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Anyone using different keyboard than the magic keyboard?

C

chmania

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 2, 2023
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Is anyone using a different keyboard than the Magic Keyboard? The Magic Keyboard is quite expensive and doesn't have backlighting for the keys. I have a full keyboard for Mac with an interesting name, K204, which features three levels of backlighting. I bought it brand new from a surplus seller for the equivalent of $7.50. The Bluetooth connection works well with the M4 Mac Mini. It has a German keyboard layout, but my fingers know where the keys are. I've been using it for nearly a month now, and its battery charge is at 56%.

IMG_1370.jpeg
 
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chmania said:
Is anyone using a different keyboard than the Magic Keyboard? The Magic Keyboard is quite expensive and doesn't have backlighting for the keys. I have a full keyboard for Mac with an interesting name, K204, which features three levels of backlighting. I bought it brand new from a surplus seller for the equivalent of $7.50. The Bluetooth connection works well with the M4 Mac Mini. It has a German keyboard layout, but my fingers know where the keys are. I've been using it for nearly a month now, and its battery charge is at 56%.

View attachment 2561975
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I don't like the magic keyboards for a multitude of reasons, and I require a number pad. At home I have an MX keys and at work I have a rubber-dome Lenovo keyboard because it's quiet.

I would be using my 1985 Model M, but I share my home office with my wife, and she takes a lot of calls and can't deal with the noise.
 
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Yes. I dislike Apple's recent flat, extremely short key travel keyboards. I currectly use Logi MX Keys keyboards on both of my main computers, one is a Mac and the other is a Windows machine.
 
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TechRunner said:
I really liked those Mac keyboards. My first iMac came with the white/clear model (don't recall the model number) and I loved the tactile feel of it.
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Yeah, that's why I use them. They were the first keyboard Apple released after the debacle with the stock PowerMac and iMac keyboards of the early 00s. There have been other Apple keyboards I can appreciate, but none work best for me other than this one. Just the right amount of response and feedback for me.
 
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I really love the magic keyboard, I like how low to the table it is so I dont have to crank my wrists and that it is perfectly level with the magic trackpad. Plus touch id is a God-send. Losing touch id is the biggest reason I dont even bother exploring other keyboards.

As a developer I am constantly using touch id for testing and authentication.

My setup (purple magic keyboard and purple magic trackpad)

IMG_3414 Medium.jpeg


(As a side note how does MACrumors not support HEIC for image upload??)
 
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I'm using the A1048 "Apple Keyboard" which was released with the eMac (with ATI graphics) in 2003 and was sold until 2007 when the A1243 "Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad" (well, Apple with their product names) was released.
Technically the A1048 was quite similar to the M7803 "Apple Pro Keyboard" that @eyoungren mentioned here, but a little bit more modern looking.

Man, it's really nice typing on it 😊 so much so it actually replaced a modern Apple Keyboard!

IMG_2833.jpeg

(Please ignore the ancient Microsoft intellipoint Mouse I'm also still using because I'm too lazy replacing.)
 
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Lloigorr said:
I'm using the A1048 "Apple Keyboard" which was released with the eMac (with ATI graphics) in 2003 and was sold until 2007 when the A1243 "Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad" (well, Apple with their product names) was released.
Technically the A1048 was quite similar to the M7803 "Apple Pro Keyboard" that @eyoungren mentioned here, but a little bit more modern looking.

Man, it's really nice typing on it 😊 so much so it actually replaced a modern Apple Keyboard!

View attachment 2562148
(Please ignore the ancient Microsoft intellipoint Mouse I'm also still using because I'm too lazy replacing.)
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Boss bought a PowerMac G5 in February 2005. It came with your keyboard model, the A1048. I didn't exactly love it, but only because it tends to collect debris and is hard to clean once it does.

This was before I latched on to the model I like. Anyway, at one point I was waiting for this keyboard to die so I could start using the model I like. Had a long wait. Took about 10-12 years of daily pounding for 8+ hours, 5 days a week before a key or two failed. At the end, the CMD key, spacebar and OPTN keys had dents and gouges in them (from my fingers and fingernails). From that perspective, my A1048 became unique and I loved that specific keyboard because of it.

Really good keyboards.
 
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eyoungren said:
Boss bought a PowerMac G5 in February 2005. It came with your keyboard model, the A1048. I didn't exactly love it, but only because it tends to collect debris and is hard to clean once it does.

This was before I latched on to the model I like. Anyway, at one point I was waiting for this keyboard to die so I could start using the model I like. Had a long wait. Took about 10-12 years of daily pounding for 8+ hours, 5 days a week before a key or two failed. At the end, the CMD key, spacebar and OPTN keys had dents and gouges in them (from my fingers and fingernails). From that perspective, my A1048 became unique and I loved that specific keyboard because of it.

Really good keyboards.
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how many coffee drops did that keyboard absorb all those years?
 
MBAir2010 said:
how many coffee drops did that keyboard absorb all those years?
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IDK. ;)

Probably not too many. That keyboard was on a tray that slid out from under the desk, so mostly a splash or drip would have hit either the desk itself or me.
 
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Apple's old school keyboards (before the Magic Keyboard) were excellent, for their time. That said, I really do like the Magic Keyboard -- with a strong preference for the wired version -- and you can still get them for as low as $25 used if you hunt around a bit. Mind, I agree that backlighting is absolutely the missing feature. I've only ever found one halfway decent backlit keyboard which was both made for use with the Mac and not unreasonably expensive... and it seems that model has since been discontinued. (Of course, there are always PC gamer keyboards.)

Hajj.david said:
(As a side note how does MACrumors not support HEIC for image upload??)
Click to expand...
Arguably, this is an internet issue rather than a MacRumors issue. This is after all still a website, and believe-it-or-not, non-Mac users visit the site as well... and for that matter, even Mac users don't exclusively use their Mac or iDevices to view the site. HEIC still isn't a web standard format that every browser can reasonably be expected to decode; thus, to support upload, the server would need to have software installed to convert the image to a web standard format. I imagine that's either more money or more trouble than it's worth.
 
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The Magic Keyboard has really bad ergonomics for the wrist resting position, so I'm using my Lily58 Pro. Sometimes I use my "regular" keyboard which is the Bridge75 or Nuphy 75.
 
weaztek said:
Apple extended wired. No. A1243.
Click to expand...
Any idea what revision you have? I think there were 2 of them A and B IIRC. Not sure of the difference between them.
I still have 2 of them BNIB (shrink wrapped) :)

Currently using a Keychain with my MBP. Going to use the aforementioned keyboard when I get a min, and more space foe the full sized A1243
 
I used to use the Logitech DiNovo Edge Mac Edition (it looks cheap in the picture but it was glorious in real life, what I thought was silver plastic was metal). That is the BEST style of keyboard in my opinion, tightly spaced keys, low profile, a little dip in the keycap, your fingers just went everywhere they needed to be.

But sadly EVERYONE started moving to the chicklet style keys which I absolutely hate. I don't type nearly as well or fast on them so I just use a Magic Keyboard.

LoFree and another company (I forget the name) look like they may offer the kind of keys I like but after buying skiis I'm not in the position to spend $200 on a keyboard.
 
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