12. Apple Magic Keyboard – Finest keyboard for Intel Macs
Apple’s keyboards are a bit complicated, with two generations of keyboards out there, and every era providing two totally different keyboards, with or and not using a numeric keypad.
The older era of Magic Keyboards remains to be out there, and is now meant primarily to be used with older Macs which have Intel processors. These older keyboards lack the Contact ID sensor that’s out there 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 very best choices out there from Apple—though, in fact, there are many different keyboards out there from different producers, which we assessment right here as nicely.
The smaller Magic Keyboard may be costly at $99/£99, however its elegant slimline design began a pattern for ‘low-profile’ keyboards that many different producers now observe 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 may want a bigger keyboard that’s really designed to do some correct work relatively than simply trying fairly.
The House Bar and the little set of navigation keys within the lower-right nook of the keyboard are additionally relatively 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 enjoying 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 ensure you don’t purchase an older mannequin from different on-line shops, which could nonetheless have a USB-A cable (except, in fact, you’ve obtained an outdated Mac that solely has USB-A connectors).
And, in fact, there’s the bigger model, referred to as the Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad ($129/£129). That is additionally fairly costly however provides a numeric keypad for individuals who have to do a bit of significant quantity crunching every so often. This keyboard additionally has a bigger set of navigation keys, which may be very helpful for scrolling via lengthy paperwork or internet pages, and a further set of navigation keys that will let you rapidly leap to the highest or backside of a doc.
The bigger keyboard format additionally implies that there’s room for some further Operate keys too, going proper as much as F19 (relatively than F12 for the smaller Magic Keyboard). It’s a disgrace, although, that the choices within the macOS for programming your individual keyboard shortcuts are pretty restricted, so energy customers may want to make use of a third-party utility equivalent to USB OverDrive or HotKey App, to make full use of those further 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 finest costs for Apple Keyboards and Mice in our offers round-up.
