system volume and pause/break and the key beside it act as brightness increase/decrease.

So some of the media keys work, they just don't do what I want. I didn't really want to have to install drivers because they can be unstable but I use the volume controls quite often especially in programs that go fullscreen where it's otherwise quite tricky to change system volume and it would be nice if I could get these working.

I've looked at a few pieces of software and installed the drivers but none of them seem to work. Most seem to be designed for mice and don't offer options for just keys.

I don't understand why Apple don't have a keyboard mapping utility. I know they have that system pane but what I'd like is have a panel of unicode keyboard hex codes and whenever you press a key on whatever keyboard you have, it would highlight the keycode it represents. Then you choose a function to map to the key. There is a key layout mechanism built into OS X but it require writing an XML file manually. I found a program called Ukelele, which helps do this with a GUI but it only seems to do standard keyboard functions.

Even if I could bind the volume change keys to some of the function keys. I never use F1-F8 anyway.

That's the problem right there. I actually have the current Apple keyboard, which I presumed was called the Apple Pro Keyboard. It seems Apple's site just calls it the Apple keyboard but 3rd party ones call it the Apple Pro. I actually didn't mind the flat one all that much.

Anyway, I now have the thin silver keyboard above and I'd like to know if anyone has any info about getting media keys working. I actually managed to install USB Overdrive and I got the volume up and down working with my 4th and 5th mouse buttons so for the time being, I have all the functionality of the current Apple keyboard since holding f12 ejects discs too.

I never liked the eject key anyway because I kept pressing it accidentally so this is still better. I've never really been keen to use media keys to be honest but now that I have them, I can think of things they'd be quite useful for like controlling iTunes or 1-press screen capture.

I could of course use the function keys for this sort of thing if I knew of any good software to map those too. So does anyone have any recommendations?

Ok sorted, I just bought this software:

http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/

for £8 and it recognises all the media keys. I can even attach Applescripts to each of the keys so I can launch programs from the media keys. The keyboard even has a power key, which I've been missing from the Apple keyboard for a long time.

Yeah, the brushed metal look goes with the Apple products quite well. Admittedly, it does feel a bit cheaply made but it's extremely light and with the low keys, it's quite comfortable. I'm actually going to like having the media keys. I've assigned 15 of them so far - 3 don't work yet, not sure why. But I have enough. I also have 3 Windows-type keys customized so that's 18 custom key functions on top of the 12 F-keys.

I have stop, play and track skipping assigned so I just hit play and itunes starts up in the background and I can control itunes at the touch of a button. I have buttons for sleep, shutdown, start screensaver, mail, spotlight and safari shortcuts and screen capture.

No USB ports unfortunately so I'll have to get a USB2 hub but I was going to get one anyway.

I know, Apple should really make one. After using the Macbook one, I have to say I prefer it though. It would be good if they went the route of the super light, slim aluminium keyboard. I'd also like if they added media keys. A few people were annoyed that Apple stole their function keys for things like Dashboard, Expose, Volume, brightness etc. especially on laptops. What's the point of a function key if you have to press the fn key too?

They could have media keys that are by default assigned to those features with icons but customizable. What I don't get is why does Apple still not have a mechanism for assigning function keys built into the System prefs?

Sure but then you have to use the fn key for Dashboard and Spotlight.


I think you can only assign menu items to the keys though for custom apps and in global settings, it seems you can only allocate the actions Apple has defined. I would much rather have a set of Applescripts or whatever to allow full customization.

One major reason I had to buy 3rd party software was that I couldn't reassign my volume keys otherwise. Perhaps it's yet another ploy by Apple to get you to buy their proprietary jamming, uncomfortable keyboards with the notch cut out of the USB connector so you can't use their extension lead with anything else.