Apple Makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Available for Purchase
apple.com
apple.com
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK2C3LL/A/magic-keyboard-...
The downvotes clearly indicate an unpopular opinion, but this to me just looks like they bolted on a 10 key to the existing product.
When you make an extended version of a keyboard, it makes sense to me to stay consistent and not rearrange keys on the part of the keyboard that's shared between the extended and regular-sized versions.
Is it really more precise to say above the backspace/delete vs. the absolute top right corner? Until this product rolled out, those statements would have been practically equivalent.
I'm thinking of this like I do the power button. On my Macbooks, that's one and the same with touchid, and is in the top right corner (and yeah, above the delete key, but for me the significance is the absolute position). The power button on my non-Apple keyboards is also in the top right, above the numpad - albeit not a touch sensor as well. Not where the eject key is, but in the absolute top right on the old Logitech Wave I'm typing on right now.
Quite honestly, I didn't expect I'd be in the minority on this one. I suppose this is why design teams exist. I wonder if there's a better spoken version of me at Apple arguing like an asshole for the exact same thing!
Yes, because that specifies the position of the key in all keyboards, no matter what extra keys they might have.
If your keyboard doesn't have an F-button row, then your numerical row is at the very top of the keyboard. If your keyboard has an F-button row, then your numerical row is the second row from the top. But in reality, it is in the exact same place it has always been, right above the the QWERTY row.
We don't shift the numerical row to the top when we add an F-button row. Neither do we shift arrow keys or Enter key to the far right when we add a numpad. So I don't see why touch ID button should behave any differently.
In general, extended versions of keyboards add more stuff compared to the smaller versions, but they never mess with the layout of buttons present in the original.
That's one conclusion. Could also be your attitude / way you expressed your opinion too. ;)
Maybe, but I'm generally not a jerk around here, I just really don't like this design and expressed it. It really does hit me as shockingly bad. Like "why did they do that?" bad. That others like it as much as I hate it is a real surprise to me, but that's life.
Scanning over your recent comment history, I agree with you. I wouldn’t even say the comment in question was jerk like, but rather hyperbolicly negative. You were essentially damning an entire company over a keyboard button position you disagreed with. We get it, you think it should always be far top right. I definitely see your point of view, but I can also see the point of view where they put it. I’m undecided which is better, but that doesn’t change the fact saying their entire design team sucks over that might be going to far. As someone who easily gets fired up with passion when I dislike something, I completely empathize. That’s why sometimes you need to take a breadth before posting.
Isn’t that precisely what an extended keyboard is?
In other words:
"It was above delete button"
vs
"It was in top right corner of the device"
From my personal usability perspective, FWIW, there's a difference between "Go to physical corner of a device" and "hunt for a very specific place in the middle of keyboard", but preferences differ.
I suppose it depends what your muscle memory is coded to?
To me, muscle memory would be coded to "find top right extreme of device, then back off a little". I suppose yours night be "find delete key, go a bit above" or "this far from home row".
(normally home row might be what I'd key too as well, but turning on and fingerprinting device is typically before I settle on home key in my workflow - I. E. I might not even be fully sat down...)
It _is_? What am I/are you missing here?
> apple design is in the tank right now
There have been a diverse group of trolls screaming this for about 40 years. Meanwhile they are only the best by default. Don’t like it? Make something better
If it's not in the upper right corner, it's wrong. If it's not within easy reach of the more typical position of the right hand (for people who touch type at least) then it's in the wrong position. It's a lose-lose, doesn't matter what they do some people will be unhappy. And whatever they do, some people will be content or happy. So they picked one that made sense for people who don't rest their hand on the number pad all day long.
There are no position they could pick that will make everyone happy.
> There are no position they could pick that will make everyone happy.
Seems that way!
Put it differently, "one of these things is not like the other", so it makes intuitive sense -- for me :) -- for it to be in a corner and "isolated" from typing keys.
20 years ago I read in a very basic "Intro to UI" that 1-pixel in the corner of your screen is effectively the biggest button on the screen (this was for mouse and desktop monitor, of course), as you can just push your mouse there without aiming or stopping. The wisdom of being able to use motion to go to an extreme of device intuitively stuck with me ever since.
At this rate we'll need a killedbyapple.com page
$99.00 Magic Keyboard - US English
$149.00 Magic Keyboard with Touch ID for Mac models with Apple silicon - US English
$129.00 Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad - US English
$179.00 Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad for Mac models with Apple silicon - US English
Freestyle 2 (blue) is good. Feels good, bluetooth just works, battery life is great. Non mechanical, but if you like Apple Keyboards that shouldn't matter. Also no backlight if it matters.
The Edge has survived multiple coffee spills (although the backlight on the "2" key doesn't work anymore, after the last one).
Left it to dry and sunlight warped one of the spacebar caps. Those keys are custom and so impossible to find. Tried 3d Printing one but it wasn't really usable. Contacted Kinesis support fully expecting them to say that it's no longer supported... not only it is supported, but they mailed me a new spacebar keycap, for free.
So yeah. The Edge is pricey, non-removable switches unfortunately. Doesn't come with palm rests but it really, really should. Great onboard software(again, only the Edge). And great support, to the point that I'm here advertising for them for free.
Also split keyboards in general are great since you can have all sorts of stuff in between them :)
The Touch ID issue was solved with the Apple Watch. I'm not going back to Apple Keyboards. Really trying to avoid the custom keyboard rabbit hole too :)
I once built a custom keyboard but made a couple of mistakes, and I realized the Freestyle is not bad at all :)
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/13/how-iphone-x-face-id-wo...
Sure would be nice if it worked with Intel-based hardware, though. ;(
You mean the touchID integration, right ?
That is, this keyboard would still pair and function with any old bluetooth host, right ? Right ?
I can use my Apple Watch to authenticate things like passwords in Safari, but I would MUCH prefer to not have to lift my hands off the keyboard. A lot of the time I just type my password. A million times a day. This would be a quality of life improvement.
I wonder how they determine which to use? Seems like they switch back and forth.
I’ve tried to find non-Apple brand with similar feel, but nothing has matched the quality or comfort.
E.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/j1877x/k...
My right wrist was starting to seriously hurt at the end of each day, and now it's completely painless.
I don't see Apple making it to be honest, but I would love it.
Pricey button, but it has other uses.
Main devices uses usb-c, so a lightning to usb-a cable, would not be appropriate.
What use case do you envision should be higher priority to Apple’s customers than being able to recharge their keyboard, trackpad, and phone from a single Lightning cable left plugged into their desktop computer’s USB port?
So yes, I think that it would "break-even" quite fast.
If you don't know: The new (iMac) keyboard is more round on the corners and so is the trackpad.
Even the venerable Magic Mouse gets a "new" badge when it gets a woven cable.
[0] https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imac-magic-keyboard-fee...
Note that it appears for only Apple Silicon Macs (probably due to the security chip)
https://support.airbuddy.app/articles/how-to-use-magic-hando...
I once bought to their keyboard with numpad only to discover that for some silly reason they rotated the keypress mechanism letters F and J by 90degrees. This, of course, made key rearrangement impossible.
Also, the look on the face of some coworker/familymember/whoever that takes over your keyboard and they type gibberish is worth more then the two weeks of training.
My external keyboards now all have blank keycaps.
Also, I did rearrange keys on MacBook (2009) and MacBook Pro (late 2013) without issues. The problem was with their wired keyboard (MB110).
I place mine rather far to the left. Most right handed people won’t like that setup.
Was fantastic. Apple should MagSafe that jazz.
Mac Models:
MacBook Air (M1, 2020)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)
iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021)
Mac mini (M1, 2020)
Of course Esc must be a separate physical key, but they did it right in the latest revisions.
If not I’ll be specifically choosing an Air over a Pro just to keep my function keys.
It still speaks volumes how out of touch Apple is that it got included on a device that is supposed to be for professionals.
Even tried contacting Apple support.. nobody was able to help me to reset settings and make Esc come back. I think that’s kinda hilarious situation.
Due to laws regarding workplace ergonomic you’re required to have a real keyboard, you cannot use the one on the laptop (this is in Denmark). That means that the Magic Keyboard is a requirement in professional settings. The touchbar therefor is specifically NOT for professional use, it’s not available.
You can quickly see the differences by opening these two images in separate tabs and flipping between the tabs: https://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/4982/as-images.apple... https://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/4982/as-images.apple...
I'm not going to spend time moving to Edge, or Firefox (Chrome is not even an option, see https://chromeisbad.com) if I have to reset passwords across hundreds of websites and those passwords don't automatically sync across all of my devices.
These other browsers also don't integrate well with the system, have a different look/feel, don't behave the same when managed using Moom for resizing because they have their own layout engines, and don't hook into the system dictionary or editing features.
I want a single cohesive whole that works well together.