How do people like the shortened Mac keyboard sans keypad?

[mhschmieder]

Do people find that they adjust to the foreshortened keyboard over time? I am making all sorts of typos due to the closer spacing of keys vs. the Magic Keyboard with USB and numeric keypad that I either bought later or that came with my mid-2010 MacPro.

I think this keyboard has been the same for a few years, but it is what came with my new 2017 iMac today. Maybe I'll adjust to it over time, and the feel is of course nice, but for those who have used it for awhile, just wondering if anyone went back to the "longer" keyboard for the spacing, even if they (like me) rarely use the numeric keypad.

[Guitar Gaz]

Hate it - can't use it - bought a wired full keyboard (although I see a new extended wireless keyboard is now available). Need the numbers both for shortcuts in Studio One and DP, but also for general computer use.

[mikehalloran]

Hate it - can't use it - bought a wired full keyboard (although I see a new extended wireless keyboard is now available). Need the numbers both for shortcuts in Studio One and DP, but also for general computer use.

Yep!

The shortened wireless keyboard that I never used plus my Magic Trackpad 1st gen are on eBay right now.

The new extended wireless keyboard has the same feature as my Magic Trackpad 2. When the charge runs out, plug a lightening cable in and you're back up immediately—no time spend changing batteries. I keep a lightening cable attached to a USB hub for that and my iPhone.

[mhschmieder]

Cool, I'll look into that as I didn't know about the new extended wireless model and its extra features.

On a separate topic, I have mixed feelings about Gen 2 of Magic Mouse as the recharger cable plugs into the bottom of the mouse, about 2/3 of the way from the center to the edge, making it impossible to use while charging (as you would have to set it on the edge of a table or desk and could only click buttons but not move it), and it also loses juice quickly and unexpectedly. I could just swap AA batteries while recharging the old ones.

[mikehalloran]

Not a MM fan. My daughters love them. That you can't use the new one while charging would kill it for me. Not an issue with the 2nd gen Magic Trackpad.

I'm on my second wired extended keyboard. A cuppa coffee did in the first so now I use the thinnest keyboard cover I could find. I like the current Apple extended keyboards. If this one were to go down, I'd head to one of the four Apple stores in a 15 mile radius (Infinite Loop is only 2 miles away but isn't always open) and just buy another or the new extended wireless.

If Apple can make a water resistant iPhone, how come they can't make a coffee resistant keyboard?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Not only could I not survive w/o a keypad, I have a second on the left (iHome makes a great wired one). Especially when using Finale, but in many other apps.

[mhschmieder]

I didn't realize this, but another vendor had beaten Apple to the punch:

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Matias/FK418BTS/

It's cheaper than Apple's new extended keyboard, and looks like it MIGHT have a bit of a rise in the back, which is something people complain about with the new Apple wireless keyboards being too flush against the desk.

[Gravity Jim]

How do we like it? Not at all.

I can't use it because my DP hand is inexorably programmed to make things happened with the numeric keys. Lisa hates it because she's an old hand at Excell, etc., and a keyboard without a numeric pad is just broken, as far as she's concerned.

My son likes them, but he's a UX Designer and does much of his work with a small keyboard and a pen-controlled surface. So when Lisa got her new iMac last month, we traded the baby keyboard to Aiden for his unused full size one (he wanted the rechargeable version).

[mhschmieder]

I was doing more or less OK with it, until my first work-from-home day with the new computer/keyboard today.

When I remote to Windows, it expects the control key vs. the command key for shortcuts, even though it's kind of weird about having a Mac-centric view of much else of what I type on the Mac.

I have made countless errors today hitting the "fn" function key, as I am used to the control key being the corner key on the left.

Not sure I can abide by this keyboard. I'll give it a bit more time though, as I want to be certain before I decide which keyboard to order in Spanish and Russian.

[mikehalloran]

I didn't realize this, but another vendor had beaten Apple to the punch:

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Matias/FK418BTS/

It's cheaper than Apple's new extended keyboard, and looks like it MIGHT have a bit of a rise in the back, which is something people complain about with the new Apple wireless keyboards being too flush against the desk.

I have some older Matias keyboards. One still works and I use it with my G4. The rest don't as they broke easily. I prefered them to the keyboards that came with my PPCs.

When I got my 2010 with its aluminum extended keyboard, that ended it for me and Matias.

[mhschmieder]

Another nail in the coffin for the Magic Mouse rev 2 tonight, as I plugged it in twice for several hours each time to recharge it, and it is barely at 50% after that amount of time, with no use while recharging. That is completely unacceptable, and if the computer goes to sleep, so does the recharging of the mouse.

I now regret parting with gen 1, which had simple and quick to recharge standard AA batteries which you didn't have to stop using the mouse while recharging.

What were they thinking? To have the recharger insert with a special cable that is rigid and goes vertically up into the bottom of the mouse in such a way that you can't possibly use it, and for it to take 12 hours to recharge, and then only if none of the various sleep modes kick in during that time.

[HCMarkus]

Another nail in the coffin for the Magic Mouse rev 2 tonight, as I plugged it in twice for several hours each time to recharge it, and it is barely at 50% after that amount of time, with no use while recharging. That is completely unacceptable, and if the computer goes to sleep, so does the recharging of the mouse.

I now regret parting with gen 1, which had simple and quick to recharge standard AA batteries which you didn't have to stop using the mouse while recharging.

What were they thinking? To have the recharger insert with a special cable that is rigid and goes vertically up into the bottom of the mouse in such a way that you can't possibly use it, and for it to take 12 hours to recharge, and then only if none of the various sleep modes kick in during that time.

Hey mh, hook it up to an iPhone or other USB power supply and leave it overnight; I think you'll find one charge lasts for a month or more. That's my experience.

I use the wired Mac keyboard with numeric; since my Mac Pro is resting remotely from my work area, having a hard-wired keyboard into which I have a USB Bluetooth dongle plugged gives me perfect reception for my mouse, which rests only inches from the dongle. There's no wire on top of my desk 'cause I drilled a hole thru which the keyboard cable passes underneath. Simply amazing.

[mhschmieder]

HC, thanks for the advice. I was using a powered USB hub to charge it, but maybe since that's plugged in turn into the computer, it isn't "direct" enough to keep the recharge mode going.

I don't have an iPhone or any mobile devices. But I think there might be a difference between a charge-oriented USB receptacle and a powered USB hub, if not labeled specifically for recharging. I'll try to figure that out.

[mikehalloran]

But I think there might be a difference between a charge-oriented USB receptacle and a powered USB hub, if not labeled specifically for recharging. I'll try to figure that out.

Some USB hubs do have dedicated charging ports that continue to do so when the computer is asleep.

I have one from D-Link. Unfortunately, the data ports go to sleep when my Mac does and don't wake up ... so I no longer use it. For that reason, I use an el-cheapo from Amazon without this feature but it never goes down on me.

Dedicated USB chargers are quite inexpensive — far less so than charging hubs.

[mhschmieder]

Thanks, I'll look for one when I stock up on ink in a few days.

I thought the mouse had died a few days ago as it was unresponsive, so I brought it to work, no problem, then last night it EVENTUALLY decided to re-pair with my iMac.

Hopefully I didn't damage it during the debugging process, as I thought maybe the optical sensor was out of calibration and tried shifting it. Of course it wouldn't budge, but I may have limited its life in the process. I was desperate at that point!