Does Apple make a mechanical keyboard?

Finding a good mechanical, USB keyboard is tough these days...it is so much cheaper to make the kind now available. The best keyboard I ever owned was made by Northgate Computer in Minneapolis, but they are out of business now.

"Northgate" ... holy cow ... some nuerons I cannot *quite* isolate just fired off in the deepest recesses of my brain!

Hi Steve, yes I had a Northgate 386 long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away...even did some hiogh performance computer testing on one of their machines they loaned me...for comparison with a machine I had custom built with a 386 and Motorola board to do parallel processing...before anyone had even heard of such a thing on the desktop. But that was a lifetime ago 🙂

I feel your pain. This is why I still use an old Apple Extended Keyboard (a.k.a.: Enterprise.) I uses good Alps mechanisms and because it was as close as I could get to what I consider the best keyboard for touch typing, the IBM Model M. Both have the same layout without the large return key, so I can transition between my Mac and PCs easily. (I have 4 Model Ms so that I don't have to worry about ever needing to find another one. 🙂 )

In the past, I would have suggested trying to find a Apple Extended Keyboard, but no one makes the ADB-to-USB adapter anymore. If you don't mind getting a Windows keyboard (so that you can use the Windows key as Command, albiet in the wrong place,) Unicomp still makes "buckling spring" keyboards similar to the Model M, and have the Windows key and are USB.

If you really want to have the Command key in the proper place, then my next recommendation would be to find a Apple keyboard from a G5 iMac. They're not bad, but for me, I they feel a little soft. Beyond that, there's the Matias FK302. I haven't tried that one, but if my Apple Extended Keyboard or it's ADB-to-USB adapter ever fails, that's the one I'd try next.

All of these aren't cheap, but as you already know, for a fast typist, a good keyboard is like a crack pipe to an addict. 😀

(edit: I've just been told that the Unicomp Spacesaver M has a Mac layout with the Command and Option keys.)

Maybe Macally.

http://www.amazon.com/Macally-USB-Slim-Keyboard-ICEKEY/dp/B00006HYP6

I just got the Spacesaver M (new) from Unicomp, the keyboard mentioned above. This is basically an original-design IBM Model M modified to work with Macs, that is, it's got Control/Option/Command keys, and the function keys are labeled and configured as media controls.

I've heard that people are having trouble with the monitor brightness controls (F1/F2) with this keyboard. After calling Unicomp and learning they didn't know how to solve this, I figured it out, for me at least.

I still had my Apple Bluetooth keyboard connected (via Bluetooth) at the same time my Spacesaver M was plugged in via USB. I was able to switch between the two keyboards without changing any preference settings, so I saw no reason to disconnect the Bluetooth keyboard.

IMPORTANT: disconnecting the Apple keyboard (click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar, select the keyboard device, and select "Disconnect") allowed the brightness controls on the USB keyboard to begin functioning as they should!

Incidentally, I'm running Lion 10.7.4.

Back to the original subject, in addition to Spacesaver M, there are a few other mechanical keyboards that may merit consideration: Das Keyboard Model "S" Professional and Mathias Tactile Pro 2. I'm listing some blogged reviews of these keyboards below:

• The Das Keyboard (3/27/2012)
• Product Review: Das Keyboard Model “S” Professional (11/1/2009)
• IBM Keyboards - The Odyssey Continues (6/3/2005 updated 3/10/2012)
• Further thoughts on the Kinesis Advantage, Unicomp Space Saver, and Das Keyboard—two years later (7/17/2011)
• Here's an interesting thread on the IBM Model M on geekhack.org

-^-rdj-^-

Mathias tactile pro, Leopold 500r, filco. Just a couple that I'm familiar with. Probably not that well known your side of the pond. But they look pretty good by my estimation. If you don't mind the stigma that comes with a gaming keyboard Razer mechanicals are actually pretty decent.

I just bought a Matias keyboard which seemed like a great idea with nice clicky buttons but I am taking it right back! First it occasionally starts typing random words in Greek? It was expensive and then I noticed that when I tried to use google, instead of going there it sent random unknow gogle entries to my download folder. Scary. Dont know whats the matter with this thing but its not good. Anybody else have solutions before it goes back????

yellowpencils6 wrote:

it occasionally starts typing random words in Greek?

If you wind up getting something like åß∂ƒ©˙∆ for asdfghj, it means the option key is being activated by mistake, and is probably damaged. Replacing the keyboard could fix it.