Tactile Pro Keyboard

Adam Engst writes about a subject dear to me: keyboards. My favorite keyboard, in terms of feel, was the ADB keyboard that shipped with the Apple IIGS. Unfortunately, it didn’t have F-keys, Home/End, or Page Up/Page Down, and the arrow keys were arranged in a line. The keyboard that shipped with the SE/30 was flawed in the same ways, but it also had a good feel.

The Apple Extended Keyboard II combined a full set of keys with a solid, “clicky” feel that wasn’t too loud. I believe it was the best Macintosh keyboard ever made, and I continued to use mine after getting a USB Mac until it finally wore out. After that, I tried every Mac keyboard I could find and eventually settled on the Micro Connectors flavored keyboard (the Micro Connectors Web site seems to be down), which I use to this day. The Micro Connectors is a decent, but not great, keyboard. The feel is solid, but not as smooth as the older Apple keyboards, and it’s extremely loud.

(On the PC side, I was quite happy with the old PS2 Dell QuietKey. It had a great feel, and it truly was quiet.)

Engst reports on the Tactile Pro, which he says is similar to the Apple Extended Keyboard, but with USB, volume and eject keys, and detailed keycaps. Sounds great.