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Apple Makes Magic Keyboard With Touch ID Available for Separate Purchase

deeddawg said:
You mention nuance yet completely missed mine - citing what prices used to be is meaningless in an inflationary world and gives the image of someone more likely to yell at kids to get off his lawn than the image of someone who understands product evolution and pricing.

Facts:

Yes, you are correct. Product pricing for well differentiated / non-commodity goods is far more a function of consumer willingness to pay than it is a function of cost. Apple is pricing these additional models with an eye to upcharging for the added functionality. Which is another reason your comment of remembering when Apple sold wireless keyboards for $69 is specious at best.

I think many of the commenters here haven't stopped to think that they don't have to buy the TouchID versions of the keyboards if doing so wouldn't be a benefit to them.
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People love to complain about pricing.
 
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IMO, keep your keyboard and put the $179 (at time of this comment) toward an Apple Watch.

Apple Watch is integrated with macOS such that it can be used to automatically unlock your computer and verify Apple Pay transactions, so why would one need touch ID at that point? And Apple Watch has so many other highly desirable functions, whereas Touch ID is just one.
 
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henrikhelmers said:
The feel is questionable, in my opinion slightly worse. It also has trouble with unlocking FileVault drives (and recommends disabling it?). The software is buggy and still not running natively on Apple Silicon. Their unifying receiver is still not available with USB-C.

I am not saying the Apple keyboard is magnificent, but “the next best thing” is pretty crummy.
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I've read that many times on Reddit. Only on MR are people going to say only positive things and hide negatives about the Logitech Keyboard when the subject is about Apple's keyboard.
 
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sillycyber said:
IMO, keep your keyboard and put the $179 (at time of this comment) toward an Apple Watch.

Apple Watch is integrated with macOS such that it can be used to automatically unlock your computer and verify Apple Pay transactions, so why would one need touch ID at that point? And Apple Watch has so many other highly desirable functions, whereas Touch ID is just one.
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Nah. Use the $179 to buy a Playdate. The crank is worth it.
 
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Chung123 said:
I had to look up the price of the original Apple Extended Keyboard ADB from the 90's.... $163.

en.wikipedia.org

Apple Extended Keyboard - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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That is arguably one of the best keyboards ever made and, if it were made today, would be worth every penny at a significantly higher MSRP. I have a friend who still uses one with an old ADB adapter and I haven’t found a modern mechanical keyboard that feels half as good.
 
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I really hope they don't say we need the new 2021 models for Universal Control. Maybe the bluetooth is newer besides the cosmetic changes. Seems weird they have kept delaying the release in the beta and now they release these.
And Apple better not come out in a year and say our Space Grey or previous generations Keyboards and Trackpads won't work on M1 machines anymore. I love my Space Grey ones and want them to release new space grey ones again. Some of us have Space Grey and black accessories on our desk. The white totally messes with the design.
 
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0092762 said:
If only it worked more than 50% of the time on my 2018 mini, which is better than a M1 mini for me since I can drive 3 4k monitors with it.
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2020 Mac Mini M1 drives a Apple Pro Display XDR 6K monitor perfectly over one of the M1's two built-in Thunderbolt 3 ports, and the built-in HDMI port drives a 4K monitor simultaneously. That's a lot of screen real estate across two monitors, probably comparable to (3) 4K monitors in a smaller footprint, although not cheap.
 
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cmaier said:
No, this has nothing to do with universal control. It even works with non-apple keyboards.
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I just looked at Apple's site, they don't actually say anything about which Keyboards or Trackpads will work. It just has what Mac & iPad models. And when they showed it off, it was an iMac 24, M1 MacBook Pro & iPad Pro. And the fact they have yet to release it in the beta after 4 betas. Maybe they couldn't get it working with the older devices? I doubt they would allow it to work with non-Apple devices tho.
 
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vbctv said:
I just looked at Apple's site, they don't actually say anything about which Keyboards or Trackpads will work. It just has what Mac & iPad models. And when they showed it off, it was an iMac 24, M1 MacBook Pro & iPad Pro. And the fact they have yet to release it in the beta after 4 betas. Maybe they couldn't get it working with the older devices? I doubt they would allow it to work with non-Apple devices tho.
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It will definitely work with non-apple devices. Nothing about universal control has anything to do with functionality or features of the input devices.
 
No color and backlit a downer.
happy to have the space gray Magic Trackpad. A novelty lol
 
If this has backlighting (which the standalone magic keyboard never had unfortunately if I’m not mistaken) I would easily get it.
 
srbNYC said:
Yes, it's expensive. Yes, Apple stuff always is. And, yes, it's always a choice to buy them. And the company is doing great, which is its job.

Fortune 500: Apple is now the most profitable company in the world

The Global 500 shrank a little over the past year due to the response to COVID-19. Apple is now the most profitable company in the world…
macdailynews.com macdailynews.com
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... and the people who don't want/need TouchID on their keyboard can just buy the lower-priced non-TouchID versions at the same price they've been at for a while now...

1628007360238.png
 
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I totally understand M1 and Macs with no ASi of any kind. But I was hoping the T2 (and T1) would end up with support for it. I’ve got the 16” MBP, 27” LG UltraFine, and use mostly in clamshell mode at my desk with Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad.

I was really hoping they wouldn’t leave 16”
MBP users (and all T1 and T2 users) out, since we have the best they can offer at the moment, which isn’t ASi currently.

I do understand the clean line in the sand though. ASi support only. I was just hoping to be the only gray area that ended up benefitting.
 
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deeddawg said:
... and the people who don't want/need TouchID on their keyboard can just buy the lower-priced non-TouchID versions at the same price they've been at for a while now...

View attachment 1814198
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The $129 version of the numeric keyboard makes zero sense now since it doesn't even share the same design. It just looks weird looking at next to the new ones. Don't understand why they didn't discontinue that one.
 
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