Thanks for the description. Does the keyboard work as a wired keyboard and in that mode does the Touch ID work? I want to use it with a little KVM and 2nd (Windows) machine... thanks!
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Apple Makes Magic Keyboard With Touch ID Available for Separate Purchase
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The latest update to 1Passsword solves this problem, Touch ID works great from the external keyboard.
I really hoped they'd fix the arrow keys to match the inverted-T on the newer MacBooks. They even went out of their way to list the inverted-T arrow keys as a selling point when the 2020 MacBooks came out. Maybe they couldn't figure out how to make it work with those weird rounded corners.
Not sure I follow... Both M1 MBP and extended keyboard (with & w/o TouchID) have an inverted T?
The non-extended Magic Keyboard does make the left/right arrow keys larger than on the laptops, but otherwise seems the same as the prior (and new non-TouchID) model?
I’ve not tried it with a KVM, but everything is fully functional in both wired and wireless modes. I can’t imagine a KVM would change that.
Which is why I never upgraded to the Magic Keyboard from my Apple Wireless Keyboard. The Apple Wireless Keyboard had the arrow keys in the correct inverted T style.
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Yeah, that's the point here. On the bluetooth compact Magic Keyboards they've made the left and right arrows larger (for lame "symmetry" reasons I guess) and abandoned the more tactile-friendly inverted T layout.
Plugging in the keyboard also initiates bluetooth pairing. So if you want to use the keyboard with a Mac it's not paired with, you have only to plug it in briefly and unplug it again. Immediately a message will come on screen saying it's paired, and you're good to go -- no figuring out how to make it "discoverable," no trips to the Bluetooth control panel, no typing a 6 digit security code. Plug, unplug, done. This is the kind of little thing that makes me like using Apple products.
Or, like you said, don't bother unplugging it and just keep using it wired to charge it up if necessary.
That same procedure works to pair a Magic Mouse, though you can't use it while charging because they had the courage to put the lightning port on the bottom :/
Also useful to switch user accounts if you do that. I have one for work, one for personal -- each registered with a different finger. I push down with the corresponding finger and it switches over.
The first alu keybords had inverted T, they change to this horror at some point, I guess when they added batteries, but not sure.
This is probably the first time I've ever heard a complaint about making keyboard keys bigger...
Each to their own I guess. I've had the old style Apple Wireless Keyboard w/ AA batteries and the newer Magic Keyboard style and can't say I ever noticed a functional difference in using them vs any of the myriad keyboards I've used over the past thirty odd years. *shrug*
Looks like the arrow keys change was in 2015 when they went from the Apple Wireless Keyboard to the Apple Magic Keyboard and they've kept with that design since then.
Per above the change occurred six years ago with the Apple Wireless Keyboard to Apple Magic Keyboard transition.
So it's not something new with the TouchID models being released.
Can't say it's ever been anything I've noticed one way or another, but everyone's different I guess.
Yeah, you're deliberately missing the point here.This is probably the first time I've ever heard a complaint about making keyboard keys bigger...
No. It's not some quirky preference. The inverted T arrangement of arrow keys has been widely used on keyboards for decades because it gives the fingers a way to quickly orient to the arrow keys without looking at them. Just because you've never noticed it doesn't mean others haven't.
In fact the current built-in MacBook Magic Keyboard debuted they specifically called out the inverted T arrangement as a selling point. That made it all the more baffling when they took a crack at redesigning the Bluetooth Magic Keyboard but somehow didn't stay consistent with that design consideration.
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So funny that the inverted T-keys are marketed as a “feature” that should never have been removed.
I can’t wait until someone at Apple wakes up and removes all the “fresh, clean, and modern” interface elements thrown at us with iOS7 (flat, vague, monochromatic, low-contrast interface elements) and reintroduces interface elements that are clear/obvious, intuitive, even pretty (again), and at the ready (moving often-used functions back to on-screen instead of hidden under hamburger icons…or ellipsis icons…or gear icons….), even if they market them as “fresh, clear, obvious, amazing wow so you can fly thru apps as if they’re thinking for you…it just works once again!”
Don't be so arrogant as to presume an intent not stated. If you think someone is "deliberately" missing the point it is far more likely that either you failed communicate your point clearly, and/or you failed to consider that others might simply possess a different opinion/experience.
Again, don't be so arrogant as to assume something neither stated nor implied.
You inserted the word "quirky" on your own.
I wrote about my personal observation/experience having used myriad keyboards over time, and that others likely had different preferences.
Whatever Apple Marketing may have stated at some point in the past the fact is they've retained the mixed-size arrow key layout for years and show no sign of changing. Fortunately you have the traditional setup available in the extended keyboard if you find it so difficult to use the mixed-size layout.
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