Good ol’ Vince gave the new iMac keyboard a qualified thumbs up last week, and, silly you, you may be wondering how the keyboard compares to other, older Apple keyboards. Of course you do. Well one guy posted just such a gallery, showing us how the new hotness compares to some of the old clunkers. Nostalgia, full speed ahead.
So a few highlights:
I remember using Apple IIs in the sixth grade. It was 1997 I think. Clearly I attended Flat Broke Elementary School.
Here’s a NeXT keyboard, which you may remember for having showed up on eBay last week. Personally, I think the black looks better than the silvery/gray look of the new one.
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Finally (so as not to steal the guy’s thunder I’m only posting a couple here) is the keyboard I associate with my proper introduction to the Mac platform is this keyboard from 2004 or so. It looks pretty similar to the keyboard my iMac has, complete with filth underneath the keys.
We’re probably still a few years away from Futurama-style virtual keyboards, methinks.
the flat Apple Keyboard vs. others [Blakespot Gallery via Cult of Mac]


