The Mac versus PC debate is a long one. It rages on today as people are very loyal to using either PC or Mac systems. We aren’t going to go into the debate of which is better, but we do want to share some options for ergonomic keyboards for Mac computers.
- Surface Ergonomic Keyboard For Mac
- Ergonomic Keyboard For Mac Computer
- Ergonomic Keyboard For Mac Laptop
Jun 26, 2019 Widely recognized as the best ergonomic keyboard on the market, Microsoft's Sculpt for Windows computers is a standout choice for all-day comfort. The split keyboard design immediately assists in positioning your wrists into a more natural position rather than the straight-on approach most keyboards favor. The domed design helps maintain. Ergonomic Keyboards. Penclic Professional Typist Mechanical Keyboard $139.95 Goldtouch V2 USB Comfort Keyboard (black) + PS2 Connector (PC Only) $105.00 $89.00 Goldtouch Standard USB Adjustable Keyboard White - PC Only $79.00 Kinesis Freestyle2 for PC Keyboard $99.00 Kinesis Freestyle2 Blue for Mac Multichannel Bluetooth Keyboard $131.00. Jul 06, 2017 I recently bought the new surface Bluetooth keyboard as a replacement for my Mac Bluetooth keyboard due to it having a NUM pad and more options. It pairs up just fine, but I don't think the Sierra OS recognizes it as a keyboard. The issue I'm really having is with the modifier keys. I can't flop them no matter what options I use. Oct 07, 2017 Designed with Mac users in mind, the Kinesis Freestyle2 ergonomic keyboard can split right down the middle. You can have up to 9 inches of space between the two halves, so you can tailor its layout to your exact liking. The accessory has built-in palm support, tactile key switches, and a duo of built-in USB ports.
Given the time you spend with your hands on a keyboard, investing in the newest addition to Microsoft’s best-selling line of ergonomic keyboards can pay dividends in greater comfort. According to some studies, ergonomic keyboard designs, such as the Microsoft Natural line, have been associated.
Kinesis Advantage Keyboard for Mac
If you are a Mac user, be aware that you can use most ergonomic keyboards!
The best ergonomic keyboard option for Mac users is theKinesis Advantage USB Contoured Keyboard.
The Kinesis Advantage works via USB so it is compatible with both Mac and PC. It’s also programmable so you can customize it to your liking. This keyboard comes highly recommended by everyone that uses it and has an extremely high rating on Amazon
While the Kinesis does come in at a higher price point, you need to consider the amount of hours you use your keyboard. It’s something that you will use for so many hours during the day. It’s worth spending more to get something that will work with your Mac and help you avoid problem from health issues. In the grand scheme of things the price is minimal when you consider it will prevent you from losing income and suffering from pain.
Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard for Mac
Another good option for Mac users is to use the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000.
If you plan to use the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 you’ll just have to map out the different keys to make it make sense as a user. It will definitely work but you just have to use the map the “start/windows” key to the “alt” key and “alt” to “command” to make it fit the layout of a regular mac keyboard. Sure it’s a bit tricky at first but once you get used to this small issue there isn’t much that is different about it.
Other Ergonomic Keyboards for Mac
There are other keyboards on the market that you can use with your Mac. Many of the more popular ergonomic keyboards on the market can be made to work with a Mac computer. They won’t be a perfect fit and might require some behavior change on your party, but overall these keyboards can work. It’s simple a matter of prioritizing an ergonomic design that will give you benefits over time.
While there are other options, we think these are the best ergonomic Mac keyboard options available from what’s on the market. Any keyboard you can find with the split keyboard design will work but we highly recommend trying out the Kinesis Advantage or any similar keyboard from Kinesis. You’ll find that using this USB based keyboard with your Mac will make a world of difference!
So why doesn’t Apple make better ergonomic keyboards from Mac users? Great question! We know lots of people out there are searching for good ergonomic keyboards for Macs, so we aren’t sure why an option hasn’t come out from Apple yet. We are hoping they will wise up to the situation and offer something great in the coming years. Until then? We’ve found the keyboard options listed above to be really useful!
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/3/3/2/133280739/375527275.jpg)
If you’ve found an amazing ergonomic keyboard for the Macs, let us know about it! We are always testing and trying to find the best ergonomic products on the market to share.
By David Röthlisberger. Comments welcome at [email protected].
Last updated 4 Oct 2011. This article is Creative Commons licensed.
Surface Ergonomic Keyboard For Mac
The Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 doesn’t feel very “Mac-like”, at least not out-of-the-box. Read on for helpful settings to improve the experience, and a brief review of the keyboard at the end.
If your kernel panics, upgrade the drivers
OS X kernel panic
On Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6), the IntelliType Pro 8.0 drivers caused me kernel panics at least once a day.
The recent 8.2 driversdon’t cause kernel panics on Lion (OS X 10.7). I haven’t tested them on Snow Leopard, but I assume it is the new drivers, rather than the new Operating System, that contain the fix. Readers have reported that the older 7.1 drivers work well with Snow Leopard (note that the 7.1 drivers say they are for the older Natural Keyboard Pro, but they also work for this newer keyboard). Let me know if you have tested other combinations of driver/OS versions.
Or don't use the Microsoft drivers at all
Ironically, the Microsoft drivers stop OS X from recognising the keyboard for what it is! Without the drivers, OS X reports “Natural® Ergonomic Keyboard 4000”; with the IntelliType drivers, it’s a mere “Keyboard”.
With IntelliType drivers
As the last straw, if you remap your Caps Lock key to Control via Apple’s Keyboard preference pane, with the Microsoft drivers installed the remapping will be lost every time you restart.
The following table should help you decide whether you want the Microsoft drivers. More detailed explanations follow.
With Microsoft IntelliType drivers | Without Microsoft drivers |
---|---|
Kernel panics with 8.0 drivers on Snow Leopard; fine with 8.2 drivers on Lion. | No kernel panics. |
Modifier key mappings.. | |
lost every time you restart. | aren't lost. |
You can swap the Alt and Windows keys.. | |
with the IntelliType software. | with KeyRemap4MacBook. |
You can use the Application key as a Command or Option key.. | |
with the IntelliType software. | with KeyRemap4MacBook. |
Media keys all work correctly. | Only mute, volume and play/pause keys work. Web, search, mail, calculator, favourites 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5, back and forward, and the zoom slider don’t work. |
How to uninstall the Microsoft drivers
The IntelliType UnInstaller is in the Utilities sub-folder of your Applications folder. (If you installed the IntelliPoint mouse drivers, which were bundled in the same installer, the corresponding UnInstaller is in the same location.)
If you don’t want to run the uninstallers, you can remove the following manually:
- /System/Library/Extensions/MicrosoftKeyboard.kext
- /System/Library/Extensions/MicrosoftMouse.kext (if you also installed the IntelliPoint drivers)
- /Library/Keyboard Layouts/Microsoft Keyboards.bundle
- and the Microsoft Keyboard preference pane (open System Preferences, and right-click the Microsoft Keyboard icon, or drag it off the window in a puff of smoke).
Swap the Alt and Windows keys
Microsoft Natural modifier keys
The Windows key is automatically treated as Command (⌘), but on Apple keyboards the Command key is next to the spacebar, with Option (Alt) the next key out. On the Microsoft keyboard this is reversed, and the IntelliType drivers helpfully have a setting to reverse these two keys; luckily OS X also has this functionality built in.
It’s under the Modifier Keys button of the Keyboard System Preferences pane.
Simply map Option to Command, and vice-versa. These settings are per-keyboard, so you won’t mess up your MacBook’s built-in keyboard.
While you’re here you can also map your Caps Lock to Control, if you so wish.
Use the Application key as a Command or Option key
Application key
To the right of the spacebar, this keyboard has an “Application” (or Context Menu) key instead of a Windows key. The IntelliType drivers include a setting to treat this key as Command, but OS X has no such setting. Wallpaper for mac.
Apple’s customizable XML keylayouts only allow mapping key codes to output characters, but not changing or adding modifier keys. Graphical interfaces built on top of this mechanism, such as Ukelele, have the same limitations. You’ll need the open-source KeyRemap4MacBook.
In spite of its name, KeyRemap4MacBook works on any Mac (with OS X 10.4 or later). It doesn’t allow arbitrary key mappings, but, in the best open-source tradition, it does have zillions of settings. The one you want is under “For PC Users” » “Change PC Application Key” » “Application Key to Option_L” (i.e. left-option, not option+“L”). What you set here doesn’t seem to be affected by OS X’s own modifier keys remapping.
Media keys
The keyboard’s mute, volume and play/pause keys all work out of the box, no IntelliType required. There are no keys for previous/next song.
(Without the Microsoft drivers) None of the remaining media keys work (web/home, search, mail, calculator, “favorites” 1 through 5, back and forward, and the zoom slider).
Function keys
The Function keys (F1, etc) behave as such (as opposed to brightness, volume, etc), regardless of what you set in the Keyboard preference pane. If you press “F Lock” the F keys simply do nothing. Luckily the F Lock remembers its setting across reboots. Recipe software for mac.
There is no Fn modifier key as on the Mac keyboards.
KeyRemap4MacBook allows you to map the F keys to the usual brightness, volume, etc. but then you’d lose the normal F keys.
Insert, Delete, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down
On the Mac OS there is no such thing as an Insert/Overwrite toggle (even on Apple’s extended keyboard there is no Insert key). So unsurprisingly, the Insert key does nothing.
Delete works. Page-Up and -Down work. Home and End scroll to the top and bottom of the window instead of moving the cursor to the beginning or end of the line (but this is consistent with the behaviour of Apple keyboards) except in Microsoft Office, where Home and End behave as on the PC.
Numeric keypad
Num Lock doesn’t work, but fortunately it is stuck in the numeric mode.
Final thoughts
I initially liked this keyboard: The split and tenting angles provide a comfortable resting position, it has Command, Option and Control keys for both hands, and the price is quite reasonable.
But after several months, I have stopped using this keyboard. It’s just too large! Keys like Return, Backspace, and Escape are quite far away from the home position. I don’t really need a numeric keypad (it forces the mouse that much further away). The keys are loud (especially the clunky spacebar) and the key travel distance (and the force required to press them) is more than I’d like.
Ergonomic Keyboard For Mac Computer
These are of course quite personal opinions, and this keyboard could be just perfect for someone else. As a computer programmer I do a lot of typing, so I try to optimise for ergonomics.
Kinesis Freestyle for Mac:
No right-hand Control key
No right-hand Control key
Ergonomic Keyboard For Mac Laptop
I really like having all three modifiers (Command, Option and Control) available to my left and right hands, though this may not be so important for non-programmers. I don’t think I’d buy an ergonomic keyboard without this feature. The Kinesis keyboards, and Apple’s own keyboards (except the Apple external keyboard with numeric keypad), lack the right-hand Control.