Will anyone ever make a decent Mac Keyboard?
Posted by Paul Haddad Sun, 03 Dec 2006 23:24:00 GMT
I love loud clicky keyboards, I just can’t seem to find a decent one. For the longest time I’ve used a Northgate OmniKey keyboard, these things are/were built like tanks and had a real nice satisfying click. Unfortunately they are Windows specific and don’t have niceties such as volume keys or built in USB ports. After one too many coke spills my Northgate started acting up. Fortunately this was around the same time the Matias Tactile Pro and Kensington StudioBoard came out.
Due to a miscommunication with my wife I ended up getting both of these as Christmas presents. Both of them have the nice Macish features that I want and decent looks. The Kensington one definitely felt better, though I’m not sure I could explain why. Unfortunately both feel pretty cheap as far as the plastics used and overall weight of the keyboard. Turns out that both are built pretty badly as neither lasted longer then about a year.
The StudioBoard again was my favorite, unfortunately one of the cheap little plastic legs broke on it. I contacted Kensington Customer Service to get a replacement and they sent me a junky $10 Keyboard in a Box as a replacement. After contacting them again I was told they didn’t make those keyboards anymore and that the junky keyboard they sent me was their replacement. So much for a company standing behind their product. Fortunately I was able to just stick a USB-PS/2 converter underneath the keyboard as a replacement leg. This worked fairly well until this keyboard started acting up as well.
A few months ago I started using the TactilePro. It just never felt right (key pressure wise) and it only worked for a few months before it started developing its own annoying problems. For some reason the Shift and Control key only seem to register being held down about 1/2 the time. This makes the keyboard pretty useless. I’d probably send it in for service, but I don’t really care for the keyboard anyways.
So now I’m back to the original Northgate. The Up Arrow key doesn’t work and neither do half the numeric keypad keys. But overall I can live with up arrow not working (Control-P is your best friend in these situations).
I think I’m going to try to grab a Customizer 104 from PCKeyboard.com, not pretty and no hub or volume keys, but it is cheap and I believe I can get them to do a decent layout (with Command/Alt keys).
the coding on the Customizer 104 link coding is broken…
Sorry I don’t know a better keyboard either, as far as a satifying “click” goes.
That said, i sure like my Logitech Internet Navigator keyboard!
Hey – I just learned you guys are in Flower Mound. I’m in Dallas. Good to know there are some real Mac guys here.
I just received my Unicomp Customizer and mah finguhs be dancin’. Have been grimacing using two Matias’s for a year and they’re about to hit ebay. Yes the Unicomp is ugly, but man is that feel great.
BTW, I think Pasteboard’s pre-4.1.1’s tooltips was actually cleaner. I think the ‘new and improved’ may be zizzier, but slower and just looks ‘wrong’. Just my opinion.
Allen, apparently they stopped making the Customizer 104 key.
Chuck, damn you! I want one so bad…
Hellmark, it’s definitely available. 2/2007
goto: http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/keyboards.html
They have a lame old-skool website, but deliver rapidly.
You might also consider the spacesaver, which I’m about to order in addition to my Customizer for one my other machines.
I luuv my Customizer!
Chuck, all that is available is the black, which I hate because of the ugly grey keys. I’d much rather have the beige. When those are out of stock, those are supposed to be no more too. When I contacted Unicomp, I was told that they would be bringing out a beige spacesavers and endura pros. The Endura was released in beige, but not the spacesaver. If it was black, with black keys, I would be fine, but I just hate the grey. I prefer monochrome for my computer stuff.
I tried to see if they would sell me the keys and such from a beige customizer (any one), but they said they wouldn’t sell parts like that.