New iMac Keyboard Revealed?

[vandlism]

so why put it on the other side of the keyboard? Why not just leave it on the F12 or whatever key?

On the laptop keyboards, where they began this icon/action association, they began at the left and moved to the right. I don't believe it matters entirely where. They couldn't jumble the media controls in with brightness, but now that there are 7 media keys they couldn't leave them on the right above the numeric either as there wasn't enough room. Now all controls are next to each other, playing controls, sound, and eject - perfect for DVD player.

That actual consistency is leaving it in the upper right of the keyboard.

For what it's worth, the key is still in the upper right hand corner of the main keyboard, not off in the extended keyboard world. It also lends itself better to media controls than being off on its own at the end of a long line of F-keys.

 

[morespce54]

It's probably been said already but look at the keys... the symbols (letters, etc.) are centered. I never had a mac keyboard where the symbols were centered. They're usually a bit off-centered, printed on the left side of the keys...

my 2¢

 

[gijs]

laugh. i saw. Eidorian was nice enough to post the images on the forum.

did you notice the desktop background? it's that supposed touchscreen iPod fake from ages ago. This is truely a lame fake.

I'am soo sorry but this foto's are from www.planet.nl than search for computer and than the mac news off 13 july

 

[madmaxmedia]

Why would anybody want Num lock on Win or Mac off???

Maybe it's a vestigial key left over from when keyboards didn't have an inverted arrow key set? So people actually used the numeric keyboard for arrow keys? That's the only thing I can think of.

 

[mustang_dvs]

The Apple logo hasn't confused any one... the key is called the Apple Key right? Maybe that's why there is an Apple on it for the new users. It used to not be there, then they started calling it the Apple key, so I guess they put an Apple on it. Why change what has been there for years. That's would be very Vista-ish.

I don't know why Apple put the Apple logo there, maybe to have it somewhere on the keyboard or something, but it's there so why change it. This is one point that I don't care too much about. I am really just concerned with the main keys that were fine where they were such as the volume and eject keys. And the addition of new useless keys like the function button. But I have to say that this is just a fake... Having 8 useless buttons and all of the other ones bunched up on the other side makes no sense.

The original Macintosh keyboards (which used the RJ-11 connector) did not have an "Open Apple" on the Command key. Steve Jobs specifically insisted that the Command key and its Saint Hannes Cross take the place of the Open Apple key found on the Apple II's.

The addition of the Apple to the Macintosh Command Key was due to the fact that the ADB architecture was also used by the Apple IIgs, whose operating system used the [Open Apple] in place of the Command key. The [Closed Apple] was significantly less common, so it was decided that the Option key didn't need its Apple II equivalent on the cap. Thus, in order to simplify manufacture (why make two keyboards solely because of one different icon for the same key), the ADB Keyboard was produced with a Open Apple/Saint Hannes Cross.

Wasn't iBook keyboard identical to the PowerBook/MBP except that the keys were plastic instead of aluminum (were those keys aluminum, I was never entirely sure) ?

The original iBook keys were white, translucent plastic versions of the Powerbook Titanium keys, which were translucent gray plastic.

The current Apple keyboard has 2 delete keys : One below the help key and one next to the += key.

Mac keyboards have two keys labeled "delete," but only one is a [Delete] key. The other, on the main section of the keyboard, is actually a [Backspace].

 

[33scottie33]

..kinda like it would be totally dumb to have a brushed metal Mac Pro and have a clear keyboard housing with white keys. Apple would never do that!

Yeh, but normally the Mac Pro is on the floor or something. It's a style thing.

Besides the clear housing looks 10 times better than a brushed metal one with white keys!

 

[leekohler]

I hope this is true. I like that keyboard.

 

[Fukui]

Why is it bronze colored?? Or is that just the lighting?
Otherwise, potentially a sweet k/b... no where is the low-profile mouse?

 

[ventro]

Why are the USB ports on the side? How would you plug a mouse in without the wires getting in the way?

 

[vandlism]

... the symbols (letters, etc.) are centered. I never had a mac keyboard where the symbols were centered. They're usually a bit off-centered¢

Same as the current MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards, big centered letters.

 

[kd_rome]

What seems weird to me other than the new position of the eject key is the Brightness keys, maybe they are useful on a laptop but on an iMac?
And also I don't see why the Apple logo is missing on the command key...

 

[SpudNYC]

3. Cmd key without the Apple logo? wtf? -

The Apple (open apple) key has been a long time going... it's just a command key and has been for a long time.

 

[ChrisME]

It's been there for a good while... It will never change back. This is the 21st century and there is no reason for Apple to change things that work. Leave the Apple logo there, right where it is. Moving it would be like Microsoft.

The Happy Mac was there for a long time too, and that didn't stop them from ditching it.

I don't know why Apple put the Apple logo there, maybe to have it somewhere on the keyboard or something, but it's there so why change it.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key:

Early Apple computers, like the Apple IIc, had two such keys which mapped to the two different fire buttons of an attached joystick. Because it was an Apple II, the one on the left had an outlined "open" Apple logo, and the one on the right had an opaque "solid" Apple logo. The Apple Lisa had only the solid Apple logo. When the Macintosh was introduced in 1984, the keyboard had a single command key with a symbol reminiscent of a four leaf clover (⌘, U+2318), because Steve Jobs said that showing the Apple logo throughout the menus as a keyboard shortcut was "taking [it] in vain."

Thus, the ⌘ appears in the Macintosh menus as the primary modifier key symbol.

In 1986, the Apple IIGS was introduced. Like the newer Macintosh computers to come, such as the Macintosh SE, it used Apple Desktop Bus for its keyboard and mouse. However, it was still an Apple II. Apple changed the keys on the IIGS's keyboard to Command and Option, as on Mac keyboards, but added an open-Apple to the Command key, for consistency with applications for previous Apple II generations. (The Option key did not have a solid-Apple, probably because Apple II applications used the solid-Apple key much more rarely than the open-Apple key; thus there was less need to keep it around.) Because any ADB keyboard could be used with the IIGS, all of Apple's ADB keyboards—even those intended for the Mac—also required the open-Apple. As of 2007, Apple's Command key still uses this two-symbol design.

The first Mac keyboards didn't have the open-Apple logo at all:

It was only added later for backward compatibility. It never served any purpose on the Mac at all, except to confuse things - instead of having room to add a label, you had two different symbols, neither of which bore any relationship to the name of the key! I've had to help clueless family members with their Macs over the phone enough times to know first hand what a pain in the butt this little interface weirdness has always been.

 

[cleanup]

Looks Photoshopped to me.

Are you serious?

This thing is physically real, and I'm about 90% sure it came from Apple. It may not ever see the light of day, perhaps it's just a prototype and far from the production model, but it is in fact real. What kind of person would go to the trouble of fabricating something like this? And for those of you who say he just took the keys from a white Macbook, who on earth would disassemble a white MacBook to make a fake keyboard of all things? And what about all the keys that are on the keyboard that are not found on the MacBook? The command keys, the arrow keys, the forward delete key, the numpad. It is all physically real, and looking at the photo of the bottom of the keyboard, it is from Apple's development team. Never mind the weird colorization you supposedly see. If you look closely, you'll see it's actually the shadow of a guy holding a digital camera, taking the photo with lightning coming from above somewhere. And when was the last time you saw someone create something this realistic from multiple angles with PHOTOSHOP? I must say you've got to be a very advanced 3D artist to make something like this, and even then... who would go to the trouble? It's a keyboard, for God's sake.

You might never be able to buy it, but it is REAL!

End rant.

 

[killmoms]

This is the prettiest keyboard Apple has ever built. Simple, minimalist, beautiful. As soon as there's a Bluetooth version I will buy it.

I can only conclude those of you who don't like it also don't have eyes.

 

[vandlism]

The addition of the Apple to the Macintosh Command Key was due to the fact that the ADB architecture was also used by the Apple IIgs, whose operating system used the [Open Apple] in place of the Command key.

Awesome bit of info and further points out why the Apple logo isn't necessary anymore on the keyboard. Not to mention, Apple was none too keen on licensing the logo to third parties for use on their keyboards.

 

[zv470]

If these photos are genuine... I wonder how difficult it would be to re-arrange the keys and then re-map them in OSX? (Probably very easily.)

I'd move the EJECT key and the Volume UP/DOWN + MUTE.

Damn... I just noticed that the F-key number is on those keys in the bottom right corner... so much for moving the keys. The only key I could move is the EJECT key.

 

[vandlism]

What seems weird to me other than the new position of the eject key is the Brightness keys, maybe they are useful on a laptop but on an iMac?

If the new iMac does indeed ship with a Blu-Ray optical drive, it could set itself up nicely as a 24 inch high definition movie player. Apple may simply be giving a bit more control to users to adjust screen brightness for the purposes of watching a movie in the dark.

 

[Mac4Brains]

Remember the mistake with the mice

Well Apple does it again. Remember the fiasco with the mouse? Apple made a mouse that was so cool it was used in many photos and art. I still have a pic of a cat holding a Macintosh Mouse in its mouth. Then when apple went to USB they made this ugly hockey-puck looking thing that most Apple users hated. This resulted in a large aftermarket of mice that were made to replace the Mac Puck and all the mice that followed.

I am a Mac Tech and Consultant, I tell every new Mac owner “especially former PC users” to get a third party mouse when they get their new Mac.

Now it seams that the same is going to happen to the keyboard. By Christmas the market is going to be flooded with third party keyboards.

It would be nice “considering the prices of Apple stand alone mice and keyboards” if they stopped including them with all computers and cut the computers price down by $100. This way I can spend less money on a Keyboard and mouse that I like better.

 

[stuff99]

it doesnt look too comfortable to type on

 

[bjoggi]

It would be nice “considering the prices of Apple stand alone mice and keyboards” if they stopped including them with all computers and cut the computers price down by $100. This way I can spend less money on a Keyboard and mouse that I like better.

That would be real stupid. I work as a salesman at Apple, and damn, it would be horrible to sell computers without keyboard and mouse. AND THEN tell the people that they'd have to pay $100 extra for the keyboard and mouse.

Most customers would be angry about that and furthermore, explaining WHY would be horrible.

It's good to include keyboard and mouse, and the best part is that Apple uses USB so you have a choice if you want to use something else.

IF Apple would consider your idea, then MAYBE it would be a good idea to have a discount for people who don't want the keyboard and mouse, say $90 off the price.

 

[tristan]

Can you imagine the computer that would "match" this keyboard? Some glass and metal monstrosity. This has to be a fake, or else Apple is two weeks away from releasing something something uglier than Fred Thompson's jowls.

 

[metallicaisgood]

The keyboard is visually nice looking. But the ergonomics are horrible, if I were to buy an iMac with that keyboard. I would probably buy a more ergonomic keyboard from logitech.

 

[sam10685]

It's a hoax.

 

[gloss]

The keyboard is visually nice looking. But the ergonomics are horrible

As the user of an equally flat, slim, and slightly angled thin keyboard: No, the ergonomics are not horrible.