It's a drafter's scale, at the bottom end it shows the 1:100 ratio. The 1:100 could have been left off and marked as cm though. A drafter that can't mentally scale by powers of 10 without slowing down should pursue other careers.
I guess it's just me but I'm kinda unexcited about it. I know it's thin and all and perhaps it has a great 'feel' to it that isn't represented by photos.
I call it a controlled leak by Apple. Those pictures are WAY too good. Either Apple wanted this to happen or someone is turning in their key card and being escorted out of One Infinite Loop by a dude with a side arm.
If they're going for a brushed metal look, this thing would look FAR better (and have a better touch, I might add) using the key configuration from a MBP rather than a standard MP. Add to that, those MBP keys are both already back-lit (something this beast is supposed to do) and do not have spaces between the keys, which may make the keyboard more compact, which seems to fit better with Apple's design philosophy.
Also, why in the heck include the USB cable in these shots? Surely they'd select a bluetooth model to display... I think the white cord is there for effect.
I hope this isn't the one. Sure it's slick and thin and all, but it isn't pretty enough to be an Apple product design... next to the iPhone, which is the most recent sample of Apple design we have, this thing's ugly as a boot.
The MBP has a great keyboard feel, but it's also a tray keyboard. Things can slip in, and I'm not so sure the MBP/PowerBook design would hold up as well on a desktop without a full laptop underneath to support it. My guess is also that the keys are the same relative size as those on the current keyboard, which is pretty small compared to some.
If this is the iMac's keyboard, they probably don't have a Bluetooth version yet (the supporting bar with USB ports probably does have room for batteries, though). It'd have to be the pack-in wired model.
As for prettiness: whether or not this is the final look, I'm wondering whether the camera isn't affecting the perceived look. If you take photos of a MacBook Pro or an iMac's aluminum stand, it often takes on a bronze-like cast that you wouldn't see in person. And who knows? The iMac itself may be a good match.
Keyboards such as laptop keyboards which use "scissor" mechanisms are significantly more flimsy than standard "plunger" type keyboards. One of the most common reasons that laptops are taken in for service is due to keys coming off the keyboard during normal usage. And it's not like people are pounding their fists on the laptop. They are using the laptop keyboard just as they would a desktop keyboard.
Apart from the rare sticking key (which usually fixed itself after a short time) and one occasion of a somewhat 'deaf' key (which also fixed itself alone), I never had problems with my four Mac notebooks (I owned them up to three years each).
In fact, whenever I have to type on a non-notebook keyboard, I find this strenuous because of the long travelling path of the keys and the force needed to suppress them.
Now I'm convinced this is a fake or early proto. F7-F9 would not have iTunes controls. Doesn't make sense (*in best Dana Carvey as George Bush voice*)!
Everyone that has posted this is being nuts. The scale 1:100 is clearly posted on the engineer's scale. Easy to see the relative thickness. But this comes from an engineer.
It'd be nicer if the silver layer was white. It looks too cheap as white on silver IMHO and doesn't bode well for the iMac replacement if that's their new aesthetic. Silver/brushed metal is a bit dated and everyone is doing it (sometimes badly) whereas Apple totally owns white/grey.
It'll take a while to relearn where the function keys are too and I hope you don't have to press the fn key for Expose or Dashboard.
Now I'm convinced this is a fake or early proto. F7-F9 would not have iTunes controls. Doesn't make sense (*in best Dana Carvey as George Bush voice*)!
Probably fake but for another reason: why are the pictures still up? Where is Apple Legal?
Comments
Uh-huh. So it's
a) one metre thick or
b) one millimetre thick or
c) just thick
It's a drafter's scale, at the bottom end it shows the 1:100 ratio. The 1:100 could have been left off and marked as cm though. A drafter that can't mentally scale by powers of 10 without slowing down should pursue other careers.
Still no big whoop for me.
"Not cosmetic unit"??? What does this mean? ...Anybody???
A prototype, test unit?
It's definitely a keyboard, but it's not the final. Just a prototype.
How dare you call me crazy!!
try F15 and F14...
I like how the "help" key has been removed and replaced with the laptop "fn" key
ahhh, thanks Paul, I never knew that! F14 and F15 for brightness on the iMac! hooray!
I may regret it, but I call shenanigans.
If they're going for a brushed metal look, this thing would look FAR better (and have a better touch, I might add) using the key configuration from a MBP rather than a standard MP. Add to that, those MBP keys are both already back-lit (something this beast is supposed to do) and do not have spaces between the keys, which may make the keyboard more compact, which seems to fit better with Apple's design philosophy.
Also, why in the heck include the USB cable in these shots? Surely they'd select a bluetooth model to display... I think the white cord is there for effect.
I hope this isn't the one. Sure it's slick and thin and all, but it isn't pretty enough to be an Apple product design... next to the iPhone, which is the most recent sample of Apple design we have, this thing's ugly as a boot.
The MBP has a great keyboard feel, but it's also a tray keyboard. Things can slip in, and I'm not so sure the MBP/PowerBook design would hold up as well on a desktop without a full laptop underneath to support it. My guess is also that the keys are the same relative size as those on the current keyboard, which is pretty small compared to some.
If this is the iMac's keyboard, they probably don't have a Bluetooth version yet (the supporting bar with USB ports probably does have room for batteries, though). It'd have to be the pack-in wired model.
As for prettiness: whether or not this is the final look, I'm wondering whether the camera isn't affecting the perceived look. If you take photos of a MacBook Pro or an iMac's aluminum stand, it often takes on a bronze-like cast that you wouldn't see in person. And who knows? The iMac itself may be a good match.
I think this is not a production unit... if real at all.
This must be the explanation for the missing logo. A prototype. Or fake.
Keyboards such as laptop keyboards which use "scissor" mechanisms are significantly more flimsy than standard "plunger" type keyboards. One of the most common reasons that laptops are taken in for service is due to keys coming off the keyboard during normal usage. And it's not like people are pounding their fists on the laptop. They are using the laptop keyboard just as they would a desktop keyboard.
Apart from the rare sticking key (which usually fixed itself after a short time) and one occasion of a somewhat 'deaf' key (which also fixed itself alone), I never had problems with my four Mac notebooks (I owned them up to three years each).
In fact, whenever I have to type on a non-notebook keyboard, I find this strenuous because of the long travelling path of the keys and the force needed to suppress them.
How dare you call me crazy!!
But it's the good kind of crazy!
a) one metre thick or
b) one millimetre thick or
c) just thick
Everyone that has posted this is being nuts. The scale 1:100 is clearly posted on the engineer's scale. Easy to see the relative thickness. But this comes from an engineer.
But it's the good kind of crazy!
Oh great!
It'd be nicer if the silver layer was white. It looks too cheap as white on silver IMHO and doesn't bode well for the iMac replacement if that's their new aesthetic. Silver/brushed metal is a bit dated and everyone is doing it (sometimes badly) whereas Apple totally owns white/grey.
It'll take a while to relearn where the function keys are too and I hope you don't have to press the fn key for Expose or Dashboard.
Now I'm convinced this is a fake or early proto. F7-F9 would not have iTunes controls. Doesn't make sense (*in best Dana Carvey as George Bush voice*)!
Probably fake but for another reason: why are the pictures still up? Where is Apple Legal?
The original photos were on Flickr, sans watermark. Engadget did the same thing, adding their own watermark once it was posted.
The Flickr site was down hours before AI's post... I s'pose that wouldn't exclude the possiblity of them theiving the originals.
Either way it's shady. You can't deny that.
-Clive