You just might have to wait for the span of a breath before it’s typeworthy again.The Magic Keyboard uses scissor-switch keys, like its predecessors the wiredĪpple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad ($49) andĪpple Wireless Keyboard, which Apple has discontinued but is still available for $49 from Other World Computing. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, but fortunately I had no trouble switching between devices once I had them paired. On another occasion, it wouldn’t pair without a restart on another, it paired with another MacBook with no trouble at all. The Satechi keyboard always pairs quickly with my iPhone, but I once had to hold down the button for close to 30 seconds before I saw the pairing prompt appear on a MacBook. Satechi’s keyboard (left) has a slightly more steeper incline than Apple’s Magic Keyboard.īut you might be holding it for while. With the Satechi, it’s just a matter of holding down a button. The only way to divorce the two is to go into the Mac’s settings and “Forget” the keyboard, and that’s impossible if you’ve stuffed it in your bag for use with your iPad or iPhone over a long trip. Apple’s own Magic Keyboards don’t allow you to pair with multiple devices in fact, they resist all attempts to pair with an iPhone while they remain wedded to their parent Macs. I’d forgotten how liberating this can be. With this keyboard, the means of input never changes. Not everyone needs this feature, but I find it’s particularly well suited to my screwball workflow: Sometimes I’ll start a draft on my iPhone with a Bluetooth keyboard (where I’m less likely to get distracted with nitpicking each sentence in the drafting process) and then I’ll move over to the Mac to edit. The other big reason to buy Satechi’s keyboard over Apple’s is that it allows you to connect up to three different Bluetooth devices. It comes with the full range of shortcuts you’d expect from an Apple keyboard. I’d never call this one of the best Bluetooth keyboards I’ve ever typed on, but it’s a significant enough improvement over Apple’s keyboard that I increasingly found myself reaching for it when diving into long writing sessions. There’s also a playfulness to the keys’ rounded corners that I miss in Apple’s own work. The keys aren’t backlit, but I find I like the way Satechi carved a barely perceptible cup for each fingertip into the crown of each key. There’s just enough resistance to capture that feeling of creating, something that gets lost on Apple’s nearly flat boards. This keyboard is aimed at Apple fans who crave better typing experiences than what Apple offers as of late, and as such this board features longer key travel than you’ll find on the Magic Keyboard. You’d be wrong to dismiss the Satechi as a cheap imitation of Apple’s keyboard. On the back, you’ll find a power slider that resembles Apple’s own and a USB-C charging port. Battery life isn’t all that impressive-Satechi claims it’ll go through 80 hours of active use and 100 of inactive before it needs to be charged through its USB-C port-but after I left it in the office for almost two weeks over the holiday, I was pleased to find it greeted me with almost a full charge. Unlike Apple’s model, it’s also available in both gold and rose gold along with the expected white and space gray variations. At a little less than half an inch high, it sits about as far off my writing surfaces as the Magic Keyboard (although it comes with two rubber knobs if you need more height). The Satechi’s 17-inch aluminum panel feels weighty and luxurious. Leif Johnson/IDGīoth the Apple Magic Keyboard 2.(top) the Satechi Aluminum Bluetooth Keyboard have a caps lock light, but Satechi put its light in the upper-right corner where it’s less likely to be hidden by your fingers. If that sounds expensive, remember that Apple sells its own space gray version for a stunning $149. You could almost buy two Satechi keyboards for that price. Even so, that logo’s absence lets you pick up what essentially amounts to a passable cousin of the Apple Magic Keyboard 2 with a keypad for a mere $79.99. Alas, an occasionally wonky pairing process reminds us that Apple’s logo usually speaks of a level of quality you can’t get from other companies.
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