Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Is there a new keyboard coming with lion features ?
- Thread starter opelman59
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Why would there need to be new keys or buttons? Nothing in Lion requires anything but a standard keyboard.
Well there might be a case for a new keyboard incorporating a trackpad
Not saying it is a good idea.
But there is an awful lot of pinching and zooming and swiping going on
That's what this is for.Well there might be a case for a new keyboard incorporating a trackpad…
Not saying it is a good idea.
It's more likely they'd reuse the key for Exposé or Dashboard.
I'd love to see a new keyboard!
I have an Apple Wireless keyboard and I love it, but it's lacking a backlight...
I have an Apple Wireless keyboard and I love it, but it's lacking a backlight...
That's been discussed in dozens of threads. There's no backlight due to battery life considerations, so you're not likely to see that anytime soon.
Wireless Bluetooth keyboard with numeric keypad and backlighting would be awesome. Maybe even an extra battery with then increased width.
WHY ??
I believe if Apple were going to they would have made a backlit full keyboard by now. I hope I'm wrong.
WHY ??
Perhaps I can shed a tiny bit of light on this...It is kind of technical so bear with me. The design of the apple keyboard (as far as general shape) is not one they are likely to give up. It is sexy, sleek, and actually functional. The batteries go in one after the other in series. Here's where it gets technical.
When batteries are in series, each extra battery increases the voltage, but the number of mAh stays the same. The number of mAh is a rough estimation of how long the batteries will last on a charge. When batteries are in parallel, the voltage stays the same, but the mAh increases. Now, knowing the keyboard needs 2 batteries in series to have a high enough voltage, the only way to increase the battery life enough to support backlighting decently would be to use 4 batteries(2 series sets in parallel).
There is not space to implement that and make it look good, without switching to a different battery type altogether. They could, for instance, use 2x 14500 batteries(which are 3.7v apiece) in parallel, but those batteries aren't as simple for an end user to get as are standard AA's.
A simple high efficiency DC-DC circuit can drop the voltage down to the 3V. Or the board can in general be redesigned. I would like to see the plug in keyboard equipped with a back-light. I wouldn't mind seeing the old style MBP (2008) style buttons on a keyboard. It wouldn't be that hard for Apple to build the back-light into the board like they do on the new MBP's.
A simple software patch would be able to re-patch the F5 and F6 buttons to register as brightness controls.
As for the batteries, Logitech and others have adopted lithium in their rechargable wireless devices, Apple's a little slow on the draw, they could use the same 18650 lithium ion cells they use in their laptop packs in a rechargable wireless keyboard, that could incorporate a backlight, why not a small solar charger while we're at it.
Can you use your old keyboard to do the new function keys? Also do you know if the new keyboard works as well with Windows PCs?
The old keyboards still have the dashboard button, which still brings up dashboard. I don't see any way to bring up Launchpad using the old keyboards. It's not a big deal at all, just a note. Launchpad kinda sucks anyway.
Ya now that I think about it I would probably use launchpad when using my MBA away from my desk (since the screen is smaller and it's a quick way to launch apps) but at my desk on a 25" monitor I'd be more apt to use Applications folder or the dock. Plus dashboard is pretty useful so having it to a button is always a plus.