The Apple Keyboards Review

I have several Apple MacBook computers and a single Cinema Display; but one can never have too many keyboards.  As you can see below, I’ve gone wacky for the gorgeous, new, chicklet-style keyboards from Apple.  On the left is the wired “laptop” keyboard; next to it is the wired “full” keyboard with numeric keys; beneath that is the Bluetooth keyboard. All of these keyboards allow you to control the brightness of the screen and manage the starting and stopping of music or movies.

My favorite of the three keyboards is the Bluetooth-enabled. I can roam the room typing without losing a single thought. 

Three AA batteries are stored in the round top of the device and they give the keyboard its balancing heft.

I also think Apple did a genius job in mirroring the size of the Bluetooth keyboard to match the keyboard size and style of the MacBook keyboard. 

That means there’s no uncomfortable learning delay switching between your laptop keyboard and the standalone version.

The wired keyboard provides a high-speed USB ports on each side of the keyboard and the keys have a nice, natural, responsive feel.

As well, the wired keyboard below is quite fine.  The clanking space bar has a little stiffer feel than the Bluetooth version, but that’s a small niggle.  

Finally, if you’re a traditionalist — and if you want the old boat of a keyboard that’s too big and forces your mouse off the desk and into the frozen, Siberian, tundra — then you’ll love this massive monster, especially if your life is entering numbers.  You might also like having a dedicated Backspace key. 

I am smitten with the new Apple Bluetooth keyboard.  I like its style and inherent grace and it makes my life more portable and much more productive — and it’s hard to find any tool in the shed that can add both a wicked convenience and a great aesthetic in the same, tactile, intangible.