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What's everyone's opinions on the Magic Keyboard?

TSE

TSE

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
4,092
3,740
St. Paul, Minnesota
I personally think the Magic Keyboard is a very underrated product by Apple. Perhaps should be better priced at $79, but I really like that it has a lightning connector, bluetooth, and an integrated battery.

For someone like me who constantly is doing other things at his desk like sketching, making models, etc. for my designs, having a small footprint I can push aside is a great feature. The typing experience on it is also brilliant; it's the perfect combination of Apple's butterfly mechanism and Apple's last generation keyboards.
 
Yep, lovely keyboard in my opinion. Not too angled as well which is perfect. I found the old one with the battery tube at the back gave me issues with my wrist.
 
I like it - I switched from the older version, the only thing I wish we had the option for was a version with a number pad, I still keep an old wired one around for data entry.
 
Tip from experience...if you have your wireless router on your desk close to where your magic keyboard will be you may experience issues with it. Other than that it's great!
 
I have both the old wireless keyboard and the magic keyboard (came with the computer), and I think they're ok, but I never use them anyway since I have a wired keyboard with numpad. When not taking the numpad into account, I quite like the magic keyboard.
 
It takes a little while to get used to, with a slightly lower tilt angle and shallower depth keys. I've found now that I have been using it I much prefer it to the old keyboard, and even to my 2015 MacBook Pro keyboard.
 
pilotkid said:
Tip from experience...if you have your wireless router on your desk close to where your magic keyboard will be you may experience issues with it. Other than that it's great!
Click to expand...

I guess you can keep it in USB mode with the cable plugged in.

Wired keyboard with number pad is still god tier apple keyboard though
 
I rather like it to be honest, I've still got my old AA battery powered one as well, though I've no use for it now.

I like the feel of the keys, I know some people don't like that there's less travel, but I find it very responsive and very accurate. It did take a couple of hours to adjust but I find it comfortable now.

I've not experienced any problems from my WiFi router despite it being less than 3 feet away and being a particularly powerful router so I can't comment on any of those issues.

I suppose the best thing I could say about it now is, I don't notice it, it's just there and it works. I don't think about the travel, or the responsiveness or anything else anymore day-to-day I just use it.
 
Actually I have a time capsule connected through ethernet right next to my desk. It runs as a backup time machine only, wireless is turned off.

But every two days I try to wake my mac and will see a whole bunch of characters typed in and its unresponsive. I have to take the batteries out and restart it. Its getting annoying, I wonder if its the keyboard or some kind of interference?
 
Clearly I am in the minority after reading this thread, but I can't stand it. I also can't stand the new magic mouse. I recently upgraded my old MBP to a new MBPtb at work and pick up both the magic keyboard and mouse. I replaced the magic mouse with a Logitech mouse and instantly was much more comfortable with it. The magic keyboard will be replaced shortly as well. For whatever reason, it just doesn't feel good. It's too cramped and I really don't like keyboard layout. The small footprint and charging were nice, but in the end if I am irritated every time I type on it, it's time for a replacement.
 
TrueBlou said:
I suppose the best thing I could say about it now is, I don't notice it, it's just there and it works. I don't think about the travel, or the responsiveness or anything else anymore day-to-day I just use it.
Click to expand...

That's exactly why I think it's pretty underrated. It's viewed by a lot of people as "nothing special", but that's exactly why it's great to me. Perfect combination of features in an understated package.

richpjr said:
Clearly I am in the minority after reading this thread, but I can't stand it.
Click to expand...

Never been a fan of any mouse made by Apple, I can agree with you there. I can see why people don't like the less travel of the keys as well, although now that I'm comfortable with it my 2011 MacBook Pro keyboard has too much travel for my tastes!
 
I can't say I have tried every mouse out there, but I grabbed a MM2 and kind of like it. I am having a tough time deciding between the track pad and the MM2. There are some gestures that technically work with the MM2, but are kind of unusable because there isn't enough room on the MM2 to do them.

But the MM2 beats the track pad with the right click, I know the track pad can kind of do it, but as a windows user all my life, only a true right click feels natural.
 
I still use the older wireless keyboard (with the AAs) and love it. Thanks to this thread I realize I never really gave the newer Magic Keyboard a test drive at a store, nor the newer Trackpad as well. This was partly to do with the higher prices of these pieces, because if it turns out I like them, I need two combos, one each for home and office! At this point I'm willing to wait for a TouchBar version of the keyboard though I suspect that would be at an even higher price point.

While I never really loved Apple mice over the years, I do love the Trackpad. I haven't used an actual mouse in many years. I highly recommend the Trackpad (new or old) if you're still a mouse user. It's so much more powerful an input device.
 
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anson42 said:
I still use the older wireless keyboard (with the AAs) and love it. Thanks to this thread I realize I never really gave the newer Magic Keyboard a test drive at a store, nor the newer Trackpad as well. This was partly to do with the higher prices of these pieces, because if it turns out I like them, I need two combos, one each for home and office! At this point I'm willing to wait for a TouchPad version of the keyboard though I suspect that would be at an even higher price point.

While I never really loved Apple mice over the years, I do love the Trackpad. I haven't used an actual mouse in many years. I highly recommend the Trackpad (new or old) if you're still a mouse user. It's so much more powerful an input device.
Click to expand...


Definitely with you on the Trackpad there, mice to me after so many years of Trackpad use just feel awkward and limited. That's part of why I made the jump to the new Magic Trackpad, I love that it's a bit bigger and I actually find some of the Force Touch commands rather useful.

That and the new magic keyboard are in permanent use on my iMac and I still have the old AA keyboard which I use for other things, but it too feels weird having moved to the new version.

Particularly now that my new MacBook Pro has arrived and gets the most use now. That's actually given me the shove to improve my typing skills too. I'm an ok typist, nothing special, but quick enough if a little sloppy. But the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro has meant I'm actually improving my touch typing skills so that I stop hitting that bloody bar by accident :D
That's aside from the topic of course, but I mention it only as the knock on effect is improving my typing skills on the Magic Keyboard too, which makes me appreciate it all the more.
 
I don't mind the Magic Keyboard really, but I find that I make more typing errors on it than I do on my 2016 MacBook Pro. That being said, the convenience of charging over lightning and the sheer amount of battery life are probably the the biggest upsides for it. I also use the Magic Trackpad, which I really like, but for Illustrator and Photoshop I picked up a Logitech MX Anywhere 2 (or whatever it's called).

I'm hoping that Apple will release an updated Magic Keyboard with the touch bar built in soon. . . Seems like they would be overlooking a large segment if they didn't.
 
I really like it - I'm a big fan of short travel keyboards and much prefer it to the older wireless keyboards.

I also like the fact that the layout and size is the same as the laptops as it makes moving between them easier.

Having said that, I think the keyboard on the new MacBook pros has a better feel (I'd say in ascending order it's rMB < Magic Keyboard < rMBPro) and if they update it with the same keys as the new rMBPro I'd definitely buy one
 
Phil A. said:
I really like it - I'm a big fan of short travel keyboards and much prefer it to the older wireless keyboards.

I also like the fact that the layout and size is the same as the laptops as it makes moving between them easier.

Having said that, I think the keyboard on the new MacBook pros has a better feel (I'd say in ascending order it's rMB < Magic Keyboard < rMBPro) and if they update it with the same keys as the new rMBPro I'd definitely buy one
Click to expand...

In my few days with a new 15" MBP (I ended up returning it), my only real complaint with the keyboard was the noise. Not just the volume of it, no matter how soft I typed, but also just the nature and actual "sound" of the sound. I just didn't find it particularly pleasant, and I really prefer how the Magic Keyboard sounds.

To me that's a huge drag as I'm sure the keyboards on the new laptops will be around for a good long while. :-(
 
I love the keyboards on the new MacBook Pros... make that as an external KB and I'll buy one. Otherwise, I'll stick with my extended keyboard (Apple) with F-Keys and Num Pad.
 
I just grabbed a Third Party Azio Mechanical keyboard; the USB version. While I love the backlit keys, it feels like a DIY project someone made in a garage. I just can't get over how heigh and clunky it seems compared to the slimmed down apple version. I used a clique dock before, and I am constantly searching for a trackpad on the side of the keyboard.

As much as I love the backlighting and the clickity/clack of the the keys, the keyboard is just too high. Its going back and I may try the Henge Clique 2 Dock.

The apple wireless key board may have its faults, but I am having a hard time finding the perfect mac mechanical keyboard.
 
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