Good replacement for fingerprint keyboard for iMac

Hi DJMc

I can't confirm this reply is valid for the M1 Macs but for the older Intel Macs, Desktops and Notebooks you can connect multiple keyboards simultaneously.

You may find that you can connect a standard Mac keyboard without the finger print reader in parallel to your biometric enabled one, allowing you to use the finger print reader when required and push the biometric keyboard to one side when not needed for validation, then do everything else on the standard Mac Keyboard.

It's a bit of a messy solution but it is one we use here in our office where one of our staff learned to type on a (Wired) Microsoft Natural Keyboard and she uses that keyboard when working with our Mac, while we push that to one side and use the Apple Magic Keyboard when we use the machine.

I agree with your comments Re: difficulty typing with the extended Apple Magic Keyboard, especially when, as we do, move constantly between Apple Macs, Windows and Linux workstations all day.

FYI, The problem I find is not just the short keyboard action of the Magic Keyboard but the spatial perception dislocation as you move between a standard keyboard and an extended keyboard, you quite unconsciously find your hands continually migrating to the physical centre of the extended keyboard and then wonder why your fingers are hitting the keys to the right of those you intended, this seems to affect those of us that learned to touch-type many years ago, rather than those users that are constantly looking at the keyboard while typing.

We have several Macs still in daily use on campus, and for the majority of those we use cheap third-party ,wired, Apple Mac standard and extended keyboards from Macally, Logitech and Perixx.

The nature of our environment, means that our keyboards are regularly abused and replaced often, our IT dept rarely buys keyboards for anything more than the equivalent of around $40 - USD, and these do feel a little more conventional in use than the latest Magic Keyboards.

There may be super-luxurious and well engineered third-party wired and wireless keyboards for Macs on the market but sadly we do not get to see those here.

If you have any old wired (or wireless) keyboard lying around, even from a Windows machine, try connecting that to your M1 Mac while leaving the Magic Biometric Extended one connected and see if that workaround solution will work for you, if so then have a look at the standard or extended, wired or wireless, Mac keyboards from those manufacturers I mentioned above.

HTH.

Will.

There are none - only Apple-made touch keyboards will work with your iMac.

That's like asking to recommend a pair of good fitting shoes. You'll need to try some and find out which fits best. Same is true for personal preferences for keyboards

I prefer Apple devices with Apple Macs. There will be a learning curve, but that's true of every new device to one extent or another.

Hi hcsitas.

I think you misunderstood my response.

The OP has an M1 Mac but does not enjoy typing on the Apple Magic biometric extended keyboard that he had supplied with his Mac.

He asked if there is a recommended alternative biometric keyboard with finger-print reader that is compatible with M1 Mac’s, of which there are none currently available.

My suggestion was that he could attempt to connect a second, standard, Mac keyboard to his M1 Mac, in simultaneous parallel mode, which I know works on Intel Macs, and use the Biometric finger print reader on his Extended Biometric keyboard when required for validation purposes but use the second standard keyboard for all other interaction.

I did not recommend that he could use a biometric keyboard with a non-M1 Mac for validation purposes.

I hope that is clearer?

Will.

I have bunch of good things to say about Apple keyboards. In fact I have and my family has followed my lead and all are happy with their decisions for Apple replacements: wife, son and daughter-in-law.

Touch ID doesn’t work with non-M1s, I’m not sure how you can claim it does (unless I misunderstood you).

Yes, perfect 😁🙏