14. Apple Magic Keyboard – Greatest keyboard for Intel Macs
Apple’s keyboards are a bit complicated, with two generations of keyboards obtainable, and every era providing two totally different keyboards, with or with no numeric keypad.
The older era of Magic Keyboards continues to be obtainable, and is now supposed primarily to be used with older Macs which have Intel processors. These older keyboards lack the Contact ID sensor that’s obtainable with the 2 new keyboards that Apple launched in the summertime of 2021.
Contact ID and a number of the different options of the brand new keyboards don’t work with Intel-based Macs, so in case your Mac has an Intel processor then these older keyboards are the perfect choices obtainable from Apple—though, after all, there are many different keyboards obtainable from different producers, which we assessment right here as nicely.
The smaller Magic Keyboard could be costly at $99/£99, however its elegant slimline design began a development for ‘low-profile’ keyboards that many different producers now comply with too.
The aluminium physique does really feel fairly sturdy, however the slimline design implies that the keys don’t ‘journey’ very nicely, so speedy typists would possibly choose a bigger keyboard that’s really designed to do some correct work moderately than simply trying fairly.
The Area Bar and the little set of navigation keys within the lower-right nook of the keyboard are additionally moderately small and fiddly. To be honest, although, the compact little keyboard does squeeze in fairly a couple of helpful options, with the highest row of Operate keys offering controls for brightness, quantity and taking part in music.
The Magic Keyboard works as an ordinary Bluetooth keyboard, and Apple says that its rechargeable battery will final for a couple of month at a time. Like all Apple keyboards it has a Lightning port for charging, however the newest model of the Magic Keyboard now features a USB-C-to-Lightning cable, so be sure to don’t purchase an older mannequin from different on-line shops, which could nonetheless have a USB-A cable (except, after all, you’ve received an previous Mac that solely has USB-A connectors).
And, after all, there’s the bigger model, known as the Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad ($129/£129). That is additionally fairly costly however provides a numeric keypad for individuals who must do a bit of significant quantity crunching from time to time. This keyboard additionally has a bigger set of navigation keys, which may be very helpful for scrolling by way of lengthy paperwork or internet pages, and a further set of navigation keys that permit you to shortly bounce to the highest or backside of a doc.
The bigger keyboard structure additionally implies that there’s room for some extra Operate keys too, going proper as much as F19 (moderately than F12 for the smaller Magic Keyboard). It’s a disgrace, although, that the choices within the macOS for programming your personal keyboard shortcuts are pretty restricted, so energy customers would possibly choose to make use of a third-party utility resembling USB OverDrive or HotKey App, to make full use of those additional Operate keys. This bigger keyboard has the identical month-long battery life because the smaller Magic Keyboard, though it’s displaying its age somewhat as (surprisingly) its charging cable nonetheless has a USB-A connector.
Yow will discover the greatest costs for Apple Keyboards and Mice in our offers round-up.
