Reviews for Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad - English (USA)

Hooked up the new keyboard today and its is a real site to behold. Very thin and lite weight. The new key design has a great feel and very large keys so you don't make many mistakes.

THE ONE PROBLEM I HAVE WITH IT IS the two usb ports will not support an ipod. I have the video Ipod and I get a warning that the USB power is too low to power the attached device. I bought this key board to clear away clutter on my desk and hopefully eliminate a few cords. Unfortunately its not true and I was disappointed. I am very much an apple fan but the low USB ports were a not as advertised on the website.

4094 of 6129 people found this useful

The design needs no review as it is stunningly minimal with clean lines. The keys are bouncy and the travel low so this makes a great kb for those like me that have arthritis which makes depressing keys a pain in the long run. The greater distance between the keys also help as the risk of clicking 2 keys at once is greatly reduced.
Now, the powered USB ports: this has to be clarified: if you plug the keyboard directly into your Mac's USB port you'll get powered kb ports. If. like I, plug it at the back of your Apple display, the ports will not have enough power for items such as your iPod, flash drive, printer etc.
This aside am still glad I got this kb.

275 of 323 people found this useful

I was looking for a new keyboard. I decided to buy this one for the 2 high speed USB port. In is web site, the Apple company don't mention that you need a Mac with the Intel processor to use the USB high speed port. I have a macmini with the 1.42 GHz Power PC G4 processor. I can't use the USB port on the new keyboard. I gave a phone call to the Apple assistance service that told me that after I tried to connect my Ipod mini on it without success. It will be fair to mention that point on the Apple web site.

262 of 328 people found this useful

I had great hopes for this keyboard. I played with it at the Apple store, and even though it was not what I would call an excellent keyboard by any means, it was better than most of the keyboards that you can buy these days, most of which are horrible in comparison to the typical keyboards of the decades past.

This keyboard has one significant design flaw, and one design defect. The design flaw is that the top surface of the keys is too flat to permit you to sense whether your fingers are centered on the keys. There is a reason why the top surface of the keys is concave on most keyboards. The only reason why this unbiquitous practice was skipped on many notebook computers, is because flatter keys mean a skinnier notebook.

The design defect is that the space key does not register the way that it should. With any keyboard or keypad, if you press the key just to the point where you have exceeded the force required to cause the key to "give", and you feel the discrete transition within the key, i.e., the "click", the key should register, without exception. If you feel the click, the key should register, each and every time, with no exceptions. The space bar on this keyboard does not do this, and that is why I am going to take it back to the store either today or tomorrow. For anyone who doubts what I am saying, the way to test whether this is true, is to gently press on the space bar just to where you feel it give, and no further. If you do this, you will find that if you are gentle enough, that even though you get the sensation of having pressed the key, that the keystroke does not register. No keyboard should work this way, and as far as I am concerned, this is a design defect. In any case, I can't tolerate it, because I can't stand having to continually go back and insert spaces where they were missed.

Aesthetically, this keyboard is beautiful, and I've never said that about any keyboard before. It would never have occurred to me to think of a keyboard as a piece of sculpture. But sculpture is exactly what this keyboard is. So the question becomes, whether it is better to type on a piece of sculpture, or on a keyboard for which function was the only significant design consideration.

Apple has become an enigma of sorts in recent years. More and more, Apple's products seem to be driven more by style and aesthetics than by function. The new iMac is beautiful to look at, and it is probably the best value of any Apple computer in perhaps twenty-five years, in terms of the hardware that you get relative to the price. Unfortunately, the iMac and its monitor are an integrated unit, and the monitor that you get with the new iMac, has a reflective front surface. Glossy monitors have strong show-room appeal, but I can't fathom that anyone who anticipates working in front of a computer day in and day out, would be in favor of the idea of having the constant reflections of the ceiling lights.

While writing this, I would estimate that the space key has missed perhaps two dozen times. That's way too much. There is a used computer store a few miles from here, and I think that I will drop by there today and see if they have any good used keyboards.

313 of 461 people found this useful

I love this keyboard, but why not provide this in a wireless option? You already make a beautiful wireless keyboard, but it doesn't have the full size arrow keys or numeric keypad - why not update this product to be wireless?

Otherwise, this is the single greatest keyboard I've ever owned. I have two so far and am thinking of stockpiling several in case it's ever discontinued.

129 of 133 people found this useful

I effing love this keyboard. It's so easy to use, but seriously, why do we have to choose between having a complete keyboard and having wireless? MAKE A WIRELESS VERSION ALREADY. There are enough people asking for it.
I'm a PC girl, and I would still go out and buy the wireless version of this even though I already have the wired one.

The cord is rather short, even with the extender. Once again, problem solved by wireless version.

116 of 123 people found this useful

I like this new keyboard a lot, but was VERY disappointed to learn that ipods and the iphone will not operate through the keyboard's usb ports. The keyboard's description on the apple site reads:

"And two USB 2.0 ports provide high-speed connectivity for your iPod, Mighty Mouse, digital camera, and other USB-based electronic devices."

Too bad.

115 of 136 people found this useful

This keyboard looks great and functions well, but only as a keyboard. I used the USB ports on my old Pro keyboard all the time (because they actually supported 500mA devices). This new keyboard only supports 100mA devices. No iPods, no flash drives unless you have an alum (2007+) imac... I do not. This huge functional constraint forces me not to recommend this product unless you have the hardware to support it.

111 of 136 people found this useful

After 18 months of use, the entire middle row of this keyboard stopped working. I tried to fix it using all the methods outlined in the keyboard troubleshooting pages on the Apple site to no avail. It had to be replaced. There was no spillage, no Windex sprayed into it, no dropping it on the ground, nothing to warrant it breaking. Just normal, regular use. Obviously after reading some reviews I find that I am not the only one with this issue. Furthermore I find it very odd that all of the similar, negative reviews of this keyboard mentioning reliability are found less "useful" with more "thumbs down." I would think that a "my keyboard died in 18mo of regular use" review is much more useful than an "zomg I just got it it's so cooool" review.

Honestly I find a keyboard that dies in such a short amount of time unacceptable, especially from a company that sells expensive products. I have never, EVER had a keyboard die on me. I'm pretty sure my first one from '95 still works. There's obviously something faulty with this model and Apple should care to look into it as I don't feel like buying another faulty replacement. Honestly, I'm not going to comment that it is nice, because it doesn't matter how nice it is if it dies so quickly. What an absolute waste!

89 of 94 people found this useful

This is a great keyboard. The key layout and spacing is fantastic and makes for very accurate typing. It's also nice and quiet to type with, which is important as I tend to press keys hard when I type, which can be very noisey on different keyboards.

.......but when it comes to the USB ports all I can say is 'WHAT THE!!!!'.

The two USB ports on either side of the keyboard are STILL lower power ports, and cannot even run a USB 2.0 memory stick!

Seriously Apple, nobody uses USB 1 memory sticks anymore, and you cannot even buy a wired version of the Magic Mouse so why on Earth would you include LOW power USB ports!?

If providing sufficient power to the USB ports is an issue, Apple should add support for an auxiliary USB cable from the Mac to the keyboard, or even add an AC power adapter, which would allow the ports to run at high power similar to USB ports that are now present on many monitors.

So this keyboard is great, but could be better with high power USB ports.

84 of 89 people found this useful