Ever since I tried my firstmechanical keyboardmany moon ago , I ’ve been totally sell on clicky switches and chunky keycaps . I expend a mechanical keyboard for both my Mac and my personal computer , and typing on Apple ’s Magic Keyboard , as good as it is , just feel weird to me these days .
That means that when I fancy that Apple has been allot a patent for aweird new keyboard construct , my ears immediately pricked up .
But the unusual idea described in this patent is not only interesting for me — if it ever come to realisation , it could whole change how you type on all thebest MacBooks .
Jess Bailey / Unsplash
An ingenious idea
So , what exactly are we talking about here ? Well , Apple ’s patent delineate a keyboard with a unusual concept for notice glyph and letters on its keycaps . Before I get into that , it ’s deserving mark that printed and paint keycaps — the character you ’ll come up on oodles of cheap keyboards — easily rub off over time . Most companies get around this by using a variety of substitute methods , such as combining two formative colors in the keycap mould . The resulting glyph will never scratch away , although the resulting keyboard are more expensive . But apparently that ’s not enough for Apple . It seems the company felt that if it was live to make just keycaps , it may as well go the whole hog . Apple ’s patent — but titled “ One - way visibility keycaps ” — describes a architectural plan to make keycaps that make out with a grid of petite perforation etched on their top surfaces . These hole would be too small for the eye to see but could still be backlit from below .
Now for the interesting bit . Because each keycap has a grid of perforations , the backlighting could be adjust to display whatever glyphs you wanted on your keys . By illuminating some of the tiny backlights but not others , the lights could puzzle out like the pixels in a screen and show anything you need . In fact , Apple ’s patent says the backlighting could comprisemini - lead or OLEDlights , essentially reverse the keycaps intominiature monitors . This would be useful if you wanted to change your keyboard layout or display emojis and symbols . When not in use , the lights would dim and the keyboard would take on a plain appearance without any glyphs at all , give a smooth , kept look to your MacBook ’s surface . It ’s a clever idea and a very “ Apple ” one at that .
So many questions
This conception could have all kinds of interesting usance . You might want to swop keyboard layouts and languages without have to use a unlike keyboard , for instance . You could get quick access to little - used symbols , or bring up palette of emojis then hide it again . That last possibleness seems like a way to partly upraise the inauspicious - fatedTouch Bar , interestingly enough .
Still , there are questions over how on the nose this keyboard would exercise . What happens if you damage it in some way ? It would surely be a lot more expensive to fix than a regular keyboard . Even if you did n’t dent or damage it , its complex nature might end up raising the cost of your integral MacBook .
And there ’s another thing . Apple ’s patent says the keycaps could be made from dissimilar materials rather of credit card , with atomic number 13 being one possibility . This might radically alter the feel ( and sound ) of your keyboard .
MiRUTH_de / Pixabay
For some users , specially those expect for a more bounty halo for their twist , this might be an improvement over the regular Magic Keyboard . But I can imagine other user will feel instantly put off , as it ’ll be very different to the flavor they ’re used to getting from a keyboard . That could make it highly divisive .
For now , there ’s no style of eff precisely how mass will react . Indeed , since this construct is only a patent , it might never even come to realisation . Apple regularly explore ideas in its unavowed labs and then patent the results , but that ’s no guarantee that the company will ever decide to change state its approximation into working production .
Still , if this intention ever sees the light of day , it has the potential to shift how yourMacBook keyboardworks forever . For someone who cares as much about typing feel as I do , that ’s a absorbing hypothesis .
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Apple MacBook Air M1Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
