SMK-88 Compact Mac Keyboard seems to be fairly hefty and sturdy; I have yet to open it up so I cannot be 100% sure about its build quality. It has nice smooth key caps and black stemmed (linear) Cherry key switches. There is also a USB plug on the right hand side of the keyboard. However, instead of integrating a USB hub like most keyboards this keyboard came with 2 USB plugs which both need to be plugged into the computer if you want to use that right side USB port. Note that the cord is also very short 52 inches to be exact.
The layout is pretty close to a standard keyboard if you removed the numpad and arrow keys. Make sure you look at the images to make sure you could deal with this layout. As far as my opinion on the layout goes it’s pretty close to perfect. My complaints are the function keys are really far away from the top (numbers) row and they are not grouped into sets for 4 like a standard keyboard. This makes it almost impossible to press the correct function key without looking at the keyboard. Luckily, the function keys are rarely used so it’s not a huge knock against this keyboard.
So how do the black stemmed Cherry switches feel? Very stiff and contrary to other postings on this site they are not linear. A better description of these switches would be quadratic. But even quadratic isn’t quite right. The first millimeter of travel in the keys is a breeze but anything after that there’s hell to pay to try and bottom these suckers out. After only 1mm of travel the switches register a key press and from there on the switches give more and more resistance to being pressed. It’s almost like after that first millimeter another spring is there to resist you from pushing the key any further. So if you could get used to not pressing the keys much passed that 1mm mark then these switches could suit you quite nicely. So instead of a tactile “click” you have a stiff resistance which tells you a key stroke was already registered. At first I absolutely hated this keyboard I just wanted to smash the keys to pieces because they are so hard to bottom out. However, the more I have been typing on the keyboard the better I have become at noticing the resistance and I stop fighting the stiff spring and just flow with the easy to press first millimeter and then I release.
As far a noise they are pretty similar to a membrane keyboard. However, it all depends on how are you press the keys because if you bottom them out really hard you get a plastic on plastic clunk but even then it's not that loud.
Note that I am reviewing this keyboard on Windows XP Pro SP2 and not any flavor of Macintosh. So to all you windows users, do not be scared of that strange key that surrounds the space bar (I think Mac folks call it the command key). All they did was shrink the space bar to make room for that new key. The Alt keys are in exactly the place your thumbs expect them to be and the space bar is still plenty big that it will be under both your thumbs when you’re resting on the home keys. As for what the command key does it acts as the windows key. So believe it or not I hit Alt+f+s all the time to save and several other Alt shortcuts and I have not once accidentally hit the Command (windows) key. That is a testament to the fact that the Alt key is truly still where it’s suppose to be. However, if you’re still scared of the Command/windows key being next to the space bar KeyTweak (
http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/) is capable of remapping it for you.
Gamers be aware, this keyboard might not let you hold down enough keys! I was playing CS:S with this keyboard and if I’m holding down W+D and I press the 1 key it does not register. On normal keys this keyboard seems to have a limit of only two keys down at once unless it’s a special key such as Shift or Space as I was able to still “crouch jump” by press W+D+Shift+Space (I have crouch bound to shift instead of ctrl). So for me this keyboard still works for my gaming experience.
I’m a programmer so I’m writing/navigating code all day long so how do I survive without the arrow keys page up/page down in their normal spots? Well this keyboard finally got me off my lazy butt and got me to do what I’ve been meaning to for awhile now. I installed KeyTweak (
http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/) and Autohotkey (
http://www.autohotkey.com/).
Here’s what I did:
Used KeyTweek to remap caps lock to right shift.
Then I created the following autohotkey script:
*>+l::SendInput {Blind}{RShift up}{Right}{RShift down}
*>+k::SendInput {Blind}{RShift up}{Down}{RShift down}
*>+j::SendInput {Blind}{RShift up}{Left}{RShift down}
*>+i::SendInput {Blind}{RShift up}{Up}{RShift down}
*>+u::SendInput {Blind}{RShift up}{Home}{RShift down}
*>+m::SendInput {Blind}{RShift up}{End}{RShift down}
*>+o::SendInput {Blind}{RShift up}{PgUp}{RShift down}
*>+.::SendInput {Blind}{RShift up}{PgDn}{RShift down}
>+Backspace::SendInput {Delete}
So what does this script do? In a nutshell it turns i j k l keys into arrow keys, u m to Home and End keys and o . to page up page down. I won’t go deep into details of the script as you can read for yourself on autohotkey.com but here’s my explanation of line 1:
Rebind any modifier key (the *) + right shift + L to send those modifiers plus the Right arrow key but remove the fact that Right Shift is down. Modifiers keys are Control, Shift, Alt, or Windows Key.
So as you can see I simply hold Caps Lock (now rebound to right shift thanks to key tweak) and I, J, K, or L and I get the arrow keys. I can also hold Caps Lock + Left Shift + I, J, K, or L and now it’s like I’m pressing Shift + Up,Down,Left,Right.
I got this keyboard from DSI (
http://www.notestation.com/smk-88.htm). I called up Karl (call him he never responded to any of my emails even after a week) and asked him about SMK 88 he said they were out of stock but he had 4 “old” ones that he would sell me at $32 each. So I bought one and for $32 that’s a pretty darn good deal.
So is this keyboard going to replace my G15? That’s still yet to be determined… I’m starting to like it. In an ideal world I would take the blue stemmed Cherry switches from my Scorpius and put them in here (except for the space bar). If I did that then this would be pretty close to the perfect keyboard.
