My Big Fat Fingers
Huzzah For Cheap Knock Offs!
I like Apple products even less than I like Sony products (and I hate Sony products) which pretty much means I loathe them. Reason: proprietary garbage! That doesn't mean they don't come out with great products, it just means it doesn't work with anything and the limit the features to death on what should be amazing products. Okay, so much for the rant, now on to the review. I do happen to like the overpriced, but sleek and sexy Apple keyboards. I am the embarrassed, but pleased owner of an Apple bluetooth keyboard (the MC184LL/A). It was amazingly annoying to hook up to my PC, but worth it. So being in the market for a new wired keyboard I was looking at the wired Apple MB110LL/A as a replacement for my test bench computer. I had concerns though about it not working properly with PC stuff and with a workbench setup simplicity for peripherals is nice if not essential. Also the the MB110LL/A is overpriced at $50.00. Happily I stumbled across the Dicom Super Slim DOK-101 which I just got today and I have stay I very pleased. The keyboard is an excellent knock off of the Apple, but has the huge advantage of being an actual PC keyboard. Which saves me the time and effort of reprogramming weird apple buttons to function correctly for my PC needs. The ergonomics of the keyboard are just like the Apple and it doesn't take up much space (the picture above is my bluetooth Apple and the Dicom next to each other). The keys are also exactly the same low-lying style with about the same pressure sensitivity, they are little less clicky sounding than the Apple's and a bit looser. Even the box the keyboard comes in is a knock off of the Apple box, which I find amusing. There is only one possible issue with the keyboard. Driver support. Now this is not an issue for me since I prefer to use a PS/2 adapter instead of hogging up another usb port, but when I tried the usb port the standard keyboard driver didn't work. Albeit I didn't try to hard to find one that did work and it's probably an easy fix, like I said it doesn't really matter for me. All the keys still functioned with the PS/2 port (i.e. internet button, volume controls, etc.). I did briefly look for driver support and I think I found Dicom's website, but it's all in Russian and I couldn't find any drivers (even with my wife, who speaks Russian, helping me). One thing missing that is on the Apple version is the two usb ports on the side of the keyboard. Supposedly Dicom makes a keyboard with these but I've yet to find it. It's a nice feature to have, but , big woop, especially since these don't work anyhow when you use the PS/2 port. In my estimate a keyboard that costs 60% less and is geared toward PC kicks the Apple Keyboard's butt all over the place. I totally recommend this keyboard if you're looking for a new wired keyboard. And, oh yeah, the backspace is actually a backspace not a delete key (Apple weirdos).