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are we gonna see a aluminum keyboard/mouse realease at MWSF?

T

thevessels

macrumors regular
Original poster
i was gonna buy a bluetooth mouse - then i thought - hmmm what if they finally release an alumunum keyboard mouse series ....
anyone heard anything more on this or think the same?
 
thevessels said:
i was gonna buy a bluetooth mouse - then i thought - hmmm what if they finally release an alumunum keyboard mouse series ....
anyone heard anything more on this or think the same?
Click to expand...

Apple has usually shipped one type of keyboard. Since more Macs are white, I think they will keep them white for a little longer. Until more macs are grey, they might break the mold and ship two colors then.
 
The keyboard and mouse are due for revision. They just filed a patent for a scroll mouse so thats something we could se at MWSF. I would really like to see a backlit keyboard from Apple.
 
varmit said:
Apple has usually shipped one type of keyboard. Since more Macs are white, I think they will keep them white for a little longer. Until more macs are grey, they might break the mold and ship two colors then.
Click to expand...
Yes, then the keyboard wouldn't go with the iMac and eMac...

That, and Apple listened to the retailers from the days when they sold a variety of peripherals and instituted the MAP (minimum advertised prices) and the retailers profits dropped.

The retailers make more money by selling people non-Apple keyboard, mice, cables, etc. than they do selling the Apple-branded stuff.
 
The keyboard and mouse are due for revision.
Click to expand...

How do you figure? Apple really only updates their keyboards and mice when they release a new computer. The current Pro mouse that ships with all of their computers now was introduced in 2001, I think. Before that we had the puck mouse no one liked except me. There is no "schedule" to these updates. I don't really expect a new keyboard until the G6 maybe.
 
Maybe a new keyboard with less button depth than the current. The current just feel as if the buttons are going to pop off while typing, a thinner keyboard would be nice and maybe a backlit too. Colour maybe a clear button keyboard would be neutral to both the white and Al lines.

As for a mouse same thing make it clear with the new scroll touch-pad and maybe another button (though I have no problems with one button). 🙂
 
m a y a said:
Maybe a new keyboard with less button depth than the current. The current just feel as if the buttons are going to pop off while typing, a thinner keyboard would be nice and maybe a backlit too. Colour maybe a clear button keyboard would be neutral to both the white and Al lines.

As for a mouse same thing make it clear with the new scroll touch-pad and maybe another button (though I have no problems with one button). 🙂
Click to expand...

i don't like the scroll "wheels" i wish more mice would use a toggle... lesss strain on your wrist... little "nub" that would rock in 4 directions.. scrolling horizontal and veritical (since horizontal seems to be a new thing with newer mice now)
 
m a y a said:
Maybe a new keyboard with less button depth than the current. The current just feel as if the buttons are going to pop off while typing, a thinner keyboard would be nice and maybe a backlit too.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's the main reason that's kept me from buying one of their keyboards. I have a powerbook and thought I should get an external keyboard considering the amount of time I spend using it, but haven't found the right one yet. I was just going to give in and buy the BT one from Apple, but I think I'll wait until after macworld, just in case 😉 😀
 
I think Apple went for big hardware in 2004 and so 2005 could be the year of the peripheries, iTunes and Mac accessories. Metallic low key BT keyboard would be excellent, especially if it incorporated new stuff like an iPod wheel for use with programs...
 
jamdr said:
How do you figure? Apple really only updates their keyboards and mice when they release a new computer. The current Pro mouse that ships with all of their computers now was introduced in 2001, I think. Before that we had the puck mouse no one liked except me. There is no "schedule" to these updates. I don't really expect a new keyboard until the G6 maybe.
Click to expand...

The current Apple Mouse looks like the Apple Pro Mouse that was introduced in 2001, but it's not the same.

There are about three design differences between the two:
1. The Apple Pro Mouse (APM) had a click-tension adjustment. The Apple Mouse (AM) doesn't.
2. The APM's handles on both sides (which you use when holding a click while lifting the mouse off the table) were clear. The AM's click handles are opaque white.
3. The AM's USB wire (where it enters the mouse) has a white ring around it, and the APM doesn't.

The white APM (and Apple Pro Keyboard) was introduced in 2002 with the iMac G4. The white AM (and current Apple Keyboard) came in 2003 with the Airport Extreme-capable eMac, and subsequently with Power Mac G5s and iMac G4s.

I'm not sure which Power Mac G4s were the first to go from the graphite (translucent black) APM / APK to white. Those had two versions - the first with clear wire insulation and the big gray Apple logo on the bottom of the keyboard, and the second with white wires and a small Apple logo on the bottom of the keyboard.

thevessels said:
i was gonna buy a bluetooth mouse - then i thought - hmmm what if they finally release an alumunum keyboard mouse series ....
anyone heard anything more on this or think the same?
Click to expand...

Plastic pretending to be aluminum strikes me as a bad idea. Real aluminum would be nice for a little while, until it starts pitting and getting really ugly. Yes, current PowerBooks have aluminum-colored plastic keys, and those keyboards feel nice. However, once oils collect on those keyboards it gets far from pretty, and when comparing two uglies I prefer the ugly of plastic not pretending to be metal.

Maybe there's another metal that would coordinate with aluminum and not have its pitting problems. However, that material would very likely have other disadvantages, such as feeling cold on your fingers, increased weight and static electricity conduction or capacitance.
 
why does everybody wants AL-style key&mouse... in my opinion it will not look nice, it looks nice on the powerbooks, since its integrated...

I like the white ones, but I preferred the 'old' Pro Keyboard, it looked nicer than the one I have now... but thats taste...

I don't use the Mac Pro mouse anymore, since it wasn't working properly & I need rightclick a lot ans like scroll for zoom in Photoshop for instance, so I added my old Logitech optical mouse (1st gen.)
 
I have a dual 1.8 G5 and I don't like the new White Keyboard it comes with. It gets dirty really fast and the design traps dirt under the keys very easy.

If Apple were smart, they would release a multi-button mouse with scroll wheel. Most of my PC friends think the single button mouse is all a mac could handle and that it's a joke.
 
I'm fine with what they have now...I'm so used to the single-click mouse I don't even like using the other mice anymore...

Guess I am stubborn.

But no, there will not be any keyboard/mice "revisions."
 
agentmouthwash said:
I have a dual 1.8 G5 and I don't like the new White Keyboard it comes with. It gets dirty really fast and the design traps dirt under the keys very easy.
Click to expand...

The design actually makes it easier to clean than the Apple Pro Keyboard. The APK had a nasty tendency to trap debris on the bottomside, where you would have to completely disassemble the keyboard in order to clean everything thoroughly. That requires removing about 40 tiny screws. I've done that a couple of times and it's a lot of effort.

The new Apple Keyboard is much less likely to permit debris to enter the underside of the keyboard. It's much easier to remove a few keys to get to the debris immediately under the keys than to undo 40 or so tiny screws to get the junk inside the bottom of the keyboard.
 
It would be nice to see a revision. Hopefully not a real change in the design of the keyboard layout itself. I want to have an iSkin for my next new keyboard. The company just recently released a cover for the current model.
 
Best keyboard Apple ever made was the 'Apple Adjustable Keyboard' which hinged in the middle and let you have the keypad on either side. I used one with my old G3 until the main keyboard gave up.

With my G5 I use the Microsoft( Sorry, but it is actually good and works even better when you scratch the word 'microsoft' off it) cordless desktop pro which as a split but not adjustable keyboard which makes a big difference to RSI if you type a lot, and has a cordless scrollwheel mouse. The key pad is, like all other keyboards, on the right.

The other day I plugged in the Griffin iMate ADB to USB adapter which I bought in a vain attempy to run a USB Wacom on OSX, and then plugged the keypad from the old ADB Apple adjustable keyboard and it WORKS - no drivers for the iMate or keyboard, no fiddling around at all. Imagine trying to do that sort of thing on a PC.

Now I have a left handed keypad plus a block of function and other keys.

Brilliant.

Scrollwheels are like dishwashers - nah don't need one until you get one when they become the best thing since sliced bread.
 
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