I believe the Apple Extended Keyboard II was the last Apple keyboard with mechanical switches. I know that it's a desired keyboard even today!
Out of the all of the keyboards I use regularly, I think my granite SGI is my favorite. On my main work Mac, I was using a Das Keyboard until a few days ago. I just had trouble going from the Das Keyboard back to the integrated Macbook Pro keyboard. I sometimes work from home with the Macbook in clamshell mode, and sometimes at a co-working space with just the Macbook. So, I switched back to their tiny wireless keyboard, though I wish they had a full size wireless keyboard. I'm also in a constant battle between a great keyboard and a clean desk with no wires. A nice project might be building an internal, battery powered bluetooth adapter into an Apple Extended II. On Tue, May 31, 2016 at 5:16 PM, Swift Griggs <swiftgri...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Tue, 31 May 2016, Liam Proven wrote: > > On 31 May 2016 at 19:15, Chris Hanson <cmhan...@eschatologist.net> > wrote: > > > On my desk at work, I have a 5K iMac hooked up to the same Apple > Extended Keyboard II that I've been using since 1990. :) > > Excellent! :-) > > I'm not a huge Apple zealot to the point of wearing black turtlenecks > every day, but I gotta hand it to them, they have been a big innovator > with keyboard design. They (almost?) always design their own keyboards. > They have had big fat key'd ones and tiny thin aluminum designs, ones with > huge borders and ones with nearly zero borders, but they've always tried > to put a little bit of pinache therein. Successful or not, I respect them > a lot for trying, and several of their designs are very nice. I've never > known them to create "clackety" keyboards with mechanical switches, but > then again there are only two groups who care: gamers and curmudgeons > (*grin*). > > I made my choice to be an "IT guy" a long time ago, I might as well do it > in style and comfort with the most beautiful gear I can get. Thus, the IT > gear I'm least afraid to drop money on is my keyboard and monitor. Okay > cash on keyboards in my case is a vulgar embarrassment (let's just not > talk about that *ugh*), but monitors I only buy once every few years (if > that much). When I do buy one, I choose *very* carefully. > > That was the one thing that never really shone in the SGI world, despite > some cool fru-fru in other places. I have a granite slab keyboard and an > SGI USB keyboard. Neither is anything special (and the USB one has DOMES > *gasp*... the horror). However, SGI did have the "dials and buttons" and > "Spaceball" interfaces. So what they lose in style points for lack of cool > keyboard designs I have to re-award for their other cool input devices. > > -Swift > > -- Ben Sinclair b...@bensinclair.com