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Apple Wireless Keyboard
The Keyboard
The "bulk" of the keyboard is almost two-dimensional. I've found loose keys in the back of my desk taller than the keyboard is thick. It's well-balanced despite the looks of the tube+plane design: the keys pass through 3/16" thick sheet of aluminum that really is most of the device's weight and the battery section's aluminum is much thinner so doesn't contribute as much as looks would indicate. The media keys are a good combination of useful and unobtrusive, and all operate via the function key struck with an F key. (Again, they won't do jack in Windows.) Missing are the editing keys, which... if there was an Apple Wireless Mighty Keyboard that had edit keys, I'd be happier. Most people touch home and end with a lesser frequency than themselves, but I'm pretty attached to them. Lack of an IBM delete key will inconvenience non-OSX users, but for the appropriately-OSed, function-delete works in its place. There's only one control key, it's on the left side. The F-key row is short keys, too. This lets them space it out for better looks, but if you know how to touch-type, they're all screwed up and spread out. F13, 14, and 15 are gone, but it's not like anyone's that upset there. The key side of the keyboard is actually painted; there's something like a powder coat that, as far as I can tell, exists to conceal the power light dot-- about 1mm in diameter--which remains invisible when not pressing keys. The power button is opposite the battery opening. Press and hold to turn it on or off. It laps alright, but it's narrow to the point where you'll probably have to hold your legs close together to keep it well-elevated. Probably uncomfortably so. The Keys When pressed, each key sinks into the keyboard flush with the aluminum. The whole travel is only 3mm, and there's a hard stop when you hit the bottom of the keystroke. If this is your first new Apple keyboard, it'll screw with your muscle memory. The keys are also completely flat, meaning that it will take some practice to hit the keys in the center. Because they don't go far, the spring tension is low, which is what takes the bulk of getting used to. Striking the keys too hard has a kind of feedback not dissimilar to pain. It's true, the stubbed digit teaches best. And then, sudden-like, I got used to it, and it was pretty hard to go back to my regular keyboard. It's different, but it's a damn nice typing surface. The keys aren't smaller or spaced differently from a regular keyboard. The overall size difference of the keyboard comes from all the keys that aren't there. Using it as a gaming keyboard was the hardest to re-condition myself to; I guess I get worked up by TF2 (probably because I'm really, really bad at it) but I enjoyed the amount of extra desk space. And, once conditioned, I felt as if my response times were better. It may have been a placebo effect, but I liked it. Wirelessness Like any self-respecting Bluetooth device, it's good for that 30 feet. Once you hit the wall, you'll know it, because the keyboard stops working altogether.
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