Filed under: Peripherals
Kensington brings that portable keyboard feel to your desktop
I need to come clean: I thoroughly enjoy working on my PowerBook far more than my iMac G5. Why? Other than the
obvious portability factor: it's the keyboard. Aside from an ergonomic (where'd those go, anyway?), the PowerBook's
keyboard is about the best darn keyboard I've ever laid hands on. Every standard desktop keyboard just feels big and
clunky, and the keys have a lot more travel to them. I can type much faster on my PowerBook's keyboard, and nowadays
it's gotten so bad that I stumble and trip up on regular desktop keyboards. When you blog for a company like Weblogs, Inc. who revokes one day's lunch privileges for every typo they find,
this can become a serious problem (just kidding about the lunch thing, but let's just say I'm missing a toe or two).If you're nodding your head in agreement to any of my keyboard obsessiveness, I think Kensington has a good solution for all of us. I found their SlimType Keyboard for Mac at a CompUSA last weekend, and wow did it feel like my PowerBook. Its layout is slightly different from both a PowerBook and standard Apple desktop keyboard, as the Home/End and Page Up/Down keys are lined vertically on the right of the Delete/Return side of the keyboard, but its keys have the same low rate of travel and a very similar, solid feel. I haven't grabbed one yet, but they retail for $40, and some of the online retailers that Kensington's product site link are selling it for as low as $30.
If you pick one up or already own one, feel free to sound off with your thoughts.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Richard Nixon said 1:04PM on 4-06-2006
You can have my IBM Model M when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. (I guess that would also give you access to my stockpile of backup Model M's I have in storage facilities around the country.)
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Brandon Hays said 1:12PM on 4-06-2006
Yeah, I love the notebook scissor-key feel, I type about 30% faster on my Macally iceKey since I got it 3 years ago.
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Louie del Carmen said 1:12PM on 4-06-2006
I switched to this keyboard late last year wanting the notebook keyboard feel for my imac and it certainly worked!
Unfortunately Kensington should be ashamed of themselves for allowing such poor quality construction and materials.
2 keys (the shift and apple keys) are now next to dead obviously from constant but normal use with more to follow. Pretty soon i'll have to break out the old keyboard. I own 2 mice of theirs and they are pretty good.. . what happened here? A lemon perhaps?
Of course I am not that all surprised being that everything is made in China these days.
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Andreas Tellefsen said 1:16PM on 4-06-2006
I know what you mean. When I got my first PowerBook, I could simply NOT go back to the clunky crap. Thats why I got the Macally Icekey. Life has never been more fun! http://macally.com/spec/usb/input_device/icekey.html
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fizshigol said 1:24PM on 4-06-2006
sorta old news for me. had two keyboards for over a year. one for my ibook, the other for my windows box.
love it, love it, love it.
very durable. i throw it around everywhere. and the cable is long, so that it will never dangerously dangle from the usb port
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Adam Rice said 1:25PM on 4-06-2006
It's interesting how A) some people can be very finicky about their keyboards, but B) very few companies try to offer keyboards catering to our finicky tastes. I know that my own keyboard accuracy plummets when I'm using an unfamiliar keyboard.
My tastes are quite the opposite--I like a clacky, long travel keyboard with deep key "cups". I'm using a Matias right now, but I'm thinking of getting an old-school Datadesk 101 (even though it uses ADB--I have an adaptor, and even though it's ugly beige), which was the ideal keyboard, IMO. I wish they'd update them, but I'm guessing they're just working down old inventory and running out the clock.
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Malfoy Roark said 1:28PM on 4-06-2006
I live by one keyboard and one keyboard only, and I own 2:
Logitech Dinovo.
I'll only buy Dinovo from now on. I use an RF one for my G5, my BT one is for my PC.
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Stephen said 1:30PM on 4-06-2006
Another Mac-specific keyboard with a notebook feel is the new Logitech S530. More expensive, but it's wireless (not bluetooth) and includes a mouse. Best keyboard I've found.
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Dithermaster said 1:31PM on 4-06-2006
We have one of these at home, on a PC. After she got her iBook, my wife really wanted a keyboard on our PC with a laptop feel, and this is the only one we could find. Shortly after we got the white Mac one, I found out it's also available in black with PC markings (Windows key instead of Mac command key) if that's more to your liking. The home/end keys take some getting used to, but otherwise it's a nice keyboard, and the media keys work just fine.
///d@
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arkowi said 1:40PM on 4-06-2006
David,
Can you post a closer shot of the keys? It is hard to get an idea from the pics on the kinsington website. I know what you mean though. I much prefer the powerbook keyboard to the keyboard on my powermac.
~arkowi
www.arkowi.com
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Kristen said 1:43PM on 4-06-2006
Another vote for the Macally IceKey. It's worth the price.
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RickP in AZ said 1:52PM on 4-06-2006
Another happy and proud IBM Model M keyboard user. Coupled with uControl to remap the Ctrl and Alt keys to match the position of Command and Opt on my 12" Powerbook, it is heaven... but...
I still end up using the Powerbook keyboard more often. Yes, it is just about the best laptop keyboard and the Model M is just too frakkin' big to use all of the time with the Powerbook. Most of the time the IBM is connected to my Windows "server" box.
Daily use: Powerbook keybaord
Long writing sessions: IBM Model M
Now if I ever were able to track down the elusive ergonomic/split version of the IBM? Oooh man! I'd be all over it like a drunk frat boy on a coed.
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Jonathan Hirshon said 1:55PM on 4-06-2006
ditto on the icekey - best keyboard i've found for the mac, though i DEARLY miss my old clackety IBM keyboard of yore...there is a company that does make the old-school IBM keyboards still - but only for PCs, sadly - still, if you want the IBM feel, there is no substitute. This is the company that made the IBM and Lexmark keyboards, by the way.
They do custom design work - maybe if enough of us get together, they will do a Mac version! I've used their keyboards for years on the PC and they are the BEST in buckling spring technology - if you know what that means, you're already drooling.
http://www.pckeyboard.com/Kustomizing.html
cheers, JH
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Jason said 1:59PM on 4-06-2006
Ooh... very tempting. I really love my the keyboard on my wife's PowerBook. It feels much smoother and cleaner than the keyboard on my Intel iMac.
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Angel said 2:09PM on 4-06-2006
I have this keyboard and the keys have such a great feel. Definitely worth the money. I bought mine from CompUSA last summer.
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Andrew said 2:15PM on 4-06-2006
Finding a keyboard with a trackpad is tough.... just because I want a separate keyboard doesn't mean I want to use a mouse/tracball/whatever-- I like being able to keep my hands in one place and navigate.
Give the market a laptop feeling keyboard complete with tracpad- please
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B. Minich, PI said 2:18PM on 4-06-2006
Hmmm . . . could I have that in wireless?
I'd give it a whirl, though. Looks nice.
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D said 2:42PM on 4-06-2006
I've had the kensington for well over a year and boy do i love it. It is the closest thing to a powerbook keyboard out there and is so darn comfortable. I'm a writer and literally went through 4 keyboards to get here (including the logitech dinovo, which was close, and even apple's bt one, which now happy resides in front of my gf's mac mini). My one and only complaint is that its not wireless. But all in all, the keyboard is so good I dont mind dealing with the cord.
Hopefully Kensington will join the rest of us humans and offer this keyboard in a BT variety.
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Barkin said 2:43PM on 4-06-2006
Why is it so hard for peripheral companies to make bluetooth keyboards?
I have a Powerbook with built in bluetooth. When I set it down on it's iCurve, why would I want to plug a USB keyboard in, or mess with some RF dongle?
I just want a sexy Mac keyboard (read: I don't want to fiddle with reconfiguring the Windows keys on another keyboard... it rarely works right) that connects via bluetooth. And I want it to be sturdier than Apple's own bluetooth keyboard, which, well, sucks.
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Drew said 2:52PM on 4-06-2006
What's a good matching mouse? Preferably 5-buttons (wired or wireless)? Mighty Mouse is out of the question for me.
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