What's the Deal with the "Pro" Keyboard?

moogsmoogs
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I just received mine after banging away for nearly three years on the little POS iMac keyboard that used to ship with Power Macs. I bought it for three reasons - I had a $15 rebate from the Apple DVD settlement deal; I will not be getting a new Power Mac soon unless they drop the price by $1000 across the board (yah right); I need to do some serious writing and the POS iMac keyboard of old is not a serious writing tool. Did I mention it is a POS?









Here are some initial observations:



1. Apple shipped it in a box that could've housed a Power Mac. I'm not lying. WTF were they thinking?



2. WHERE'S THE FVCKING POWER BUTTON???



3. Cord is so short that you have to either have your Mac on your desk (within about 2' of where you're going to type), or you have to use another USB source such as a monitor (which is what I do).





4. The feel of keyboard is nice - much nicer than the POS I was using until now.



5. The volume / eject buttons are nice, but I'd prefer a POWER button, nimrods (at Apple). <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />



6. Cool that you can choose a white one with translucents. I have a black desk and a whitish monitor, so I chose white.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 28
    jambojambo Posts: 3,036member
    [quote]Originally posted by Moogs:

    <strong>



    2. WHERE'S THE FVCKING POWER BUTTON???



    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    You switch your Mac off?? :eek:
  • Reply 2 of 28
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    i read somewhere that Apple and Sony actually have computers that use 95%-98% less electricity while they're asleep. the rest of the bunch save approx. 10%-20% in sleep mode.



    i don't think i've had my laptop off in ages now. sleep is actually 100% functional. besides, how else will you get a 28 day uptime on your machine if you shut it off?



    now if it weren't for those security patches i'd be over a month.
  • Reply 3 of 28
    jesperasjesperas Posts: 524member
    Keyboard power button was removed and put on Apple's monitors instead (done during the Gigabit Ethernet G4 release--more incentive to "buy Apple," I guess).



    New Powermacs (and presumably iMacs) ship with a 3' USB extension for the keyboard, which--surprise, surprise--works only with the Apple keyboard and not other USB devices.



    Persoanally, I find the keys a bit mushy, and I don't like the rounded tops. I still think that the Apple beige extended keyboard was the best one they did.
  • Reply 4 of 28
    scott f.scott f. Posts: 276member
    [quote]Originally posted by Moogs:

    <strong>2. WHERE'S THE FVCKING POWER BUTTON???

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    From what I was told by an ex-co-worker... Apple had to stop putting the power button on their keyboards due to conflicts with USB.



    Apparently the way that they implemented a "power button" over USB went far outside of USB specifications --- kind-of a "hack, if you will --- and caused problems for a lot of 3rd-party vendors of USB devices. USB was not intended to be able to function the way Apple was making it work.



    I wish I knew the details... but suffice to say... it was never a "solid" implementation... it was a "hack". (At least on USB keyboards.... not serial connections)



    - my $.02
  • Reply 5 of 28
    mount_my_floppymount_my_floppy Posts: 913member
    I love my ProKeyboard Jamie is right I never switch off my Mac and if I do for some reason the power button is right on the tower next to me.



    Question if the cord is only 2 inchs long ( mine came with an extension cord) then why do you need a power button your computer should be right there .



    I love the way the keys feel "soft" its so nice to type on although sometimes I wish the keys were not so close together I hit 2 keys at once a lot more then I wish I did.



    also just my 2¢
  • Reply 6 of 28
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    Well, I guess that means I'll have to leave it in eternal sleep when away from the machine. Do you guys have any recommendations as far as doing this under 10.1 or Jaguar - any particular settings to avoid? Hard drive spin down?



    Normally my dial up connection stays up all day as emails come in and the like. Will sleep kill my connection with regularity?



    [ 08-07-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ]</p>
  • Reply 7 of 28
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    The Pro Keyboards used to come with extension cords since the cable is so short. I remember when I bought my black one when they first came out in 2000 it came with a USB extension cable, but when I got my white one (much better than the black) there was no USB extension. How come they stopped shipping the keyboards with them?
  • Reply 8 of 28
    jambojambo Posts: 3,036member
    [quote]Originally posted by EmAn:

    <strong>The Pro Keyboards used to come with extension cords since the cable is so short. I remember when I bought my black one when they first came out in 2000 it came with a USB extension cable, but when I got my white one (much better than the black) there was no USB extension. How come they stopped shipping the keyboards with them?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I thought that they only included a keyboard extension cable with PowerMacs <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
  • Reply 9 of 28
    gordygordy Posts: 1,004member
    Nope. I bought a Pro Keyboard sepatarely also, and it came with the cable. It's a funky cable, you can only use it with the keyboard because it has a notch in the USB connector.
  • Reply 10 of 28
    cyko95cyko95 Posts: 391member
    [quote]Originally posted by alcimedes:

    [QB]i don't think i've had my laptop off in ages now...

    ]<hr></blockquote>



    Yeah, I know the feeling. I've had my iBook for just over 2 months now, and i've had it completely shut off 1 time. The battery was getting low due to being mobile for quite some time prior to going to bed, and I was too lazy to go get the power adapter to plug it in. =)
  • Reply 11 of 28
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    Well, the first few hours of sleep experimentation seemed to work OK. No dropped connection, no errors on wake... guess this is my new MO.
  • Reply 12 of 28
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    All my Pro keyboards have come with extension cords. My sister ordered one with her PowerBook, we'll see if it comes with one.
  • Reply 13 of 28
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    I bought a white keyboard a month ago for the office here, and it did not come with an extension cord.



    Hmm.
  • Reply 14 of 28
    thinkingdifferentthinkingdifferent Posts: 1,604member
    [quote]Originally posted by jesperas:

    <strong>

    Persoanally, I find the keys a bit mushy, and I don't like the rounded tops. I still think that the Apple beige extended keyboard was the best one they did.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Yes, that was one very fine keyboard. Too bad it has an ADB connector. Does anybody know if there is an ADB to USB converter?
  • Reply 15 of 28
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    I kinda like the soft / smushy feel of the keys, actually. I think it's because I've been using that POS iMac keyboard for so long, anything even remotely refined design-wise feels wonderous.



    <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
  • Reply 16 of 28
    nebagakidnebagakid Posts: 2,692member
    [quote]Originally posted by ThinkingDifferent:

    <strong>



    Yes, that was one very fine keyboard. Too bad it has an ADB connector. Does anybody know if there is an ADB to USB converter?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Oh yeah, there are a lot. when the first iMac's came out, they needed them because so many had ADB stuff <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
  • Reply 17 of 28
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by murbot:

    <strong>I bought a white keyboard a month ago for the office here, and it did not come with an extension cord.



    Hmm.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Well like I said, my white one didn't come with the extension cable so maybe only the black ones do.
  • Reply 18 of 28
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by gordy:

    <strong>Nope. I bought a Pro Keyboard sepatarely also, and it came with the cable. It's a funky cable, you can only use it with the keyboard because it has a notch in the USB connector.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I've used it for other things besides the Pro Keyboard.
  • Reply 19 of 28
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    The keyboard arrived today. Black, with extension cable.
  • Reply 20 of 28
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    I guess they're expecting to have the white keyboards used with iMacs and eMacs (no extension needed).... surely no "power user" with a PowerMac would use a girly white keyboard!







    [ 08-08-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
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