Customer Reviews

Kensington 64350 Keyboard-in-a-Box USB Keyboard for Mac (Mac/PC)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This keyboard is functional and I am generally satisfied by it, but I should have been more attentive about the things it does not offer. Unlike current Apple keyboards, this one has no volume control keys nor an eject key. After using an Apple keyboard for some time, I have grown quite fond of those keys and miss them.

Also, this keyboard came with two keys that initially did not respond to the same pressure as did the other keys. I was able - by means of mashing down quite firmly on them - to get them to respond normally and they have given me no further trouble.

It's a good alternative to the official Mac keyboard. It is a true MacOS keyboard, not a repurposed Windoze keyboard: it has a Command key instead of an Alt key (though you can still emulate the Alt Key by pressing shift-Option); it has a power on/off button, etc. It lacks multimedia features (but the lack of the extra controls does mean that the unit is smaller than most Windoze keyboards.)

The feel of the keyboard is not as nice as the Apple keyboard: you have to hit the keys pretty hard and the unit is noisy. Happily, when you use this keyboard, you don't suffer from the repeating-key syndrome which makes life hell for Apple keyboard users.

The keyboard has two USB ports, which is handy.

One gripe I have is that the Caps Lock key is much too large and is in the wrong place. It is much too easy to hit the Caps Lock key when you mean to hit the Tab key (which I use much more often than the Caps Lock.) A lesser gripe is that it is easy to hit the F11 key instead of the Delete key (when you hit the F11 key, the current window shrinks to a bar on the side of the screen.)

It's not the ideal keyboard, but it's better than many of the alternatives.

I should have bought the Apple keyboard. This is a well-built and good 'feeling' keyboard, but it is missing the essential volume (up, down and mute) and the disk eject keys that are standard on all Apple brand keyboards. Why they would leave those off is beyond comprehension.

Also, Kensington tech support is very Mac unsavvy. When I contacted them about how to open the optical disk drawer (when there's not already a disk in the drive) on a Quicksilver G4 without an eject key, they said that F12 would work. Well, before OS X 10.4 (Tiger) it may have, but in Tiger F12 is the default key to activate the Dashboard. When I explained this to Kensington, they had no idea on earth what I was talking about. I finally had to change the Dashboard activation key to something else so that, now, F12 does indeed open the drawer, but if I had been a newbie to Macs I may not have recognized that such a key change was possible or how to do it. I'm glad I was able to help Kensington out.

This has served as an excellent full-sized keyboard for my PowerBook. It is well constructed and has a good weight to the keys. Close-at-hand, the USB ports are very convenient for simple tasks such as downloading images from a digital camera. I use one of them to connect my Kensington Pocket Mouse. This frees up the other USB port on the PowerBook for connecting to the printer. The two extra ports are just right for the number of peripherals that I typically have connected (keyboard, mouse, printer, digital camera), thus, negating the need for a separate hub. I'd highly recommend this keyboard as a full-size supplement for any Mac notebook user in the market.

The resistance in the keys is very high in this keyboard, especially in the keys that are normally struck by the pinky fingers. Very irritating for those of us who type with the occasional capital letter, and must constantly correct the capitalization because our beleaguered pinkies didn't press the stiff buttons down far enough. However, this probably won't be as big a problem to those who type all in lower-case.

I finally gave up and bought a laptop style keyboard (even though the command key is in the wrong place), due to my intense frustration at having to retype constantly.

This is pretty good keyboard, for the price, especially becuase it has two USB ports. I have an ibook, which only comes with two USB ports of its own, so having the extra two is very nice. It was pretty easy to set up too, just plug it in and your Mac pretty much does the rest. The only problem I have with this is the depth of the keys. If you are used to typing on a laptop that has shallow key depths, it takes a little time to get used to this keyboard. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but it does slow down my typing. But then again, I probably would have had the same problem with any other keyboards.

I bought this keyboard for my laptop running Windows. There was no setting up needed. Just connected and the PC recognized the keyboard and I was able start using it. The keyboard comes with two USB ports; one on each side for further expansion. I connected my USB mouse to the RHS port and within seconds, I was able to input using the mouse.

Very satisfied with the functionality and easy setup. (It is probably the operating system that is making it easy.)

Since it is primarily intended for a Mac, PC users need little getting used to. I wouldn't use this on my primary PC where productivity and convenience are of much higher importance. CompUSA is selling this for under ten dollars.

I bought this keyboard as a temp thing, thinking to get something 'better' eventually. I was surprised though - for it's price, this is one hell of a keyboard. I think that the only bad thing about it is that its form is not ergonomic. It is very quiet, of good quality, and ... mac compatible - so one doesn't have to fiddle with the modifiers key setup. I like it very much. I've used an Adesso ergonomic Mac keyboard, and I tell you, it's quality and comfort are pretty bad compared to this Kensington toy. Even my good ol' Logitech is not as comfy.
The reason I give 4 out of 5 stars is because it does not have the ergonomic form - I wish some people at Kensington would read this and act accordingly.

Pros:
- quiet
- soft
- mac key layout
- relatively small

Cons:
- not ergonomic
- if you plug it in while the mac is turned on, the 'caps lock', 'num lock', and 'scroll lock' automatically lit up, though the actual 'locks' are not affected - you can press caps twice to reset the lights.
- no volume buttons (but the brightness and eject = F12 are there)

i'm using this with windows xp, it is a nice smaller size, quiet typing although the keys seem to press down too "deep" so it takes some getting used to and seems to me like it kinda slows down typing just a little, not a very significant downside, very convienient usb ports on keyboard however i think they are a little qwirky with windows cause some things dont work through them and every once and awhile i have to play with the mouses' reciever to get it to work. overall no serious downsides at all, very good for space saving inexepensive keyboard, not to sure what the "power button" on it does for windows i assume it works as a power switch for mac? anyway for the price id buy it again for sure.

I bought this for my wife to use with a Dell Inspiron laptop. Plugged it in and every key, except the Mac-style power key, works as it should. She likes it so much, we just ordered one for her to use at work.

If you think you might like to try this product, you should order it ASAP as they are hard to find. Even Kensington has them on backorder.