New Apple keyboard and trackpad

by Volker Weber

Apple has refreshed the iMac, but I would not swap a new one against my old iMac, now that I have upgraded it to SSD and Apple still shipping 5400 RPM spinning disks. The new keyboard and trackpad, rechargeable over Lightning are sweet though.

They go on my wish list. Trackpad requires Bluetooth 4.0, which my old iMac does not have. Money saved.

Comments

As I switched now to the new MacBook (2015) I am forced to buy at least the Keyboard :)

Martin Cygan, 2015-10-13

The Problem seems to be that you need Bluetooth 4.0 to use that new Trackpad, so you´re out of luck on older iMacs. And the price is pretty steep compared to the old one (which I love and use every day)

Bye, Frido.

Fridolin Koch, 2015-10-14

Maybe the price is that high because you do not need batteries anymore and you can save your money on that ;-)

Martin Cygan, 2015-10-14

And it includes a USB to Lightning cable (:

Sascha Reissner, 2015-10-14

You appear to be able to use them connected via lightening on the older Macs. Not sure that's a great use of expensive new kit, but might still be an option if you want the force touch.

Stuart McIntyre, 2015-10-14

I'm wondering of I would buy a usb bluetooth 4.0 Dongle for my old imac, can I use then the new trackpad?

Karl Heindel, 2015-10-14

Disappointed that the mouse charger is on the bottom. I would not have minded having it on the side so that I could use it while it charges.

Declan Lynch, 2015-10-14

Declan, that should not be an issue. It recharges very quickly. Plug it in, get a coffee, and you have hours to play ...

Volker Weber, 2015-10-14

@vowe, I just tested this http://www.amazon.de/dp/B007MKMJGO GMYLE USB Bluetooth dongle with El Cap on a 2011 MacBook Pro.

Without the dongle, System Profiler shows Bluetooth Low Energy Supported: No. Plug in the dongle, refresh, and suddenly it’s Supported: Yes, and the listed chipset changes to reflect the dongle. The GMYLE uses a Broadcom BCM20702 which is supported OOB in OS X 10.8+.

It’s only 9 €, perhaps worth a try.

Chris Ferebee, 2015-10-15

Volker, no troubles here using both the new Trackpad and the Keyboard on a 2011 iMac.

Frank Mueller, 2015-10-18

Now that is interesting. A 2011 iMac does not have BT LE, and the trackpad lists it as a requirement. Maybe it isn't and falls back to BT 2.1. In that case I would expect it to use more energy.

Volker Weber, 2015-10-18

After 2 month of using i do not notice a remarkable difference of using both keyboard and trackpad regarding energy consumption in my 2 working environments:

1. Home iMac 27" Mitte 2011
2. Work MacBook Pro 15" Mitte 2012

And yes i use 2 different keyboards and trackpads for both configs.

Frank Mueller, 2015-11-27

After carefully considering i should have written "After nearly 2 month" ...

Frank Mueller, 2015-11-27

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