After five years of daily usage, the keyboard that came with my 2017 iMac Pro started to show its age. I mean, there is nothing wrong with it — just that the keys have become too soft. It has developed a certain patina — which is great on leather accessories but not as appealing on a keyboard. Or at least that’s the excuse I am using to justify spending a whopping $149 on the new Magic Keyboard with TouchID.
The new keyboard(s) is designed to work with devices powered by the M1 chips, and you need the latest version of Apple’s operating system. You can use the new Magic Keyboard with the Intel-based Macs, but the Touch ID doesn’t work with those machines. Also, instead of getting one with a numeric keypad, I ordered a smaller non-numeric version. Why? I wanted something that would work well with my home machine and my M1-powered 12.9 iPad Pro.
I prefer the standalone Magic Keyboard with my iPad versus the heavier, more expensive $350 Magic Keyboard for iPad. For a while, I have used my older Apple Keyboard — the one that used AA batteries. Sadly, it is being relegated to the retirement drawer.
For me, that was one of the best-designed keyboards — the battery compartment gave it a slant at a nice comfortable angle and allowed you to type for long periods. The subsequent version of Magic (Read more…)