I’ve never been much of a fan of Apple, and every now and then they do something that reminds me of why I do not like them. Apple is a little too closed off and proprietary. They tend to keep their ecosystem too closed off to themselves. (This requires another post at another time)
I only own one of their products right now, and it bugs me that I absolutely love it. Shortly after it came out, I bought the new low-profile aluminum keyboard. Its awesome. I had used a laptop exclusively for a few months; as a result a traditional keyboard bugged the hell out of me. Since I was back to using a desktop, I had gone on a quest for ‘the perfect keyboard.’ I tried a couple USB keyboards from Kensington and Logitech, but I didn’t like either. Most all the manufacturers seemed to think that if they made it low-profile, they also had to squeeze it down to a smaller size. I could never get used to the changed layout (most removed the 10-key). Unfortunately for me, and my distaste for Apple, it was Apple that made exactly what I was looking for.
I have to say that it was a great deal, despite the usual reputation Apple has for overcharging for things. It only cost me around $50–while this is a lot compared to the $5 one you can get off of a few dozen on-line retailers, most of the good low-profile ones got fairly expensive. Some of the Logitech models were north of $100.
One nice little feature of the keyboard is the Caps-Lock key. Have you ever accidentally hit the caps-lock key when typing? Have you done that when trying to enter a few odd commands while editing something in vi? I have. Its fucking annoying. The Apple keyboard (not sure if other, earlier ones do this or not) has nifty feature. If you tap it, rather than press it, (I know this does not make sense) it will not turn on/off. You have to depress it for more than a half-second or so. Its cool! Try it! It also seems to be implemented into the firmware of the keyboard, so it works in any OS.
There are, however, some flaws when using it as a PC keyboard. First, a small flaw that is mostly an annoyance. On all PC keyboards, there is an “Insert” key. Most people are completely unaware of this, and most people probably never use it. I, on the other hand, had used it all the time. I wasn’t aware that I used it that often until I got this keyboard. On the Apple keyboard, its replaced with a function key. I’m going to have to admit ignorance here, as I’ve never used this keyboard with OS X, so I’m not exactly clear as to how its used. The thing about it that pisses me off, is its apparently not a normal key. I’ve tried remapping it to Insert, but it wont register as a keypress in any re-mapping tool. Ugh.
Ok, now that my somewhat glowing review is over, I have to touch on one of my pet peeves. This is also one of the small things that Apple will do that bugs the hell out of me. The USB cable on the keyboard is short, which makes it great for iMac users–far less cable clutter. I plug the keyboard into my monitor, so it works out great for me, too. What did they do wrong? The extension cable for the keyboard. They put a little key in the female end of the extension, so it will not work with a standard USB plug. 
What is the reason for this? I cant think of one. Do other Apple products have this little key? Apple had gone out of their way to engineer this, so that you cant use it with just any USB device.
Things like Apple locking out some open-source software from connecting to and syncing with the newest iPods is one level of low, but I can see their motivation behind it. iTunes makes them a Metric Fuckton of cash. Mating iTunes and the iPhone? Again, great vehicle to getting people to spend time in iTunes. I don’t like it, but I can see why. Making the keyboard extension so that it locks out virtually all other USB devices? That is just a douche move Apple. Its even worse than making the headphone jack recessed on the iPhone 2G.
