Apple's new keyboards sans number pads

As an ergonomist I couldn't be happier that Apple is defaulting to a keyboard minus the number pad.
Most people being right handed, by placing the mouse on the right side of a standard (# pad) keyboard you are immediately reaching out of your neutral zone to put your hand on the mouse. It immediatley puts your wrists, arms and shoulders at higher risk for injury.
I'm also a huge fan of mousing with your non-dominant hand, but just giving someone a keyboard without the number pad automatically reduces some of that risk. Yeay!

Didn't Apple make this same mistake when they introduced the original iMac?

The biggest disadvantage of the wireless keyboard is that it doesn't have any USB ports on it, meaning you have to fiddle about behind the back of the iMac if you want to plug in any memory sticks.

There are two kinds of people: Those who use the number keypad and those who never use it. It's good to have a choice! I've never used the number keypad in my life (with any of my computers), and I've always found it annoying how it pushes the mouse hand far to the right. It's just so much more comfortable and faster to use the mouse when it's closer. I used to use the small numpadless IBM ThinkPad-like keyboard (forget the name) during my Linux years. I still like it a lot, but this one's even better.

This keyboard is actually exactly what I wanted earlier, but I bought the wireless one since there was no wired small keyboard available at the time... Damn :-) Oh well, at least it's a bit tidier without the chord. I agree that illuminated keys would be great since it doesn't run on batteries anymore. (I like the white keys though.)

Black illuminated keys please!!!!

You can still order the full sized wired keyboards.

From the second paragraph: "If you go to the online Apple store and configure a new iMac the new slim version is the default, though you can select the keypad version for no extra cost. On the other hand, the new Mac Pros come with the extended version by default with the slim version as a free option."

The new keyboard being exactly the same as the laptop one is good for users who want a consistent experience from their laptop to their desktop systems.

I got so used to laptop keyboards at one point that it was painful to have to type on a full size, tall key type keyboard and am so happy that they now offer the laptop style keyboards stand-alone.

I'm still waiting for Apple to offer a real keyboard again. Sure, the MacBook keyboards are great for laptops, but then again I bought a desktop because of how awful laptop keyboards are. I just wish I would have bought one of the wireless keyboards before they started releasing the aluminum thin-and-awful keyboards.

Now can Apple release a standalone numeric keypad unit? It could complete the kit for some consumer. Also for laptop users as myself: I really would love to have an Apple designed alu numpad with my MacBook Pro since it's an essential component when working with music app for example and since they banned the "NumLock" function on the new unibody MB[A/P] keyboard.

My iMac came with the full-size. Shortly after, I bought the wireless one - not realizing it was smaller and no keypad.

I tried it for a few months, but it just drove me crazy any time I needed to work with numbers - i.e. Excel.

I ended up plugging in the full-size wired keyboard again. The wireless one sits in a drawer.

If they offered a wireless full-size I would buy it in a minute.

Smaller isn't always better.