Apple keyboard "Flat"

Could it be that a flat, standard keyboard using rubber membranes could displace the mechanical key switch-using Datadesk Smartboard I had come to know and love? That was the question I set out to answer when I purchased the Apple Keyboard (wired version) a month and a half after its debut in August of last year. I’ve been using Apple’s latest keyboard since mid-September, and I haven’t looked back.

Though it has been termed Apple’s “Aluminum Keyboard” for the purpose of identification, the only aluminum part of it is the slender top surface. The even slimmer bottom surface is made of white plastic, like the keys atop. In a nod to the color of the aluminum, the print on the keys isn’t black, as one might expect, but a grey.

The keys themselves are, of course, inspired by the keyboards of the MacBook line. My only experiences with such a keyboard prior to the purchase of this one, were the few times I’d tapped out lines in TextEdit while on a MacBook in an Apple Store. Not long enough to make a truly informed decision, but at least long enough to know I didn’t totally hate it. As it turned out, not only do I not hate the keys on the Aluminum Keyboard, I love them. So much so, that I’m hoping Apple brings this keyboard style to the next MacBook Pro refresh.

Speaking of the keys, the function keys on the Aluminum Keyboard sport a lot more functions than did those of its predecessors. With the Keyboard Software Update installed, not only do they control the brightness and volume levels of your system, but they can also launch Dashboard and Exposé, and control iTunes. For me, enabling these features meant finding a new capture key for EagleFiler, which by default is F1. Apple has left F5 and F6 “blank,” so F5 was the winner.