Firstly hello, long-time lurker and even longer (10-year +) Mac advocate/zealot, thought it was time to dip my toe in the guppy-infested waters of the MR forum.....
Apologies in advance for such a frivolous, shallow, aesthetic thread amongst the mighty technical debates about chipsets and PIF connectors, but I'm new and we are talking about an MBA here
The black keyboard. Something that bothered me from launch last year, and still hasn't grown on me to be honest, even now just having finally taken custody of my new rev B.
I understand that some say there were problems with the silver backlit keyboards used in the old G4 PBs and later MBPs (something about light 'bleeding' making the keys unrecognisable), but my PB had one and although it wasn't fantastic, it wasn't an issue as such.
I also have an old and cherished TiBook which had the similar contrast look, although the translucent black keyboard (with old Apple Garamond font, mmmm....) was a beauty, not at all like the rather dull and insipid black chiclet KB that infests every current Apple laptop bar the new white MB Plastique.
Now I understand the rationale behind black keys on the new unibodies - matches the black glass screen and bezel, but surely the poor MBA with its silver bezel and supermodel-like proportions is deserving of something a little more elegant no? Not to mention practical. I spent an adulterous and regretful 3 months with a new unibody MB and good god, those keys dazzled me with the shine from my supposedly clean and un-oily fingertips. Something I know is much less of a problem with a white keyboard.
And then I think, err, hang on....the gorgeous desktop keyboards Apple make look lovely in Alu/White, so why not for the MBA? Still the backlighting 'issue'?
Well for those wondering how it would look, here's a custom example using a MB, which if you squint and ignore the trackpad could be a silvery-grey unibody....not bad, not bad at all.
Maybe someone could photoshop the MBA using the Apple BT keyboard? Just has the air of elegance about it IMO set off against the Alu and would look fantastic in the body of a MBA.
Apologies in advance for such a frivolous, shallow, aesthetic thread amongst the mighty technical debates about chipsets and PIF connectors, but I'm new and we are talking about an MBA here
The black keyboard. Something that bothered me from launch last year, and still hasn't grown on me to be honest, even now just having finally taken custody of my new rev B.
I understand that some say there were problems with the silver backlit keyboards used in the old G4 PBs and later MBPs (something about light 'bleeding' making the keys unrecognisable), but my PB had one and although it wasn't fantastic, it wasn't an issue as such.
I also have an old and cherished TiBook which had the similar contrast look, although the translucent black keyboard (with old Apple Garamond font, mmmm....) was a beauty, not at all like the rather dull and insipid black chiclet KB that infests every current Apple laptop bar the new white MB Plastique.
Now I understand the rationale behind black keys on the new unibodies - matches the black glass screen and bezel, but surely the poor MBA with its silver bezel and supermodel-like proportions is deserving of something a little more elegant no? Not to mention practical. I spent an adulterous and regretful 3 months with a new unibody MB and good god, those keys dazzled me with the shine from my supposedly clean and un-oily fingertips. Something I know is much less of a problem with a white keyboard.
And then I think, err, hang on....the gorgeous desktop keyboards Apple make look lovely in Alu/White, so why not for the MBA? Still the backlighting 'issue'?
Well for those wondering how it would look, here's a custom example using a MB, which if you squint and ignore the trackpad could be a silvery-grey unibody....not bad, not bad at all.
Maybe someone could photoshop the MBA using the Apple BT keyboard? Just has the air of elegance about it IMO set off against the Alu and would look fantastic in the body of a MBA.
