Apple Keyboard Imitation

November 13, 2007 3:30 PM

I love the looks of the new apple keyboard. I don't think that I would like those looks after I spent a couple weeks touching the white keys. Is there a similar keyboard with black keys? The more similar it is the better.

USB is better than wireless. The absense or presence of programable keys is not an isue. I wouldn't like to pay more than $60 dollars.

posted by I Foody to technology (9 answers total)

I've had mine since the first of September or so, and it's still looking good. On the few cases I've spilt anything on them, I've found that the keys clean up very easily.
posted by electric_counterpoint at 4:09 PM on November 13, 2007

I've had a lot of luck spray painting keyboards black. Put masking tape over the LEDs, spray, let dry.
posted by jeffamaphone at 4:30 PM on November 13, 2007

Also, clearcoat. Otherwise the pait rubs off after a few months and you have to repaint.
posted by jeffamaphone at 4:31 PM on November 13, 2007

Ditto electric_counterpoint. Unfortunately, I don't have any better suggestions!
posted by limeonaire at 4:31 PM on November 13, 2007

FWIW, Bioré Daily Cleansing cloths do an amazing job of cleaning grime from keyboards.

(Owner of 3 Apple keyboards that are still sparkling white after a couple years of use.)
posted by jamaro at 5:09 PM on November 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm not having any issues with dirt on the white keys either--like electric_counterpoint said, the board cleans up easily. (And it's oh so nice--whenever I'm at work, using that crappy stock keyboard on my work computer, I long for the one I'm using now.)
posted by Prospero at 5:39 PM on November 13, 2007

Out of curiosity, I tried swapping keys from a black MacBook keyboard to my Apple USB keyboard. In my case it worked like a charm, although different revisions of the MacBooks had different scissor switches under the keys so your mileage may vary.

The caveat is, the bottom row of keys is a different shape (control/option/spacebar/etc), and the MacBook doesn't have any of the keys to the right of the return key (home/end/the entire numpad/etc), so you'd end up with a black-and-white hybrid keyboard, if that appealed to you at all.
posted by churl at 9:46 PM on November 13, 2007

Perhaps a skin would be suitable (just an example - there's probably much more cheaply available on eBay). But if my white MacBook is anything to go by, they really do clean up fine.
posted by hgws at 1:41 AM on November 14, 2007

Magic Erasers work great for keyboard and macbook grime, just be sure to wring them out so they aren't so wet.
posted by ijoyner at 10:32 AM on November 16, 2007 [1 favorite]