4 ms·

I find the new thin apple keyboards to be horrid, and it's not often I see people praise them (they're universally disdained on keyboard snob forums, even among

I find the new thin apple keyboards to be horrid, and it's not often I see people praise them (they're universally disdained on keyboard snob forums, even among dedicated Mac users). Have you tried any boards with Topre or Cherry browns/blues switches?

klodolph 16y ago
Hm, really? I've heard some fair praise for them. I prefer my keyboard (it has brown Cherry switches) but the thin Apple keyboards seem a step above standard membrane switch keyboards (this is the catch) once you get used to them.
points 16y ago
I've never seen anything but praise for them. My mac keyboard is the best keyboard I've ever typed on. The current crop of macbooks also have extremely good keyboards.
- wyclif 16y ago
  I'd rather not belittle anyone for preferences which admittedly, like music choices, are subjective. But I truly loathe the Mac keyboards, and I'll tell you why. It has nothing to do with platform bias. Mac keyboards are not designed for touch typists like me. There is no contour to the keys, they are flat and too large and make your hand move too far. They are also not sufficiently actuated, as Atwood points out in this post. They're made for people who hunt and peck and mash the keys using their biceps instead of their fingers. Since that's not me, I hate them. They have an "iffy" actuation instead of a decisive one. They'll take my IBM Model M and Unicomp when they pry them from my cold, dead, fingers.
  - pohl 16y ago
    I'm a touch-typist. (I studied piano in my youth for 12 years, and now on the computer keyboard I can switch back & forth between qwerty and dvorak without much trouble, although I prefer the latter.) I thought that I would hate the Apple keyboards, and for exactly the reasons you mentioned (lack of contour, not sufficiently actuated, too large...) but it didn't turn out that way. My touch-typing wasn't terribly dependent on any of those properties.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
  - petercooper 16y ago
    I touch type and I want as little "action" in the keys as possible as it allows me to type faster. But I'm the same with guitar too..
  - cpr 16y ago
    Completely disagree. "Hunt and peck and mash the keys using their biceps"? Way to paint anyone with a different opinion as cavemen. ;-) I used to be in your camp (started with the original Microswitch MIT-AI Lab keyboards decades ago, which are the best mechanical keyboards ever made, bar none), but I've become very fond of the thin Apple keyboards (and Apple laptop keyboard), which I find quite comfortable for fast typing. The main thing is the short throw and light touch needed to produce letters with less finger movement and strain. (Just the opposite of what you posit with your biceps comment.)
    - wyclif 16y ago
      I think you're reading too much into it, I wasn't using hyperbole and certainly wasn't painting hunt-and-peck people as cavemen (or women). I was just pointing out that touch typing uses less of the forearm and more finger movement.
slantyyz 16y ago
I was going to switch to an Extended keyboard type of clone until a friend of mine told me that the flat keyboards were pretty good. When I'm peaking, I can hit around 80wpm (but not prolonged, at which point pain sets in), and I've got nothing but good things to say about the Mac chiclet keyboards. I think the thing that makes me -not- hate them is that there's a solid banging sensation at the bottom of the pressing motion, as opposed to the mushy feel I've gotten from my Windows laptops in the past.

klodolph 16y ago

Hm, really? I've heard some fair praise for them. I prefer my keyboard (it has brown Cherry switches) but the thin Apple keyboards seem a step above standard membrane switch keyboards (this is the catch) once you get used to them.

points 16y ago

I've never seen anything but praise for them. My mac keyboard is the best keyboard I've ever typed on. The current crop of macbooks also have extremely good keyboards.

wyclif 16y ago
I'd rather not belittle anyone for preferences which admittedly, like music choices, are subjective. But I truly loathe the Mac keyboards, and I'll tell you why. It has nothing to do with platform bias. Mac keyboards are not designed for touch typists like me. There is no contour to the keys, they are flat and too large and make your hand move too far. They are also not sufficiently actuated, as Atwood points out in this post. They're made for people who hunt and peck and mash the keys using their biceps instead of their fingers. Since that's not me, I hate them. They have an "iffy" actuation instead of a decisive one. They'll take my IBM Model M and Unicomp when they pry them from my cold, dead, fingers.
- pohl 16y ago
  I'm a touch-typist. (I studied piano in my youth for 12 years, and now on the computer keyboard I can switch back & forth between qwerty and dvorak without much trouble, although I prefer the latter.) I thought that I would hate the Apple keyboards, and for exactly the reasons you mentioned (lack of contour, not sufficiently actuated, too large...) but it didn't turn out that way. My touch-typing wasn't terribly dependent on any of those properties.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- petercooper 16y ago
  I touch type and I want as little "action" in the keys as possible as it allows me to type faster. But I'm the same with guitar too..
- cpr 16y ago
  Completely disagree. "Hunt and peck and mash the keys using their biceps"? Way to paint anyone with a different opinion as cavemen. ;-) I used to be in your camp (started with the original Microswitch MIT-AI Lab keyboards decades ago, which are the best mechanical keyboards ever made, bar none), but I've become very fond of the thin Apple keyboards (and Apple laptop keyboard), which I find quite comfortable for fast typing. The main thing is the short throw and light touch needed to produce letters with less finger movement and strain. (Just the opposite of what you posit with your biceps comment.)
  - wyclif 16y ago
    I think you're reading too much into it, I wasn't using hyperbole and certainly wasn't painting hunt-and-peck people as cavemen (or women). I was just pointing out that touch typing uses less of the forearm and more finger movement.

slantyyz 16y ago

I was going to switch to an Extended keyboard type of clone until a friend of mine told me that the flat keyboards were pretty good. When I'm peaking, I can hit around 80wpm (but not prolonged, at which point pain sets in), and I've got nothing but good things to say about the Mac chiclet keyboards. I think the thing that makes me -not- hate them is that there's a solid banging sensation at the bottom of the pressing motion, as opposed to the mushy feel I've gotten from my Windows laptops in the past.