Images of Apple Wireless Keyboard With Backlight Keys and Power Button Appear in Online Store [Updated]

[crashoverride77]

Well don't look at me, I'm Swedish and we pronounce it alumInium too, albeit with slightly different vowel sounds. That doesn't make it any less amusing to listen to an Englishman dropped into a Californian context.

Also... "feel free to design better products", really? You don't need industrial designer qualifications to have opinions about computer peripherals any more than you need to be an accomplished director before you've earned the right to say that a movie sucks.

Apple's keyboards and the Magic Mouse were not designed with ergonomics in mind, anyone can see and feel that. Just google the countless testimonials. These things aren't Birkenstocks, they're high heeled shoes designed to look good on the red carpet.

Aside from multitouch capabilities on the Magic mouse and trackpad, we've seen little to no innovation from Apple when it comes to input devices; they never seemed to mind being behind the curve in that department. When optical mice took off back in '99, (Microsoft had a huge hit with IntelliMouse), Apple was still on ball mice. When Apple went optical, others were already on laser. Companies like Logitech have taken laser mice further and developed ones that work on transparent surfaces like glass desks. Logitech has also been making rechargeable mice since 2002 and they run circles around Apple when it comes to battery life. They've made mice that run for months on a single AA or two AAA batteries. They have one that runs for up to three YEARS on two AAs. With Apple's stuff you get a couple of weeks at best.

It's not that they can't improve this stuff, it's that they just don't care. They obsess with revising the mobile products and remaining kings of thinness... everything else can wait for years and years. Keyboards, displays, Apple TV. I'm not sure where the bottleneck is, because you think a company that huge would be able to juggle work on multiple fronts, but it seems that whatever products that Ive's team aren't focusing on at the time are left to rot.

Huh
Is there another mice that has that kind of touch functionality and quality? I think the magic mouse is pretty comfy, it's obviously not designed for gaming because OS X itself is not necessarily made for gaming. The keyboard is also awesome and better designed than most other keyboards.
Apples trackpads are the best in the business, the new fource touchpad is sweet and quite radical of a design. The competition is not even close, so how can you say that they don't care if they already make the best and most innovative input devices by far. Ergonomics are subjective so you shouldn't write as if you are stating facts.

 

[B4U]

I prefer using the rechargeable batteries from my Apple battery charger than having to plug it in to charge.

I prefer not to have to own extra sets of batteries just so that when this pair died and needed to charge while I need to use the device.

 

[NewbieCanada]

Backlit wired numeric version please.

I use a Moshi wired, black, backlit numeric keyboard.

 

[Cole Slaw]

Wonder why Apple bluetooth input devices get such terrible battery life (at least in my experience).
Maybe someday when they have enough money they can get someone to look into that.

 

[Anuba]

Wonder why Apple bluetooth input devices get such terrible battery life (at least in my experience).
Maybe someday when they have enough money they can get someone to look into that.

Maybe it's all that metal that the BT has to push through on both the input device end and the computer end. I know there are plastic windows for it but I'm not sure if that's all it takes to bring power consumption down to the same level as devices enclosed in plastic.

I've also noticed that with my 3rd party devices (Logitech etc) it doesn't seem to affect battery life if I leave them on after removing the computer (I have a Retina MBP that I use as a workstation w/ a 30" display, external audio device, mice, keyboards etc in my work room and sometimes I yank the rMBP out of the picture and use it standalone on the couch or whatever, still within BT range).

Logitech BT devices like the Ultrathin mouse just seem to go to sleep, but the Apple devices I have to remember to turn off, or else they keep munching away at the batteries while the rMBP is away, as if they're desperately yelling HELLO? HELLO? HELLO? HELLO? until it returns to the desk.

 

[patseguin]

I wonder what the chances are of Apple designing a backlight keyboard with an integrated touchpad. I have an external keyboard and trackpad that I use for 99% of my work on my MBP. It would be a great living room peripheral too.

 

[Icaras]

I prefer not to have to own extra sets of batteries just so that when this pair died and needed to charge while I need to use the device.

Apple's charger, and I'm sure many others, comes with multiple pairs of batteries. Six pairs in fact for the case of Apple's charger. Two pairs for mouse/trackpad and keyboard combination, and a third pair to use when one of the other pairs run out of juice. Anyway, your devices will never run out of a fresh set of batteries at any given time since all three pairs are simply taking turn charging.

 

[APlotdevice]

I wonder what the chances are of Apple designing a backlight keyboard with an integrated touchpad. I have an external keyboard and trackpad that I use for 99% of my work on my MBP. It would be a great living room peripheral too.

An integrated touchpad is problematic. Putting the pad to the right of the keys would make it inaccessible for lefties. Putting it beneath the keys would make it too bulky for some desks.

Now there are bunch of products designed to "fuse" the Mac keyboard and Trackpad. Like this one for example:

 

[B4U]

Apple's charger, and I'm sure many others, comes with multiple pairs of batteries. Six pairs in fact for the case of Apple's charger. Two pairs for mouse/trackpad and keyboard combination, and a third pair to use when one of the other pairs run out of juice. Anyway, your devices will never run out of a fresh set of batteries at any given time since all three pairs are simply taking turn charging.

Why do you think that taking the battery out, put them on the charger and putting a new pair in the device is a better solution than having a battery that can be plugged in to charge with less time loss due to the battery swapping?

 

[Icaras]

Why do you think that taking the battery out, put them on the charger and putting a new pair in the device is a better solution than having a battery that can be plugged in to charge with less time loss due to the battery swapping?

Less time? It takes me no more than about 10-15 seconds to swap out for a fresh pair. Probably the same amount of time needed to fetch that charging USB cable; 10 seconds of downtime and I'm back in the game for a good two or more weeks. For me that's a better solution than having to keep teathered a cable for an hour or so while I'm working. Rechargeable batteries keeps the devices wireless, which is what they're designed to be. Plugging in a cable, even just to charge momentarily, completely defeats that purpose of it being "wireless".

 

[spinedoc77]

I wish they would get rid of that battery hump, it makes it harder to travel with it. I'd rather have rechargeable anyway. Looks decent, but I always had trouble with those keyboards, they would always disconnect and it was difficult to get them to connect again. Lot better options out there for much cheaper.

 

[B4U]

Less time? It takes me no more than about 10-15 seconds to swap out for a fresh pair. Probably the same amount of time needed to fetch that charging USB cable; 10 seconds of downtime and I'm back in the game for a good two or more weeks. For me that's a better solution than having to keep tethered a cable for an hour or so while I'm working. Rechargeable batteries keeps the devices wireless, which is what they're designed to be. Plugging in a cable, even just to charge momentarily, completely defeats that purpose of it being "wireless".

Some of us have the screwdriver on their desk to take the battery out from the trackpad. Some of us have the cable readily available at any time. 10 second of downtime is optimistic. Did you happen to forget it takes time to turn the device back on AND then let the Bluetooth reconnect?
Guess we all use the devices differently and without knowing what each other is using would be hard to see each others' point.

Basically, what I am saying is the trackpad battery sucks and if they designed it for desktop use, it would be better off wired. And the magic mouse needs to be able to navigate through the whole screen within the boundary of a regular mouse pad. It is not happening with the 27" iMac even with the fastest settings.

 

[shurcooL]

I wonder what the chances are of Apple designing a backlight keyboard with an integrated touchpad. I have an external keyboard and trackpad that I use for 99% of my work on my MBP. It would be a great living room peripheral too.

I would really like that too.

Especially with the new butterfly mechanism keys, individual key backlighting, and Force Trackpad like the new 12" Retina MacBook has:

 

[e93to]

Wireless AND backlit numeric keyboard please!

 

[zoran]

Wireless and WIRED backlit keyboard with & without Numeric Pad please! (im not fond of wireless technology)

 

[APlotdevice]

Wireless and WIRED backlit keyboard with & without Numeric Pad please! (im not fond of wireless technology)

I kinda doubt Apple will product a new wired keyboard.

 

[zoran]

I kinda doubt Apple will product a new wired keyboard.

Apple has to, in some countries if i am not mistaking wifi is not allowed to be distributed for obvious reasons. Personally to be frank,i see no need for wireless keyboards! LONG LIVE WIRED COMMUNICATION!

 

[DCIFRTHS]

I kinda doubt Apple will product a new wired keyboard.

It would be a shame if they didn't. I am not a fan of wireless keyboards, and I would have to move to a new brand of keyboard if they stopped producing them.

On another note: A while ago, I did some searching for the encryption/pairing used in the Apple wireless keyboard, but came up pretty much empty handed. Does anyone know (or have any links) as to how they implement the encryption? IIRC, they use AES, but I'm looking for more than that. Would like to know how the pairing process works - especially since it's done over Bluetooth.

 

[Steve121178]

i see no need for wireless keyboards!

I do & Apple need to release an update to the current version. My Microsoft keyboard on my PC lasts about a year on 2 x AA batteries, yet my wireless keyboard for my iMac lasts about 2 months if I am lucky.

 

[zoran]

I do & Apple need to release an update to the current version.

What is the need you see in wireless keyboards?

 

[APlotdevice]

Apple has to, in some countries if i am not mistaking wifi is not allowed to be distributed for obvious reasons. Personally to be frank,i see no need for wireless keyboards! LONG LIVE WIRED COMMUNICATION!

The wireless keyboard uses bluetooth, not WiFi. And the fact that the newest MacBook only has one port suggests that Apple is ultimately looking to eliminate wired peripherals altogether.

 

[APlotdevice]

I do & Apple need to release an update to the current version. My Microsoft keyboard on my PC lasts about a year on 2 x AA batteries, yet my wireless keyboard for my iMac lasts about 2 months if I am lucky.

Bluetooth 4.0 support should solve the battery life issue.

 

[zoran]

The wireless keyboard uses bluetooth, not WiFi. And the fact that the newest MacBook only has one port suggests that Apple is ultimately looking to eliminate wired peripherals altogether.

Who on earth will use the new Macbook with a wired keyboard, or any keyboard at all!

 

[APlotdevice]

Who on earth will use the new Macbook with a wired keyboard, or any keyboard at all!

MacBooks have a clamshell mode for a reason.

 

[zoran]

MacBooks have a clamshell mode for a reason.

I wasnt aware of this, thanks for letting me know. Still i kinda believe that if one isn't satisfied with the Macbooks screen, why get it in the first place? Maybe Apple wants to create more conveniences but all in the name of selling!