Great semi or permanent portable wireless for you mac. Still prefer the wired.
Written: May 25 '09
Product Rating:
Pros: Easy to setup, light weight/portable, decent battery life, good key travel cordless keyboard
Cons: Severe Lag on older MacBooks/Macs. Forces one to buy cordless mouse. Less keys.
The Bottom Line: For a sleek looking short(laptop like) keyboard for a newer (late 2008 or newer) MacBooks/Macs. If you have older Mac, be very cautious about the lag.
I've had the opportunity to use 3 Apple keyboard recently. The original 'white' keyboard, the aluminum wireless (One I am reviewing) and the wired version. Tech Summary:- Runs on Bluetooth- Pairing happens by typing in the numbers into the keyboard and hitting return blindly- Auto-power on/off. (Green light turns on at the very beginning and if I recall correctly, 'blinks' when it's low in battery)- Long battery life (Used daily and battery lasted about 2-3 months)- Very light weight- Lacks all the 'special keys above the arrow' and numerical pad. Getting started:It's very easy. Toss in the 2 included batteries and go turn the bluetooth on and add the keyboard and click on the button on the right. Shortly thereafter a keyboard is detected and I was asked to punch in numbers. Seems easy enough... Typing experience.First of all, I do not like the white mac keyboard. I purchased it with my Mac Mini and I do not like the way the key feels. Compared to the original white, aluminum keyboards' throw is much shorter and I feel that I can type far faster. Let me assure you that I am not biased towards Apple products as I learned to type on the original Mac full keyboard that weighed like a brick and it's still one of my favorites. Mixed feelings...:With that said, I have the mixed feelings about this keyboard. First of all, I have no problems with the 'chicklet keys'. And for the most part, keyboard feels OK. But I noticed that after typing for an hour or so, my hands felt cramped. I have measured the keyboard against three MacBooks (Pro 17, Pro 15 unibody, and 2009 white polycarbonate) and it was identical. Yet for some reason my hands felt fatigued as I always tried to center it. The corded version felt much easier. And I noticed my rand hand was trying to lean toward the center and forced a fatigue. So now, I put this cordless keyboard slightly toward the left. (Off by 3/4 of a key compared to the MacBook), and I feel much better. Strange? Well, I own many keyboards including logitech G15 as I type for a living and I am concerned with a Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. After that, I can't say "Just get it". But Apple offers corded version 'with' and 'without' numerical keypad. If you are going to get it without the numerical pad, then wireless will offer you 'virtually' identical experience. Also, after spending extra $30, you wouldn't want a corded mouse to clutter the desk either. So you will also need to spend the extra $ on the cordless mouse as well. Lag?:With any wireless products, there's always a concern for a lag. While typing on the 17" MacBookPro, I did notice a slight lag. But with 15" MacBookPro and 13" White (early 2009 version), the lag is far less. Granted, there still is a very slight lag. (About a 1/8 of second). Although that may seem like a very minute lag, but if you type more then say 70 words per minute and average word is 5 characters with a space, that equates to roughly 8 characters a second. Which equates to '1' keystroke behind. And this is what I feel. Although not as bad, but when making a mistake, it feels like I have to think twice or just have to slow it down. In addition, I have noticed a big lag and low DPI (sensitivity is very poor) with the cordless mouse with the older version of Mac. This may be due to OS/driver related issues and it's difficult for me to say. But I can say for certain that I have tried the cordless version on Tiger and Leopard and I did not see a significant difference. Battery life:I have not actually measured how many keys I have clicked before the battery died. Ever since my friend let me try is MX wireless mouse, I have always purchased the top of the line MX keyboard/mouse combos. And as far as I can recall (I switched to G15 gaming keyboard for faster gaming response), Logitech battery life was superior. That said, I believe that if you type on the keyboard solid 3 hours a day, I believe a good alkaline batteries will probably last 2 months. Who is this keyboard for?- You own the unibody aluminum or the 2009 MacBook. (I assume that newer MacBooks after this review will have less lag problems as well)- You want a sleek looking keyboard that doesn't take up space- Casual typist (<30 words a minute), then the lag should not bother you, or even notice at all for that matter.- Want a portable keyboard (something you can take with you)
Who this keyboard may not work for?- You own an earlier MacBook or Mac- Avid typist and someone who prefers using keyboard shortcuts - Don't care about space or esthetics. (I have a G15 keyboard and it's 4x the size of this keyboard, not to mention my wife says it's ugly)- No intention to carrying it around- Don't want to spend the extra $ on the cordless mouse. Summary:If you want a portable cordless keyboard, and you have one of the newer MacBooks and willing to live without numerical pad and 5 additional keys (extra fn doesn't really help me), then this is a nice keyboard. But if you don't care about portability or saving space then you should consider the wired keyboard. In fact, if you prefer programming key strokes so that you can skip extra mouse clicks like me, then I would recommend the full size worded aluminum keyboard over the cordless without hesitation. And if your an an avid typist and you have the older white Apple keyboard, you should run to the closest apple store and type on one of these keyboards for a while and see for yourself how much improvements they have made.
The Apple Wireless Keyboard features an elegant, anodized aluminum enclosure with low-profile keys that provide a crisp, responsive feel. The ultracom...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Ultra-thin design Anodized aluminum enclosure Low profile keys Use function keys for one-touch access Bluetooth wireless technologyMore at Amazon Marketplace
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.