Apple Extended Keyboard [AEK Numero Uno] - Great Keyboard? Or *Greatest* Keyboard?

[trs]

 

[Durosity]

Personally I prefer the AEKII.. but maybe that's just because that's what I was used to back in the day. Also I quite liked the butterfly switch keyboard on my 12" MacBook so perhaps I'm not the best judge of keyboards.

 

[Nixontheknight]

I personally prefer the ADK, feels like a modern keyboard, as it isn't too clunky

 

[finkmac]

it's just a keyboard.
imo looks wrong with big box mac IIs
and looks REALLY wrong with compact macs.

 

[croissantking]

and looks REALLY wrong with compact macs.

What! It's one of my favourite pairings. It's amusingly silly.

 

[trs]

What! It's one of my favourite pairings. It's amusingly silly.

An AEK parked in front of an SE/30 is a beautiful sight indeed. Like a Mini Cooper body on a GMC Jimmy frame, there’s no kill like overkill.

I love pairing my AEK with my desktop-bound MBP via a drakware ADB dongle - deliciously anachronistic

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AEK PROS & CONS

PROS:

• Just the right shade of silver-beige
• Key switches go “clicky-slap” in a satisfying way when you’re really cookin’
• Fixed at a most agreeable angle for my middle-aged wrists
• ADB ports are clocked properly (imho) so that the square part faces away from the user (comports favorably with my particular flavor of OCD)
• “undo cut copy paste” markings under the F1-F4 keys is a soothing reminder of simpler times, like a comfort blanket or a faded window sticker on a vintage car
• Apple logo in bottom-left corner just looks right
• The original AEK, so extra street cred

CONS:

• Caps Lock key is too sensitive
  • You know what I mean - sometimes the key cap doesn’t stay down when you hit Caps Lock and so it’ll be in Caps Lock with the Caps Lock light on but the key will still be “up” and so you gotta tap it super quick to get it right or else your aforementioned OCD will eat you from the inside out
  • Barely a CON but I had to put something here

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AEK II PROS & CONS

PROS:

• Adjustable height, if you’re into that sort of thing
• Two of the three versions have really nice key switches
• I like the shape of the AEK II’s Power key more than the AEK’s

CONS:

• Bunko height-adjustment mechanism loves to collapse at random intervals
• ADB ports face the wrong way (according to me)
• Apple logo placed way up at the tippy top in an awkward spot that fees like an after thought
  • Fails to “tie” the proverbial “room” metaphorically “together”
• Feels ~10% flimsier than the AEK

-ONE MORE-

ADK PROS & CONS

NEITHER PRO NOR CON:

• Permanently attached ADB cord
  • Sorta goes hand in hand with having only one ADB port but really doesn’t matter
• Feet up or feet down, doesn’t matter, angle is the textbook example of MID
  • Look up “mid” in the dictionary and you’ll see a halftone illustration of an ADK in both positions
  • Right below that, by definition #2, you’ll see a halftone illustration of an ADK key switch, followed by “see also: mushy, flavorless, dead”
• Apple logo is embossed and not a sweet li’l enamel six color Apple LIKE GOD INTENDED but not a total deal breaker

-2 3 4 DJ BREAK IT DOWN NOW -

AEK UNO is the CLEAR WINNER

 

[ClassicGuyPhilly]

@trs put forth much wisdom above, I will simply say AEK!