AppleInsider Staff
Apple looks set to update its venerable wireless keyboard, with the aluminum slab appearing on the company's Czech online store with a tweaked layout and altered function keys that could indicate plans to add backlighting in the next version.
At press time, the Czech-language version appears with a new power key in place of the eject key, an overdue change now that the only Apple product that ships with a disc drive is the legacy non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro. Czech blog Letemsvetemapplem was first to notice the update.
Additionally, the F5 and F6 keys — Â which are blank on the current generation — Â appear with the same keyboard illumination illustrations found on Apple's laptops. That could mean that the new keyboard will come with backlighting, or it could simply be designed to make the wireless keyboard match exactly with the built-in models.
The text description remains the same, so it is unclear whether Apple has any other changes in store. The all-new MacBook boasts new "butterfly" style key switches in place of the older "scissor" versions, but it remains to be seen if Apple will eventually propagate that new design across its lineup.
Apple last updated the wireless keyboard in 2007.
Charles Martin
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73 Comments
Power button will be nice if it works on "docked" (lid-closed) MacBook Pro's.
I'll probably be chastised for asking this, but why still no numeric keypad option? There are plenty of times when I could use that and would prefer not to have a wired keyboard, or to pay another $40 for a separate bluetooth numeric keypad.
Is this called a QWERTZ keyboard? /s
I never realized how different European key layout was.
I need a new key board for one of my older iMacs that has a sticky key so this is good timing. I was thinking of buying one soon so now I'll just wait.
[quote name="runbuh" url="/t/185363/apple-outs-wireless-keyboard-refresh-on-czech-store-could-include-backlight#post_2696647"]Power button will be nice if it works on "docked" (lid-closed) MacBook Pro's.[/quote] True...but, but, but how will you access it with the lid closed???
I'll probably be chastised for asking this, but why still no numeric keypad option? There are plenty of times when I could use that and would prefer not to have a wired keyboard, or to pay another $40 for a separate bluetooth numeric keypad.
Agreed!