Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/04/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]<<You must be on an Apple desktop because the keyboard of my iBook G is the worst I have ever used. When I try to type fast (or slow for that matter), the curser bounces all over the place landing in odd places elsewhere in the text. I love the rest of the machine too much to part with it.>> Apple keyboards, especially those on laptops, have gotten worse over the years. I have been a Mac user since 1984 and still have most of the computers I've owned since that time. (My anal retentive obsession is the topic for another post.) The keyboards on recent iBooks are, perhaps the worst ever affixed to an otherwise excellent computer. The main problem is the laptop flatness fetish. Keys should have a travel of at least 5 mm and have a positive snap to give tactile feedback. The excellent early IBM keyboards are good examples. To reduce the computer depth to less than 1 inch, Apple has sacrificed key travel and key "click." Moreover the thin iBook keyboard frame makes it bounce like a trampoline. The Powerbooks are somewhat better but still not good. Even the keyboard of the new MacIntel desktops is inferior to that supplied on the original 128K Macintosh of 1984. Apple's most ergonomic laptop design and the one with the best keyboard in recent memory is the G3 Firewire My laptop using colleagues cherish this model and some have upgraded it to absurd lengths in an attempt to emulate the speed of the newer models but keep the usability of the old. Larry Z