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Anyone using different keyboard than the magic keyboard?

weaztek said:
Apple extended wired. No. A1243.
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Ah. The first and last good chiclet keyboard (along with it's contemporary wireless, non-numberpad and MacBook variants) ever made! Actually converted me from full-travel to chiclet - certainly better than most of the 'spongey' cheap 'full travel' keyboards.

I managed to blag a couple before they stopped making them but I'm on my last one. Might splash out for a proper 'mechanical' keychron or something when it expires.

I got a 2017 Tragic Keyboard + number pad with a new iMac some years ago, and it really is a travesty of the A1243. Shorter travel, plasticky-feeling keys, larger keys that make it feel more cramped, manages to weigh less than the A1243 even though it contains a battery (Hint to Apple - lighter is not better for something designed to sit on a desk and be pounded). Apart from being horrible to type on (I did give it a good chance before going back to the A1243) after about 6 months total use it was shaped like a banana where the keybed had bowed in the middle and the letters had already worn off some of the keys to the same extent as the A1243 that I'd been bashing for a decade... Total piece of tat, sorry.

Both the Magic Mouse and the Magic Keyboard are non-magical for me, I'm afraid. I do like the Magic Trackpad - but for a few things you really need a mouse for precision so I keep reverting back.

Main problem is being in the UK and Apple insisting on using their weird half-way-house between US and "standard" British layout (still has double-quotes on the 'wrong' key, no dedicated # key, other symbols in odd places) - which limits the choice of third party keyboards a bit because you can't just use a British PC keyboard. I did manage to find a British layout definition file at one stage, but that stopped working with an OS update.
 
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Keychron Q6 Max - best keyboard I've ever used, and one of the few third party keyboards that's Mac-oriented.

It also has a Mac/Windows switch. Perfect for me, since I have a PC as well as a Mac.
 
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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 would never use that POS. No backlighting? Yeah, not for me. Logitech wireless all the way for me. And please do not tell me that Apple cannot afford 25 cents for a few led's!
 
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Keychron Q5 or DasKeyboard MacTigr keyboards. I hate the Apple Magic keyboards & Mice since they give me severe wrist and finger pain. For the mouse I use a Logitech Master 3S, again because it is much more ergonomically designed.

Funnily enough I have no issue with Apple’s MacBook keyboards which seem to work reasonably well, but that may be because they are raised from the work surface by a significant amount.
 
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I've enjoyed the Matias TP4 with my Macs for the past # of years.

The Logitech G314 SE is my favorite for the rest. Only ding I give that is the cable -| keyboard connection shielding is prone to fraying.
 
My wife suggested the Logitech MX Keys, she loves it. Her's is the longer unit with numbers on the right side but she works a lot with numbers. I don't so went the Mini for a more compact space saving desktop.
I had ordered the silver version at first but was shocked at how you couldn't see the illuminated keys. It's a bad color combination if you rely on seeing the symbols.
The black and space gray option is very nice and you can make out the symbols very nicely.
The feel, shape and quietness of the keys are awesome.
 

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Hajj.david said:
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)

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(As a side note how does MACrumors not support HEIC for image upload??)
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This. I get that the keyboard is not the greatest but how can you use any other if they dont habe touch id?
 
iPhoneFan5349 said:
This. I get that the keyboard is not the greatest but how can you use any other if they dont habe touch id?
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There are functional alternatives to Touch ID. Apple Pay on my Mac can be authorized with either my iPhone or Apple Watch, and my Apple Watch unlocks just about anything Touch ID would.
 
jetsam said:
There are functional alternatives to Touch ID. Apple Pay on my Mac can be authorized with either my iPhone or Apple Watch, and my Apple Watch unlocks just about anything Touch ID would.
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My Apple Watch is on the drawer, worst apple device I have ever owned, so pointless. But yeah, there’s no other option then. Either you use a Magic Keyboard or you type your passwords
 
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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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I always liked that keyboard. I used one for several years.
 
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Third party password mgr works well without touch or watch
iPhoneFan5349 said:
How do they work if they don’t have a way to identify you?
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You do enter a master password. Password mgrs can give users a default setting, along with the ability to adjust to individual preferences. The options range from timeout after so long to with every time Safari or Chrome are loaded.

I’ve set to my perceived level of risk and am well satisfied in an option that is useful beyond Apple devices.
 
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iPhoneFan5349 said:
This. I get that the keyboard is not the greatest but how can you use any other if they dont habe touch id?
Click to expand...
Don’t use it and type in my password or use my Apple Watch. Touch ID is a nice feature but not enough of a nice feature to make typing on the Magic Keyboard
acceptable. And the Magic Mouse is an ergonomic nightmare. As an aside Touch ID will not work with my wife’s fingers so she always has to type in her password or use her Apple Watch.
 
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shakopeemn said:
Third party password mgr works well without touch or watch


You do enter a master password. Password mgrs can give users a default setting, along with the ability to adjust to individual preferences. The options range from timeout after so long to with every time Safari or Chrome are loaded.

I’ve set to my perceived level of risk and am well satisfied in an option that is useful beyond Apple devices.
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Mmm but that would be the same as I have right now with the Mac without a Magic Keyboard. I type the master password and then I can see all my passwords and copy and paste them, but I just don’t like to do that
 
whitby said:
Don’t use it and type in my password or use my Apple Watch. Touch ID is a nice feature but not enough of a nice feature to make typing on the Magic Keyboard
acceptable. And the Magic Mouse is an ergonomic nightmare. As an aside Touch ID will not work with my wife’s fingers so she always has to type in her password or use her Apple Watch.
Click to expand...
I guess I’ve never used a good keyboard so I don’t know what I’m missing
 
Logi K380. Its keys might throw you off, but its wireless and also capable of being linked to 2 other devices, like your phone, iPad or Android device.

I like it just fine - battery life (2 x AAA) around about a year with my use.
 
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I really wish Cherry would do one of their TKL Stream keyboards for the Mac. I can't be arsed to remap everything and work out equivalent keys otherwise I would use one for that. I have one on the PC side of the desk.

Absolutely the best thing I've typed on for years. It's like an old ThinkPad keyboard. Very accurate, excellent key spacing, comfortable as anything and so so so cheap (Paid £23 in UK).

1759611179467.png
 
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weaztek said:
Apple extended wired. No. A1243.
Click to expand...

I only retired my A1243, originally bundled with my 2007 iMac, a couple years ago when the desire for backlighting, and wireless connection became a larger priority. It looks well worn, and is missing some glyphs, but completely functional.

IMO, it belongs in the Apple keyboard Hall of Fame with the "Battleship" Extended Keyboards, and made up for the sins of the models with translucent and clear cases, by proving that a tactile-dome membrane keyboard can have good action (subjective as that is), and be durable (something the translucent keyboards lacked); old school traits. And for an Apple product is was priced surprisingly low, at around $30. The Extended keyboards would be around $400 in today's dollars.

As someone who learned to type on a manual typewriter, and used the M0015 and M3501 for many years, it also represented the turning point for the transition to a low-profile membrane keyboard.

The revival of the mechanical keyboard market, and their fervent fans are great to see, but I have doubts that going back might be better than what I've become accustomed to since using the A1243.

But, input peripherals are as personal and YMMV in nature as computers can be.
 
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I had a moment with my Apple Wireless Keyboard today:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple...rd_generation_(A1314)_MC184LL/A_(2_batteries)

It turns out AA batteries vary in length - when I switched out my rechargeable Eneloop batteries, I tried replacing them with Energizer batteries. The keyboard didn't work at all.

I looked online for a quick fix - it turned out people were using little pieces of tin foil to make their keyboards work. Light bulb. When my Eneloops were charged again, I swapped out the Energizers with the Eneloops and I was back in business.

Re: non-Apple keyboards - I prefer the layout of Apple keyboards. I've used Logitech K380 keyboards, the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard, Razer mechanical keyboards, and many more. I have used PC keyboards with Macs, but the layout of Mac-centric keys is better for daily use.

You can learn to type well on most keyboards - everyone has their preferences and I never got used to Apple's new low-travel and butterfly-switch keyboards. Mechanical keyboards are nice (Apple is selling the Corsair K65 Plus in their store), but the vast majority of computer users learned to type on membrane keyboards.
 
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