new slim keyboard with new iMacs

[Jeff Wexler]

I tried to clean my very old keyboard that I use with my Mac and I killed it. So, I ordered a new keyboard and decided to try the new slim keyboard (that draws on the design of the keyboard on the MacBooks). I have been using it now for a day and I love it. Of course it is pretty to look at, as with all Apple products, but if it were only pretty to look at it would be a bad thing if a keyboard succumbed to what Courtney refers to as Steve Jobs' obsession with "looks" over function. I am not a touch typist since I learned to type at a very early age --- actually before I even knew any real words, so I am now a fery fast "hunt & peck" even though I really don't have to hunt much once I am used to the keyboard. It is basically still 2 fingers working so I may not be the best judge of this keyboard for real typists. I like it a lot but I certainly would not recommend it to anyone unless they have spent some time on one in an Apple Store or something --- it really does feel quite different.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

[Philip Perkins]

I was impressed by how quiet it was, esp compared to my older Apple keybds.

Philip Perkins

[Jeff Wexler]

There was a fairly extensive study done several years ago about keyboards (since they are in such heavy use in so many areas with so many computers and so on), analyzing lots and lots of things, polling people's reactions and so on. The keyboard and its use has a long and colorful history and just as interesting is some of the things that people expect from the keyboard. There was a period of time when many actually wanted lots of audible sound back from the key presses. There were also keyboards that were essentially silent by design but "click noise" was added mechanically to satisfy expectations. Apple's original keyboard that shipped with the first Macintosh was very clicky and also had barely the full alphabet on it --- it was a minimalist keyboard to a fault (and lots of people hated it). One of the strangest things in all of this, but it was bound to happen, is the software that produces "typewriter like sound" when you type on the keyboard on the computer. There is even one such utility that allows the user to set several different profiles from history: Royal 100 from 1938, Olivetti Elite circa 1950, etc.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

[Marc Wielage]

Of course it is pretty to look at, as with all Apple products, but if it were only pretty to look at it would be a bad thing if a keyboard succumbed to what Courtney refers to as Steve Jobs' obsession with "looks" over function.

My writing partner bought one and thinks it's OK. If you're used to the MacBook-style keyboard, you can get used to this one. I tried one out in the store and didn't hate it. I'm also a modified two-fingered typist (maybe three on each finger), but can get up to about 50-60wpm when I'm really going at it.

BTW, don't throw that old keyboard away yet. I once had a Mac keyboard shipped to me when I was working in Italy for HBO, and it managed to get submerged in mouthwash (long story) during the 6000-mile shipment from LA to Rome. I soaked the keyboard with bottled water, then alcohol, and let it sit for an hour, then hit it with a hair dryer and let it dry for a day. Still wouldn't work. After three or four days, it came back to life and was fine.