AppleDesign Keyboard (1994)
The first major redesign of the Mac keyboard: curving lines, much less weight, and a membrane key feel that typists never warmed to.
© Rob Watts · CC BY-SA 3.0 ↗ Resized, no crop or retouching.
Specs
| Connectivity | Apple Desktop Bus, one concealed port, fixed cable |
| Switches | rubber dome, by NMB or Alps depending on the run |
| Key feature | Apple's first low-cost full-size keyboard, per Deskthority |
Launch
Apple began shipping the AppleDesign Keyboard (M2980) in 1994 as the replacement for the Extended Keyboard II, discontinued on March 14 that year, per Wikipedia. It was the first major redesign of Apple's keyboard, with curving lines matching the new product style, and the company's first low-cost full-size keyboard, with a function row and navigation cluster, per Deskthority. Significantly lighter than its predecessors, it swapped Alps mechanical switches for a rubber dome membrane, per Deskthority and Wikipedia.
Marketing
Cuts versus the Extended Keyboard II: a single ADB port, concealed on the underside, and a permanently attached cable, versus the II's two side ports, which let users choose the side for the cable or mouse, per Wikipedia citing an Apple support document. It was also produced in black under the same model number, bundled with the black Performa 5420, sold primarily in Europe, and the black Power Macintosh 5500, sold in Asia, per Wikipedia. Deskthority documents at least four internal variants made by NMB and Alps, with keycaps not interchangeable between them.
Flaws and fixes
The softer, quieter membrane feel proved unpopular with many typists, per Wikipedia, and losing the second ADB port and the detachable cable was a functional cut the same source underlines. The AppleDesign closed the era of Apple's low-cost full-size ADB keyboards: in 1998 the Apple USB Keyboard arrived with the iMac.