A few funny things were happening with my old wired keyboard and I decided to trash it, but before physically putting it in the bin, reverted to my childhood days when I couldn't resist taking things to pieces. Did just that and discovered that, discounting what went into the making of the two circuit boards, there were 244 separate parts. That's just an aside and a piece of useless info for the benefit of anyone interested in collecting such trivia.
Although I have an Apple wireless board, I like to have a spare and since I learned recently from a TeeEsser (I forget who) that one can't perform a safe boot with a wireless board, now consider ownership of a wired board a necessity. So I invested around $70 in the latest offering from Apple. Those of you on the west side of the pond can buy them for less, but we poor Brits have to suffer the imposition of carriage and tax on the listed $50 tag. But it's still worth it.
When the package arrived it looked so thin I thought someone had sent me a gift of smoked salmon, but no, it was my new board, looking very slick with its brushed aluminum base and matt white keys. Positively no reflection even tho' I have a pair of halogen lights right above it. For me, that was a very important feature, as I found the reflection from the old style black keys very off-putting. The new board is very slim. The leading edge is slightly less than 1/4" thick and the trailing edge just 5/8", so it sits very low and is probably going to be easier on the wrists for long-period typing.
Think it will take a little getting used to. There are 19 function keys and I haven't yet got them all figured out, but came across one which when hit caused a typing of the last copied text item. Key depression is less than on previous boards and the keys are very sensitive, the slightest touch activating them — a feature which at the moment is causing an excess of typos, but I suppose I'll get used to it. The board is less noisy than others I've had, key depressions resulting in a gentle thud, rather than a clack.
The only criticism I have (after using it for less then half an hour) is that the characters printed on the key tops in grey, are less clear than I would prefer. IMHO they would be better either in black on white, or if grey is the in thing, then better to have the font bolder. And as was noted in an earlier TeeEss thread, the font used has changed, which seems to be change for change's sake.
On the whole, pleased with it. A very nice board. Every TeeEsser should have one. And when you buy, mention my name so I don't miss out on commission!
