I picked up an Apple aluminium wired keyboard last week as I’ve been reading good things about it and was keen to try it out. This replaces the Matias Tactile Pro that has served me so well ever since I bought my G5.

The Tactile Pro is an outstanding keyboard for typists. It is solidly built, has a good feel and, as it name implies, is a very tactile keyboard - you know when you’ve pressed a key on the Tactile Pro. It’s keys are also labelled with all the characters that are available from each key, which is a great for programmers like myself. I would never hesitate to recommend the Tactile Pro to those demanding a keyboard that’s built like a tank and perfect for the hardcore typist.

On the other hand, the Apple keyboard is unlike any I have used before. The keys have little (but just enough) travel. They are light and easy to type with and, unlike the Tactile Pro, they are very quiet in use - so I no longer disturb my sleeping children with my late night programming antics.

The Apple keyboard has 19(!) programmable function keys (awesome). Some of these are pre-assigned though for media player control, exposé, widgets & display brightness - although all can be remapped as required. The keyboard also has a user-friendly caps-lock key in that Apple has configured the keyboard to detect accidental taps on caps-lock, the key requires a determined press to activate it… that’s a neat touch.

Apple has also thoughtfully included two USB-2 ports, one each on either side of the keyboard, for quick and convenient connection of peripherals.

I like the Apple keyboard - it has already usurped the Tactile Pro in my set-up. It’s easy and comfortable to use. It’s responsive, quiet and is a nice cosmetic match to my aluminium PowerMac G5 and Appl