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zen

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 26, 2003
1,713
472
I'm reorganising my home office, and as a result trying to get rid of as many wires as possible due to the change in desk space. I'm already going to swap my Logitech MX518 mouse for an MX Revolution, but I'm looking for a keyboard.

I love the Apple keyboards, but the bluetooth version is no good as it doesn't have the numeric keypad. I used this heavily for my job.

I was recommended the Logitech diNovo Edge Mac edition, which looks awesome, but again, no numeric keypad.

Anybody got any recommendations for a fast, slimline wireless keyboards (eg, not one of those hulking clacky multimedia keyboards) that has the numeric pad?

Cheers!

Edit: Okay, the diNovo Mac edition (not the Edge model) has the numeric pad. Looks like the best wireless Mac keyboard available?
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,786
5,242
192.168.1.1
I just received the Logitech diNovo Mac Edition keyboard from Amazon. I bought the model with the numeric keypad (not the diNovo Edge). I paid $49 at Amazon, compared with the $99 retail price, by the way.

I like the feel of the keys - nicely contoured. The spacing seems a little wider than the Apple aluminum keyboard and they require a bit more force to fully depress, but still has a very nice, quality-laptop scissor-style feel to it that I like so much. It's quiet to type on as well. While the keyboard has a standard "extended" layout, the frame around the top and sides is very thin, so the keyboard doesn't take up too much room.

414jPxtfseL._SL500_AA280_.jpg


The glossy black and matte silver finish is very sharp. Big thank-you to Logitech for not making this Mac-specific keyboard white. The finish is quite similar to the Logitech Revolution line of mice; I'm using a Revolution VX mouse and together they look like a matched set. Plus, the keyboard looks very nice up against my Dell 3008WFP monitor, which has a black and silver finish as well. Aesthetically, it looks better than the silver and white Apple keyboard did.

The feet on the keyboard are very grippy (at least for now), so there's no unexpected sliding on my desk. Very nice.

The only thing that would have made it better would be for the keys to be backlit. But since this is a wireless keyboard, I suspect this will not be an option for quite some time considering what it would do to the battery life.

The Logitech software for the keyboard allows for customization of the function keys, which for the most part replicate the layout of the Apple aluminum keyboards. I've never had too much trouble with the Logitech software, though I know many have. It comes with the latest version, which seems to work fine on OS X 10.5.8. The only significant shortcoming of either the keyboard or the software is that the Option-Eject key combo doesn't seem work to open the tray on the lower optical drive on my Mac Pro. It just opens the top drive instead as if the option key wasn't pressed (yes, I've tried the other Option key, too, in case one was defective).

The receiver dongle isn't the new "unified" keyboard and mouse receiver that Logitech is using on some of their newer products, but it's a minor negative. Thankfully, my monitor has 4 USB ports, so the hidden bottom two are holding one RF receiver for the mouse and one RF receiver for the keyboard. Additionally, since virtually all Macs made in the last 3-4 years have Bluetooth, this keyboard could have been designed as a BT keyboard, eliminating the need for a separate receiver altogether.

So over all, I'd give this an 8 out of 10. Slight point loss for the lack of Option-Eject and lack of either bluetooth or the new Logitech unified RF receiver technology, but otherwise it's a solid keyboard and well worth the $49 I paid.

Edit: I just checked Amazon as I was going to put a link, but the price has gone up since I ordered mine last week. It's now $78.95, which seems a bit much. If you can find it for $59 or less, I'd say it's worth it. I might think twice before spending $80 on a keyboard that wasn't one of those steel-and-spring old school style keyboards.
 

lipnola

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2010
1
0
no numeric keypad in VMware windows

the diNovo Mac edition (not the Edge model) has the numeric pad.

Yes it does. However I somehow, under windows XP (VMware) set the numeric keypad to the scroll arrow mode. that is, hitting the 4 moves the cursor left, the 2 down, 8 up, etc.
I have searched for manuals and have tried every key combination I could think but cannot get the keypad to generate numbers when running windows XP under VMware. The keypad does generate numbers otherwise (i.e. not in VMware).
 

DeepIn2U

macrumors G5
May 30, 2002
12,824
6,878
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
the diNovo Mac edition (not the Edge model) has the numeric pad.

Yes it does. However I somehow, under windows XP (VMware) set the numeric keypad to the scroll arrow mode. that is, hitting the 4 moves the cursor left, the 2 down, 8 up, etc.
I have searched for manuals and have tried every key combination I could think but cannot get the keypad to generate numbers when running windows XP under VMware. The keypad does generate numbers otherwise (i.e. not in VMware).

um are you pressing the NumLock key? Should be the Clear Button on the Apple keyboard with numerical keys (right above the number 7 key).

Logitech DiNovo ... I have no idea.
 

Blow up tre1

macrumors member
Nov 7, 2009
43
0
Melbourne
logitech dinovo with keypad

Been using this for a while now, a year in fact... Loving every minute of it!!!

Bought one after getting sick of how bad the apple wired one was.
You can tell a huge difference in the amount of travel in the keys and the amount of force required to make them press.

I have been leaving it on all the time and am still using the ORIGINAL batteries!!! They are also saying full in the LCC panel for battery life...
Not sure how making it bt would affect battery life and connectivity/drop outs. I've had no problems with either-unlike people have had with the apple bt ones.

The only problems with LCC is that you can't assign macros longer than one modifier and one keystroke to a fn key and that it will over-ride usboverdrive and steermouse.

Overall it's a brilliant keyboard that looks GREAT!!! It is also wonderful to type on and I would buy another if this one broke rather than use my apple wired one...
It does also get a few fingerprints on the black plastic around the arrow keys, but it isn't that noticeable, in fact my apple one was worse...
 
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