Anyone here ever use the Apple Wired Keyboard?

A

AndroidVageta

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
469
Keyboard in question:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB110LL/A

Thinking of picking one of these up...no particular reason, just think it looks sexy, sturdy, and I like the USB hub.

Anyways, has anyone ever used one of these? I know its not the most ergonomic but neither is my current basic Logitech keyboard, so it doesn't bother me.

Ive heard good things and reviews seem decent, but just looking for first hand experience!
 
Well, I went and got one today at the local Best Buy...this thing is freaking awesome! The aluminum with the seperated chicklet keys make it one of the stylish simplistic keyboards Ive ever seen. Only problem is that the 2 built in USB ports are not powered and couldnt even handle a USB flash drive and Bluetooth adapter...so what the hell can it power? LOL!

Also the caps lock key is finicky...you gotta press it pretty hard to get it on and off...might return it try another.

Also, gaming on it is very good...the short travel and ease of pushing the keys make it lightning quick and responsive...very excellent choice for a gaming keyboard.
 
AndroidVageta said:
Only problem is that the 2 built in USB ports are not powered and couldnt even handle a USB flash drive and Bluetooth adapter...so what the hell can it power? LOL!.
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My apple keyboard powers my thumb drives just fine. :cool:
 
yup, I run a wireless one at home and a wired version at the office.
love em, best kb i've ever owned
 
I use one but its got issues with my mobo, it cant be used in bios, also function/clear/print scrn keys are not map 100% but there is a small program somewhere thats able to custom map keys for windows usage.

I like it, its clean, small, feels ok to type on and generally works well.
 
So far Im loving it...just that the caps lock key is kinda fucked...still works, just got to hit it hard and direct...otherwise it doesnt work...or works when it wants too...

Other than the fucked caps lock key the rest of the keyboard is awesome, truly a pleasure to type on thats for sure. Plus, its freaking sexy! Nuff said...
 
The caps lock key behavior is intentional. You have to press it for slightly longer than other keys. It's to avoid accidental caps lock hits.
 
I've been using my apple wired keyboard for ~2 yrs now. For whatever reason, I've always enjoyed the short key press of a laptop style key, and this keyboard has that feel in addition to being slightly larger than a typical laptop keyset. Types great, and responds well to gaming (used to raid in WoW with it prior to quitting 6 months ago, now just fps and occasional rpg).
 
zaxour said:
The caps lock key behavior is intentional. You have to press it for slightly longer than other keys. It's to avoid accidental caps lock hits.
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Yeah i noticed this after using it. i do love this keyboard though...I mean, I had no idea I could love a keyboard this much.

Again, the BEST gaming keyboard Ive ever used...the short travel and lightness of the keys makes playing action games a blast. Love it, highly recommended!
 
zaxour said:
The caps lock key behavior is intentional. You have to press it for slightly longer than other keys. It's to avoid accidental caps lock hits.
Click to expand...

Which is terrible for games that use the caps lock key. Sure I could remap the key (well usually, some games tend to be retarded about remapping), but capslock is one of the most easily accessible keys in a standard WASD config. Often I remap keys TO the capslock key if there isn't a good function for it already.

Also the spacebar isn't as consistent across the whole bar as even a normal membrane keyboard spacebar is. A specific amount of force may be good for one part of the spacebar, but shift your thumb very, very slightly to one side and it may not register.

Overall, after the novelty wore off, I delegated my wired apple keyboard to backup use. It's cheap, looks cool, but functionally is slightly worse than many other membrane based keyboards I've used like my current Logitech Illuminated Keyboard.

Personally I much preferred the old G5 a Mac Pro keyboards to this new scissor switch chicklet keyboard. I would probably keep using them if they still made them, but my old one broke while I was moving residences and getting another would require me to spend way too much or get one used off of ebay.

If you're the type of guy who hammers his keys then you probably won't have any complaints with the current apple keyboard. If you tend to gravitate towards the least amount of pressure for keystrokes then you may dislike it as I do. It's very easy to be impressed initially by it but no store demo could ever have prepared me for how I would like (or dislike) it for long term use. Luckily I got it for like $30, which is still $10 less expensive than my Logitec Illuminated Keyboard after the ridiculously long MIR.
 
I've been using one for the past few years, and it's easily the best keyboard I've ever used.

I'm an extremely fast typer - about 160 WPM in fact (according to a test I just took). On a Dell keyboard with larger keys I only did 100-120 WPM. The low-profile design is perfect. And pressing F5 or F6 during a game is also easy since the function keys line up well with the number keys.

I've also never noticed the caps lock behavior during real-world usage, but I was able to reproduce it just now by pressing it extremely quickly (faster than I'd normally press it). And I do play at least one game (Return to Castle Wolfenstein - nearly a decade later!) that uses the caps lock.
 
AndroidVageta said:
So far Im loving it...just that the caps lock key is kinda fucked...still works, just got to hit it hard and direct...otherwise it doesnt work...or works when it wants too...

Other than the fucked caps lock key the rest of the keyboard is awesome, truly a pleasure to type on thats for sure. Plus, its freaking sexy! Nuff said...
Click to expand...

It's not a faulty key. You don't have to smash it .. you just need to hold it slightly longer than a normal keypress. Apple designed it that way to prevent you accidentally activating caps-lock.

1000
 
AndroidVageta said:
Yeah i noticed this after using it. i do love this keyboard though...I mean, I had no idea I could love a keyboard this much.

Again, the BEST gaming keyboard Ive ever used...the short travel and lightness of the keys makes playing action games a blast. Love it, highly recommended!
Click to expand...

dude...sad to say I feel the same way. I found that's true for all apple products that I've tried. For some reason, you just "love" them. I must say apple's marketing schemes and social image really is effective.

About the caps lock thing...I noticed it too when I first got my keyboard but it seems to have gotten much better. Maybe I just subconsciously got used to it, or maybe it got worn in somehow and is working like I was used to.
 
I've been using mine for ~ 6 months and love it. Mostly because it's thing and small, so it's easier to push away when I need the desk space. Also, I've been able to plug my USB drives in the hub + I charge my cell phone w/ it.

I know a lot of people experience a higher typing rate with this, because of the shorter presses, but sometimes I find my fingers slipping around a bit when typing fast because the keys are flat faced. It's probably just me that needs to adjust to it better, but sometimes my nail does the actual pressing rather than my fingers. Concerning the Caps Lock key, I don't think it takes a longer press, just a firmer press. They keys are definitely responsive to the small quick touches though, so it's not like some el cheapo combo keyboards.

side note:
Using Win XP Pro, it didn't recognize the number keypad on the right. Also, I wanted to re-assign some of the keys, like switching the option and command key so it's more like a Windows keyboard. I also reassigned the F-keys higher than F12 to other functions like system volume and print screen using a program called AutoHotkey which works great.
Now that I've upgraded to Win 7, the operating system recognizes the keyboard and the number pad works finally. I believe the "clear" key acts as num-lock, correct me if I'm wrong ...
 
Ive really been looking into one of those.. but i read that the arrow keys have some lag in games and i remap most games to use arrow keys/num pad.

can you go in wow or another game and tell me if the arrow keys lag at all? the g15 also lagged like this so i had to return it.
 
I've been using and liking the wired aluminum keyboard for a week now, but can anyone recommend a wrist rest to go with it? It's such a low profile keyboard that regular wrist rests are too high. I know some don't believe you should use wrist rests or that you should just rest your wrists directly on the desk, but neither are for me. I thought I found a solution by placing the whole keyboard on one of those large 17 x 14 HandStands Super Mouse Pads, and resting my wrists on the extra surface. But I had to return the thing because it emitted a strong chemical odor. Does anyone have a recommendation for me?
 
After a couple of returns, I settled on a 12x17 Artistic Products Rhinolin Embossed Desk Pad. The 17" matches the width of the wired aluminum keyboard. It's not meant to be a wrist rest but instead a pad to cover the work area on your desk. It's really just a glorified place mat, and if I had more time I could have looked into those, but for now it keeps my wrists off my desk surface.
 
I used the keyboard from an old IMac on a secondary rig for a while.

It is a quality keyboard for sure, but the biggest issue I had was with the layout. On most windows keyboards, from on the bottom left you have the Control key, the Windows Key, then the Alt key. On a Mac keyboard you have the control key but then the Alt key is right next to that instead of the windows key and where the alt key usually is you have the "command" key.
 
kirbyrj said:
I've used one. It's ok. Nothing special. It works in bios.
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My Mom used this keyboard. She really likes it. I did notice that it wouldn't work in bios in the abit motherboard they had but I just upgraded them to a gigabyte p45 board and it works great once in bios. Only problem is getting into bios. The delete key is actually backspace so I needed to use another keyboard for the delete key.

She actually has the compact wired keyboard.
 
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Hmm...I don't remember specifically, but I thought the delete key by the Fn key worked even though the Delete/Backspace key didn't.
 
I used it for a little over a year and the B key on it stopped working outright. Great keyboard but not a long life.
 
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