Options for a Mac layout Cherry MX Red/Blue/Brown backlit keyboard?

[rowdy]

Greetings all.

I am looking for a mechanical keyboard for my Mac, so Mac layout is preferred.  I have in the past used Mac keyboards on PCs and PC keyboards on a Mac, and neither option really grabs me, so it really has to have a Mac layout.

I would also like a backlit keyboard - that's been a desire for some time now.

The Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Mac Edition (Cherry MX Blue) seems to fit the bill, but from reading a few posts Razer does not seem to have a good reputation around here for keyboards.

Are there any others (backlit, Cherry MX red/blue/brown, Mac layout) that anyone is aware of?  I have not found any in my searches.

The primary use is general typing (emails and programming), plus a bit of gaming every now and again (mainly Minecraft and Portal).  Budget is up to $150.

Also, must be available in Australia - postage for a keyboard from the US seems to be around $70 which would cut the funding for the actual keyboard to about half :-O

Thank you for any suggestions.

[dorkvader]

As far as I know, just finding mac-layout mechanicals is difficult. There's the razer, the matias tactile pro, and WASD will make custom keycaps. A Backlit Verison is even harder. The BW May be your only option.

Now, if you get white keycaps, like from WASD, you can put them on a backlit keyboard and still have the neat effect, though it might be over budget, depending on what keyboard you go with
---
Overall, you have a hefty bill of requirements

• Under $150
• Backlit
• Mac Layout
• Australia

You may want to wait for others to chime in (You may have another option, who knows) but I'm sure there are some BW Users on this forum who haven't had issues.

[rowdy]

Yes I realise my options are limited, and having stumbled on this site while looking for information on an APC-H4100E I thought that it would not hurt to ask.

By the way there is also a Mac version of Das Keyboard ... not backlit.

I personally have not experienced Razer products, and there are plenty of people who have had good experiences, but also plenty with bad experiences.

My second choice probably would have been the Matias Tactile Pro - I have only heard good things about it.  But ... not backlit.

*sigh*

[Matias]

rowdy,

We'll be releasing the new Tactile Pro 4 soon, and also a quiet version, but neither are backlit.  Both will be available in Australia.

If you must have backlit, I saw a new Ducky tenkeyless for Mac at Computex last week, but I don't know when they'll be available or which Cherry switches they'll have.

[IvanIvanovich]

Yeah, I would also hold out for the iShine. It should be out real soon from what I understand and will be available in 4 switch types.

[Frenden]

Does anyone have a line on just replacement CMD/Winkey keycaps that support backlighting? I just ordered a Race and want to toss a Mac-appropriate backlit capable key on it.

[tobydeemer]

It's not backlit, but from what I understand, this board is well-liked in the mac crowd: http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:5141

[rowdy]

rowdy,

We'll be releasing the new Tactile Pro 4 soon, and also a quiet version, but neither are backlit.  Both will be available in Australia.

If you must have backlit, I saw a new Ducky tenkeyless for Mac at Computex last week, but I don't know when they'll be available or which Cherry switches they'll have.

I love the look of the Tactile Pro series - but no backlighting  I was originally going to get a keyboard just with backlighting, but decided to see whether I could go mechanical too.

Ducky tenkeyless ... need tenkey, I do a bit of number entry too, and I would be lost without the keypad.

I'll just shoot myself in the other foot now ...

[Matias]

I'll just shoot myself in the other foot now ...

:-)

Have you ever tried a white keyboard?  It's easier to see, without a backlight shining up in your face.

[rowdy]

:-)

Have you ever tried a white keyboard?  It's easier to see, without a backlight shining up in your face.

Yes, I have an Apple aluminium keyboard at the moment.

I'm running Nocturne on the Mac to remove the wallpaper and invert the screen colours so that first thing in the morning I am not blinded by a white screen glaring back at me out of the gloom.  Because of that, there is not much light emanating from the monitor to illuminate the keyboard.

[dorkvader]

Have you considered having a non-backlit tenkey in addition to a backlit TKL keyboard? That might be a good option, and there are lots of decent tenkeys with mechanical keyswitches.

[rowdy]

Have you considered having a non-backlit tenkey in addition to a backlit TKL keyboard? That might be a good option, and there are lots of decent tenkeys with mechanical keyswitches.

An interesting idea, but that would nearly double the cost

Also remember that it (or they) need to have a Mac layout.  TKL or not, there are few enough Mac layout keyboards to begin with.  Add backlit onto that, and the Razer is about the only one.

[metafour]

What do you consider a "mac layout?"

[dorkvader]

You can get a "mac layout" tenkey via one of the programmable ones, or by remappnig keys. If you really need the extra key, a tipro would do.

Why would it double the cost? Standard mechanical tenkeys aren't that expensive (even new ones) online, and even programmable ones from tipro or access get pretty low if you wait on a deal.

[rowdy]

What do you consider a "mac layout?"

At the moment, an Apple aluminium keyboard typifies a "Mac layout" keyboard to me.  It has 19 function keys across the top (excluding the eject key, which is not labelled as a function key as such), an eject key (the optical drive in most Macs does not have an eject button), Control/Option/Command keys either side of the space bar (as opposed to Ctrl/Windows/Alt keys on one side and Alt/Windows/menu/Ctrl keys on the other side of a typical Windows keyboard).  And the Windows Ins is replaced with a "fn" key as a function key modifier, so for example, pressing F3 shows Expose (a thumbnail of all open windows) and fn-F3 is just plain F3 (although this behaviour can be reversed, I find that I tend to use the Mac-specific functions more than the plain old Fn functions).  Most of the function keys have two functions, Mac-specific and plain old Fn.  I use them, but not often enough to remember exactly which is which, so labels on the keys serve as reminders.  I am aware that a Windows keyboard will map most of these, but with the key function not necessarily reflected in the key labelling.

I know the keys on most good mechanical keyboards can be swapped, but that is an extra cost on top of the keyboard cost.

[metafour]

I have the Apple mini bluetooth aluminum keyboard and the magic trackpad. I use gestures on the trackpad if I want to activate Mission Control or navigate spaces. I use Alfred to launch apps so I don't use the Launchpad. I've been using a Poker up until today. I just use the dip switch that switches the left alt and win key which matches the mac layout and I don't use the right side modifiers all that much. I use KeyRemap4MacBook to handle some extra stuff that I would like such as ctrl-[hjkl] for cursor movement following vi/vim's bindings. and then I have ctrl-[ mapped to escape as well that way I didn't have to worry about the ~ and escape key swapping with the Poker. It didn't take too long to get used to the new layout for me.

It might be tough to find something that is quality and fits all your criteria.

[rowdy]

You can get a "mac layout" tenkey via one of the programmable ones, or by remappnig keys. If you really need the extra key, a tipro would do.

Why would it double the cost? Standard mechanical tenkeys aren't that expensive (even new ones) online, and even programmable ones from tipro or access get pretty low if you wait on a deal.

The range of mechanical keyboards in Australia seems more limited compared to overseas.  The PC Case Gear mechanical keyboards section is the most comprehensive list of mechanical keyboards I have found in any single Australian reseller, and they even have a mechanical keyboards section although they do lack any Matias keyboards.

PC Case Gear is also about 10 minutes from where I live, so pickup (saving on freight cost) is also a possibility.

About half the mechanical keyboards there are backlit, but there is only the one Mac layout keyboard, being the Razer BlackWindow Ultimate Mac Edition (which also happens to be backlit).

Is there a backlit programmable mechanical keyboard that anyone would particularly recommend?  Is it under about $150 in price??

The Razer is $149.  The Matias Tactile Pro 3 is also about $149 (but not backlit).

A third option might be a Mac layout backlit non-mechanical keyboard (shudder).  My first aim was to get a backlit keyboard, but I have convinced myself that a mechanical keyboard would be better, and a backlit mechanical keyboard would be perfect, but the Razer seems to be the only one available.

[rowdy]

I have the Apple mini bluetooth aluminum keyboard and the magic trackpad. I use gestures on the trackpad if I want to activate Mission Control or navigate spaces. I use Alfred to launch apps so I don't use the Launchpad. I've been using a Poker up until today. I just use the dip switch that switches the left alt and win key which matches the mac layout and I don't use the right side modifiers all that much. I use KeyRemap4MacBook to handle some extra stuff that I would like such as ctrl-[hjkl] for cursor movement following vi/vim's bindings. and then I have ctrl-[ mapped to escape as well that way I didn't have to worry about the ~ and escape key swapping with the Poker. It didn't take too long to get used to the new layout for me.

That sounds like a lot of fiddling around.  Maybe I am getting lazy in my old age (ha! not that old), but I would prefer just to plug it in and start typing.  Plus I use a Windows machine at work all day, and a Mac at home, so I already put up with two different keyboard layouts on a daily basis, and I would have to learn a third to work around idiosyncratic functional and layout differences.

It might be tough to find something that is quality and fits all your criteria.

That is exactly the situation.  The Razer at least is backlit, Mac layout, and available locally.

[metafour]

Razer seems to have quality issues though. At least from the anecdotes I've seen here.

[rowdy]

Razer seems to have quality issues though. At least from the anecdotes I've seen here.

Although I have no personal experience of Razer products, I have read some good and some bad reviews, but yes, around here (where many keyboard-savvy pundits dwell) there does seem to be a slightly negative impression of Razer products.

Hence the question in my first post, although it does seem that the Razer is the only Mac layout backlit mechanical keyboard.

*sigh*

So I would need to compromise on layout (which I've tried, both ways (Mac keyboard on Windows, and Windows keyboard on Mac)), or on backlighting (which was the main reason for getting a new keyboard in the first place, although it turns out there are few enough backlit Mac keyboards around, never mind mechanical ones).

[metafour]

Even with a regular tenkeyless board I just used the Keyboard preference pane to switch the option and command keys and then swapped the keycaps.

Overall though I think yes, getting a good mx board with a mac layout just might be impossible at the moment.

[rowdy]

In the absence of any obvious alternatives, and partly because I have not had a backlit keyboard before, or a mechanical keyboard (unless the Nec APC-H4100E I had years ago counts), I will probably get the Razer and see how it goes.  It should at least give me some experience of backlit keyboards, and Cherry MX blue keys, and the next time around I might have more inclination to back down on some of the requirements to open up the range a bit.

[metafour]

I wish you luck in that future endeavor!

[rowdy]

I wish you luck in that future endeavor!

Thank you :-)

[hexomega]

I've had the Blackwidow Ultimate for 13 months now for gaming and the physical keyboard is in fantastic condition. I have had some driver issues with windows that caused the keyboard to freak out on and off (random f11s in browser, random characters being input when typing, but nothing too extreme) but I have not found a solution for that yet and it's inconsistent. As for ducky, they do make the ishine with the num pad.

http://tigerimports.net/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=11526

I've had that in my favorites for some time now.

I've found DAS to be a little inconsistent. I've found Ducky to be great with my mac but I have no tried many other ones with it.

[rowdy]

I've had the Blackwidow Ultimate for 13 months now for gaming and the physical keyboard is in fantastic condition. I have had some driver issues with windows that caused the keyboard to freak out on and off (random f11s in browser, random characters being input when typing, but nothing too extreme) but I have not found a solution for that yet and it's inconsistent. As for ducky, they do make the ishine with the num pad.

http://tigerimports.net/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=11526

I've had that in my favorites for some time now.

I've found DAS to be a little inconsistent. I've found Ducky to be great with my mac but I have no tried many other ones with it.

Thank you for the feedback.

Do you have the BW Ultimate, or the BW Ultimate Mac Edition?  Any problems with the space bar (this is the most common issue I have read of, where the space bar moves or something and rubs against the Alt key)?

Also the Ducky looks interesting, albeit a Windows layout.  The 4 keys in the upper right corner - do you know if they control the backlighting, or can they be reprogrammed for Mac-specific functions (like eject)?

[hexomega]

Thank you for the feedback.

Do you have the BW Ultimate, or the BW Ultimate Mac Edition?  Any problems with the space bar (this is the most common issue I have read of, where the space bar moves or something and rubs against the Alt key)?

Also the Ducky looks interesting, albeit a Windows layout.  The 4 keys in the upper right corner - do you know if they control the backlighting, or can they be reprogrammed for Mac-specific functions (like eject)?

I have the ultimate, but I don't currently have the mac version. I have heard a lot of issues with the spacebar but that hasn't happened for me yet! It seems that that might be an issue with getting a bad model. When I boot into a *nix operating system the keyboard works flawlessly (this is how I know the issues I was having were Windows exclusive). As for the ducky, I wouldn't know because I never tried to reprogram. I know with my BlackWidow Ultimate I can reprogram every single key.

[rowdy]

Damnit!  Now you've got me thinking about a Ducky (also available from PC Case Gear down the road, for the same price as the Razer).

And while researching the Ducky I found a few more people dissatisfied with the Razer (sticky space bar, poor quality etc.).

The Ducky is backlit (available in different colours too) and has Cherry MX blue (and other varieties), and is probably as close to a Mac layout as I'm likely to get outside of the Razer.

Also the Ducky seems to have what I would call "standard" key caps, whereas the Razer's seem different somehow, maybe shallower.  It is difficult to tell, not being able to play with one.  But side from that the weird lettering shapes would make it difficult to replace the key caps with alternatives that match.

Do you still use the Ducky with your Mac?  The 4 extra function keys in the top right corner apparently magically trigger calculator, email, web browser and something else under Windows, all apparently without driver install (so I really wonder how that works).

What happens if you press those keys on a Mac??

[spdorsey]

I was searching for options for Mac keycaps for my new Ducky Legend, and this thread popped up. Has anyone made any headway on this?

Would it be possible for a group to band together and approach Ducky to see if they can manufacture additional keys for tyheir product lines? With the proliferation of Mac systems, there has to be a market for them...

I would pay $30 for replacement modifier/function keys for my Legend in a heartbeat if they matched existing caps and supported backlighting.

[rowdy]

So necro.

Very bump.

Wow!



I did end up getting a Ducky Shine 1, then another one, then quite a few other keyboards.  None are specifically designed for a Mac, but all work well with my Mac.

If you want keycaps with Mac-like legends, Ivan's latest group buy includes such a set (third picture), although if the interest in this is the same as the last similar set that he did, it won't proceed.