The new Magic Keyboard with Touch ID is really nice.

[haruhiko]

In addition to the very nice style having black keys on silver body and having Touch ID, a pleasant surprise is that the whole bottom of the keyboard is made of a very nice soft black plastic material. The tactile feedback of the keyboard is very good, the travel is more than the old standalone Magic Keyboard, and it's more in line with the feeling of the one on the new MBP (the one in the MBP seems to have more resistance which I don't particularly like).



Of course, it comes with a very nice braided USB-C to Lightning cable (black), which Apple is not selling separately.



This keyboard is expensive but I'm very satisfied with it.

 

[Caliber26]

What a shame that they didn't make this backlit. If the third-party folks are able to pull it off successfully there's no reason for Apple to miss the mark like this. That being said, I will probably cave in and get one for my mini. That does look beautiful, plus having TouchID seals the deal for me.

 

[haruhiko]

What a shame that they didn't make this backlit. If the third-party folks are able to pull it off successfully there's no reason for Apple to miss the mark like this. That being said, I will probably cave in and get one for my mini. That does look beautiful, plus having TouchID seals the deal for me.

Yes, not sure why all the standalone Magic Keyboards are not backlit. I'm not sure how big will the backlight impact the battery life but the battery of this thing lasts a month. Anyway I can blind type, but it will be very nice if there is backlight.

 

[RyanC1384]

I'm debating on picking up the new one JUST for Touch ID. I love that on my MacBook and without it on the Studio is frustrating. I have space gray now and will likely get the silver with black keys and black track pad...

 

[CalMin]

Yes, not sure why all the standalone Magic Keyboards are not backlit. I'm not sure how big will the backlight impact the battery life but the battery of this thing lasts a month. Anyway I can blind type, but it will be very nice if there is backlight.

My Logitech Craft was backlit and lasted only 5-10 days without recharging. It was a pain and I thought it was faulty. After turning off the backlight it ran for weeks.

I suspect that's why Apple doesn't backlight these Magic Keyboards - the battery life and user experience would be very poor.

 

[4sallypat]

I'm debating on picking up the new one JUST for Touch ID. I love that on my MacBook and without it on the Studio is frustrating. I have space gray now and will likely get the silver with black keys and black track pad...

Same here, I love my Touch ID on the 24" iMac.

I need the full sized extended numeric keypad on my Studio so I may get the silver / white keyboard to match my Mac Studio casing & Studio Display base.

Plus $20 savings over black key KB...

Yes, would love it if it had backlighting like my MBP...

 

[BotchQue]

Of course, it comes with a very nice braided USB-C to Lightning cable (black), which Apple is not selling separately.

I did a double-take, here. My several-year-old Magic Keyboard (white on white) does use the Lightning connector, but my '21 iPad used USB-C, so I figured all Mac peripherals (save phones, for some reasons) had converted to USB-C connectors. Wow.

 

[DaveOP]

My Logitech Craft was backlit and lasted only 5-10 days without recharging. It was a pain and I thought it was faulty. After turning off the backlight it ran for weeks.

I suspect that's why Apple doesn't backlight these Magic Keyboards - the battery life and user experience would be very poor.

They definitely could if they wanted. My G915 lasts for a month with backlighting on.

 

[bluespark]

I did a double-take, here. My several-year-old Magic Keyboard (white on white) does use the Lightning connector, but my '21 iPad used USB-C, so I figured all Mac peripherals (save phones, for some reasons) had converted to USB-C connectors. Wow.

It's super annoying.

 

[austyn23]

I found the black keyboard really dirty, like a magnet for finger oils. The white is a lot better, I clean it and there are no stains at all (looks like the plastic treatment don’t gets dirty?)

 

[Caliber26]

I did a double-take, here. My several-year-old Magic Keyboard (white on white) does use the Lightning connector, but my '21 iPad used USB-C, so I figured all Mac peripherals (save phones, for some reasons) had converted to USB-C connectors. Wow.

Yep, it doesn't look like they have any intentions of eliminating it anytime soon. The fact that they added a UBC-cable tells us they had the choice to add USB-C to the keyboard and mouse itself but, instead, opted to make it Lightning for some reason. Oddly enough, my Beats Fit Pro has a USB-C port on the charging case but the entire lineup of AirPods all have a Lightning port.

There's probably too much money being made from their proprietary cables to give it up just yet and it wouldn't surprise me if they plan on keeping it on the iPhone for as long as they can milk it.

 

[BotchQue]

Yep, it doesn't look like they have any intentions of eliminating it anytime soon. The fact that they added a UBC-cable tells us they had the choice to add USB-C to the keyboard and mouse itself but, instead, opted to make it Lightning for some reason. Oddly enough, my Beats Fit Pro has a USB-C port on the charging case but the entire lineup of AirPods all have a Lightning port.

There's probably too much money being made from their proprietary cables to give it up just yet and it wouldn't surprise me if they plan on keeping it on the iPhone for as long as they can milk it.

Possibly. There's plenty of USB-C-to-Lightning converter cables, and plugs, available; although they're only slightly cheaper than the OEM versions.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I wish they'd make a TKL version