New eject delay. Good or bad.

[dogbone]

I accidentally found out that a tiny eject delay has been built into the 10.4.9 keyboard eject. Until I knew about the tweak I just thought my keyboard was cacked.

OK in the olden days before the new delay I admit I did accidentally press the eject key a few times a year. Which won't happen any longer but the payoff is that even after a week I still cannot get used to this new delay and I now have to hit the eject key an extra half dozens time a day.

[psychofreak]

Macbook: Good
iMac: Bad...

[Diatribe]

Macbook: Good
iMac: Bad...

I agree, it's nice on notebooks, not so nice on desktops. It's just a problem of the keyboard layout.

[netdog]

Not really good or bad. I don't use the eject key very much as I ripped my whole CD collection long ago.

[PlaceofDis]

it doesnt bother me a lot, but i haven't totally gotten used to it yet either.

[Scottyk9]

I find it annoying - not for ejecting, but for putting my notebook to sleep (option - command - eject)

[BigPrince]

It should be an OPTION and not a forced.

Im so used to the old way i like it better.

[FleurDuMal]

Does it really matter?? Is anyone's time so important that they can't sacrifice an extra 5 seconds a day to ejecting things from their Macs?

[Zwhaler]

Does it really matter?? Is anyone's time so important that they can't sacrifice an extra 5 seconds a day to ejecting things from their Macs?

I like to use the option+command+eject to put my iMac to sleep. It is nice not having to wait for the computer to go to sleep just to make sure you held the eject button down long enough. I liked it the way it was. I am sure it is nice for Laptops though.

[epochblue]

I can honestly say that I had no idea. It bit a buddy (and recent switcher) of mine, though. He said he thought he'd broken something on the keyboard :D

[Shotgun OS]

Eh, I dont like it. It takes to much time. When I want something to eject, I want it to eject immediately.

[Osarkon]

Well it saves me from accidentally hitting the button whilst typing in lectures (the cd loading noise from my macbook draws looks every time) but I still prefer it how it used to be.

[TheAnswer]

I'm probably the only desktop user that likes it, but that's because in my setup when I pull my graphics tablet forward it would invariably hit that eject button just about every time. I do agree this should be an optional setting, though.

[flopticalcube]

The delay time should be a preference. Then I could spend hours each day changing and experimenting....with the delay time.

[synth3tik]

I would really like to see someone come up with a work around for this, other then using a non-Apple keyboard, which supposedly works. I would love to try myself, but I am not good with code.

[synth3tik]

Well it saves me from accidentally hitting the button whilst typing in lectures (the cd loading noise from my macbook draws looks every time) but I still prefer it how it used to be.


yeah, I can definitely see that.


errr. errr. chuck errrt chunk.

[PlaceofDis]

I would really like to see someone come up with a work around for this, other then using a non-Apple keyboard, which supposedly works. I would love to try myself, but I am not good with code.

still there with my Macally keyboard, its more of a software thing than hardware.

i wouldn't mind a pref for it. i have no need for a delay on a desktop or full sized keyboard, but on my powerbook or any laptop i can definitely see it being useful.

[iSaint]

I guess I don't notice anything new. But, I always thought there was a bit of a delay with any Mac.

[FF_productions]

I was wondering what was wrong with my eject button after a while. I guess it's ok to hold the eject button so you don't accidentally eject a disc.

Not a big deal.

[VanNess]

Well, in fairness to Apple, page 23 of my iMac manual says "Press and hold this key to eject a disc" for the description of the eject key. So maybe Apple just now got around to the hold part.

However, the delay should be for disk ejection only and independent of other key combinations such as putting the computer to sleep (command-option-eject) which should be instantaneous.

[Cult Follower]

I like it, now i can't accidentaly eject a disc, but if i want to it only takes like an extra second or two.

[iMacZealot]

I seriously thought that my keyboard was broken, and I almost bought a new one. When I put a finger on each corner of the key and pressed down, it would work, but I just thought that the key was broken.

I don't see the reason for it because if you accidentally pressed it, it wouldn't eject if the disk was in use.

[dr_lha]

Its not a "new delay". My Powerbook has had this delay since I first bought it with Jaguar installed. The fact is this is a fix for a bug that affected Intel Macs where the eject button activated without the need to hold the eject key down. Personally I found this bug really ********** annoying on my new MBP, as I kept hitting eject when pressing delete causing the damn drive to whirr into life.

The pause is a *fix*, not a new feature, and I'm very glad for it.

[iMacZealot]

Its not a "new delay". My Powerbook has had this delay since I first bought it with Jaguar installed. The fact is this is a fix for a bug that affected Intel Macs where the eject button activated without the need to hold the eject key down. Personally I found this bug really ********** annoying on my new MBP, as I kept hitting eject when pressing delete causing the damn drive to whirr into life.

The pause is a *fix*, not a new feature, and I'm very glad for it.

I don't think it's that because the 12" PowerBooks have always done that whereas every mac, to my knowledge, had an eject key where you could press it without holding it. My iMac G5 wasn't this way before...

[dr_lha]

I don't think it's that because the 12" PowerBooks have always done that whereas every mac, to my knowledge, had an eject key where you could press it without holding it. My iMac G5 wasn't this way before...
All Pre-Intel Mac laptops have the delay, i.e Powerbooks and iBooks, at least the ones I've had experience with (Aluminium Powerbooks and white iBooks).

Perhaps desktops didn't, but I think my PowerMac G5 did.

[Eric5h5]

The fact is this is a fix for a bug that affected Intel Macs where the eject button activated without the need to hold the eject key down.

Not true. My Power Mac G5 has no delay, and in fact I decided not to bother with 10.4.9 because of this. I don't want a delay...serves no purpose for me.

--Eric

[devilot]

All Pre-Intel Mac laptops have the delay, i.e Powerbooks and iBooks, at least the ones I've had experience with (Aluminium Powerbooks and white iBooks).Yup, my PowerBook and iBook both had to hold down the eject key to actually eject.

I like that "delay" feature, but I'm paranoid of 10.4.9. "issues" so I haven't updated my MB. (I don't have a backup. :o)

[mustard]

An ideal implementation would be to have a preference pane (possibly under the keyboard and mouse settings) with a slider similar to when your screen saver turns on, etc.

[iMacZealot]

Hopefully, something like that will come out in Leopard.

[dpaanlka]

I used to hit it a lot actually. I like the delay.

[infz]

The delay is awesome!! It fixed what was an annoying bug in the macbooks. I'd hit that thing every now and then, because it's very close to the Delete key. Thank you Apple for the fix :)

[The Stig]

It think it is good. I don't use the drive that much, and if I do it is to do something and then take it out. If I'm watching a movie I'm not using the keyboard anyway....

I think it is a good idea. I do hit the eject button a lot when there is no cd in there so I could see that being a problem. When I first upgraded I thought it was a problem! I didn't know what was going on (I should really read the release notes). I had to post on here to find out what the hell is wrong with my keyboard and somebody told me it was a new feature.. oh... I see... I said.

Know that I know it, I don't mind it. It take a extra 2 seconds if that.

Good thing for people who need it. Not a big enough to be a bother for those who don't.

The Stig

[Marble]

My TiBook has this delay, thank goodness!

[socokid]

Does it really matter?? Is anyone's time so important that they can't sacrifice an extra 5 seconds a day to ejecting things from their Macs?

Not the point... it's that this "delay" was added. Why?! It's annoying as hell. I could have the machine powering down in under a second (Control-Eject then Enter, the three corners). I would even press the enter key before the Shutdown dialogue would come up, leave it and I would know that it would shut down. Before I upgraded, it was by far the fastest way to shut down a Mac. Not any more... ejecting optical media just got longer too. Thought my keyboard had busted, but then noticed it on all the other machines.

Put it on notebooks, maybe. But dang this was stupid, and it's annoying.

[Xavier]

I HATE it!
I HATE it!
I HATE it!



I liked being able to just touch it and the tray would open. But after using the new delay a few million more times I will get used to it.

Life might go on.

[theman5725]

I didn't even notice. I rarely use my eject key anyway.

[nbs2]

I'll have to agree with either the folks that say the PBs always had the pause or the folks that haven't a change. I haven't seen a change, but I never hit the eject button on the Intel machines, so I don't know how fast/slow it was.

[natemonster]

when i would type * i always pressed eject and it was driving me mad! i wanted apple to fix that and they did. :D

[BengalDuck]

My Powerbook G4 didn't have any delay, and I really like the new "fix." I can't tell you how many times I would accidently eject a disc when I didn't really want to. Like others, it was a problem when I would be in class.

[Mojo67821]

I don't mind it, but I really wish I would have known. I thought the keyboard on my MacbookPro was broken... which as you can understand almost sent me into a homicidal rage. It wasn't until I found this thread that I realized there was nothing wrong.

Would it have said this in the dialog box in my software update? It seems like info that would have been nice to know (assuming I didn't just miss it)

[Makosuke]

As far as I'm concerned, this tiny tweak is the second-best feature in 10.4.9 on my MBP. Since the eject key is so close to delete, I would end up hitting it CONSTANTLY while typing before, which got even more annoying if there was a disc in since it would poke me in the gut when it popped out.

The delay prevents this, doesn't cause ANY hardship for desired ejections (it's, what, 0.5 seconds?), and just plain makes this keyboard better.

[slffl]

I always thought there's been a delay? As long as I can remember I've had to hold down the eject button the my Powerbook for a few seconds. Does this new delay come after this?

[dornoforpyros]

I think it's great! Previously it had gotten to the point with my MBP that I wouldn't even keep CD's in the drive because I was always ejecting them by mistake.

[MacAnkka]

I love it. The eject is way too close to the F12 and backspace keys on the MacBook keyboard. I used to hit it continuously. I still hit it continuously, but it doesn't matter anymore now that it won't make that awful cd ejecting noise anymore.