Where Are the Third Party Ergonomic Peripherals?
In my quest to improve my overall Mac switching experience, I am trying to create the right office environment. One of the biggest annoyances is the lack of third party peripherals. What peripherals am I looking for that make this an issue? Well, how about:
1. An ergonomic keyboard.
2. A decent bluetooth mouse.
3. A dock.
An Ergonomic Keyboard
It amazes me that Apple, with all of its hubris in design, can’t seem to create a true ergonomic keyboard. Does everyone remember the Apple Ergonomic Keyboard from the early-to-mid 90s? Wow, that was a piece of junk. It never stayed together and the industrial design was weak. At the time, Microsoft owned the ergonomic keyboard market.
Today, Apple only offers a wired or wireless standard keyboard. If that was an acceptable option, I would use it. However, it isn’t. I struggle using my MB Pro keyboard on a day-to-day basis. Why would I want the same unnatural positioning on a larger scale? Further, why doesn’t Apple get off its lazy duff and design the right kind of ergonomic keyboard?
With the majority of Mac folks being either touchy-feely, hardcore geek, Unix gearhead, or, lest we forget, the elder demographic who still provides the majority of Apple sales, why not provide more choices in keyboard design from the preeminent industrial design team at Apple? When will Apple rise to the occasion here?
Okay, enough kvetching. Given that Apple is busy with the new iPhone and other potential new Macs, I have to suffer with only two choices if I want an ergonomic keyboard. I can purchase either the Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop for Mac or the Key Ovation Goldtouch for Mac.
Of course, neither of these are perfect. Both are USB (not bluetooth) and both are limited by their own designs (especially the Microsoft option whereby the keyboard has no adjustments). The Key Ovation is pricey too, at $150 MSRP. The Microsoft set comes with a Laser Mouse for roughly $100 MSRP. Granted, you can find them for less, but this article is not about shopping. It’s about choices. What stinks is that I have two choices.
The difficulty in deciding is that I have yet to find a place that will let me try the Key Ovation keyboard. I have used the Windows version of the Microsoft Keyboard and it is not bad. However, I want more flexibility (for a decent price, thus the Key Ovation issue at $150 MSRP).
Well, I’ll keep you all posted once I decide which model to purchase. And, if you have other suggestions, don’t hesitate to reply in the comments.
A Decent Bluetooth Mouse
I already own the Wireless Mighty Mouse. It’s pretty decent, other than the fact that the scroll ball is a little difficult to clean. And the right-click is a little sensitive. However, the mouse itself is not very ergo. I have seen two new mice that have come on the market recently that seem very interesting. These are the Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 and the Logitech MX Revolution.
Unfortunately, neither of these is bluetooth. I like the idea of using bluetooth as it is a Mac supported technology. Does it really matter if I use it for a keyboard or mouse? No, although if I am going to be on the Mac bandwagon, I might as well support the tech.
Whichever mouse I end up purchasing, I will write a review. In fact, I’ll cover both the mouse and keyboard, mostly from the perspective on how they work ergonomically. In this day and age, all mice have enough features to make our heads spin. The same applies to keyboards.
I would clown on Apple more for their Mighty Mouse, but it is pretty decent. It looks good, which is a bonus, and the industrial design (one effective button with left and right sensitivities) is clever. Integration with the OS is also better than the other offerings (especially with how MS creates their own drivers for everything).
And lastly….
A Dock
Now, this is not an ergonomic need as much as it would be convenient to have a dock at the office so that I could just plug in one item, rather than having to hook up my Apple Cinema Display (20”—don’t get excited), network cable, and power cable. With the additional peripherals I want to buy, having a dock makes sense.
Of course, Apple doesn’t get it here (this is because they don’t cater to the knowledge worker market). The last notebook they made (that I can think of) that supported a dock was the PowerBook Duo series. And that dock was huge. I’d even settle for a port replicator. Instead, there is one choice—the BookEndz.
I don’t know why BookEndz calls this a dock. It is a port replicator. Nevertheless, it is the only option I am aware of for the current line of MacBooks/MB Pros. I know that they make products for older PowerBooks as well. Nevertheless, I am trying to solve the MB Pro problem.
Conclusion
Yes, there are third party ergo solutions. And yes, they are acceptable. However, I just feel let down by Apple on this one. Knowing the capabilities they have within their industrial design team, I am amazed by the lack of ergo-focused peripherals. Oh well, this is just coming from the guy who doesn’t know what the usr folder is.
Until next week….
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Slashdot
StumbleUpon
Comments
How dense are you?
Generally taken to be undense by acquaintances.
Then your acquaintances don’t know you very well, or you never discuss your propensity for knee-jerk defense of all things Apple.
Did I say it was difficult to hold an iPod/iPhone to your ear? Erm, no. But difficulty isn’t really the issue. Indeed, if the iPhone were impossible to hold near one’s face, this would be a wholly different discussion (and you’d have to kick your apologist excuses into overdrive). The issue is ERGONOMICS.
You can, after all, still type on a non-ergonomic keyboard. And without too much difficulty. One’s ability to utilize one’s opposable thumbs and articulated fingers (and congratulations on discovering your ability to do this, btw) is not what ergonomic means.
No, ergonomics is about comfort, efficiency, and quality in design.
If your argument were valid (instead of reactionary and retarded), then a phone designed like a stapler would be JUST AS ergonomic as the iPhone design, since your standard seems to be whether or not you can easily hold it in your hands near your face.
But that, of course, is not what ergonomic means. Can one hand-held object be MORE ergonomic than another for a specific task? If we get beyond your pedantic and obtuse posturing, then we sensible adults would answer “yes.” And if we acknowledge that yes, indeed, such a thing is possible, then we might get to start thinking about why a slimmer and smaller phone would be superior to the iPhone in terms of comfort in the hand.
Are we reading the same thread?
All I’ve said is that we don’t know what the ergonomics are like yet. All you’ve said is that holding an iPod to your face is unergonomical.
I have made no claims about the ergonomics of the iPhone. No claims.
You are the one who has made these claims. You are claiming it is unergonomical. The very fact you are crtiticising me for “defending” the iPhone (which I haven’t done) against your points shows that you are the one who is presenting a biased and unjustified opinion, since as I have repeatedly said none of us have yet experienced the iPhone.
You for some reason cited your made-up difficulty in holding an iPod to your ear as “evidence” that iPhone has poor ergonomics.
Obviously, as I acknowledged above, some objects are more ergonomical than others. What I have argued, which in your last point you grossly misrepresented, is that for the ridiculous “evidence” point re holding the iPhone to your ear, and for all other usage that we have not yet experienced and therefore cannot comment on, it is way premature to be making the sorts of idiotic arguments that you have presented here.
We get our hands on one, we read consensus and then we talk. Until then shut the hell up saying the iPhone is unergonomical, and stop pretending I’m making any kind of comment on its ergonomics, let alone calling into question my intelligence.
Beeblebrox,
You know it’s a BS argument to make against the iPhone. It’s 2.4 inches wide. The average flip phone is just about 2 inches wide. A Motorola RAZR is 2.1 inches wide. Did you even look up the dimensions?
How freakin’ hard is it to hold a freakin’ phone that’s 2.4 freakin’ inches wide?!?
It’s only 0.3 inches wider than some of the most popular phones on the market! A QUARTER INCH!
How many people own Palm Treos? Or the Blackberry 8700/8000 line? How is the iPhone significantly different from them ergonomincally?
It’s not. It’s a non-issue.
People who want a larger screen and more capabale PDA-like phone buy Treos and Blackberries in droves. That is the market for the iPhone. I know that you know this. The ergonomics “fight” you are having is a red herring. It will have very little to do with the utilization of the phone as any number of Treo and Blackberry users can attest.
Geeesh….
Why is it you have to fight everyone over the dumbest non-issues?
By the way, both the recent models of Blackberries and Treos are about 2.4 inches (60 mm). The iPhone is sized exactly like its immediate competitors.
I prefer a flip myself, but even among so-called candy-bar phones, the iPhone is much wider and much flatter and less comfortable in the hand. And that may be okay for some, but the point here is that ergonomic it ain’t
MQL Programming. This criticism that the iPhone is somehow difficult to hold to the side of your face is inane, reactionary and entirely to be expected from a peddler of biased froth such as yourself.