Here I am again with my vintage collection— but this time it’s not about computers. I’ve written many times about my love for the Apple Extended Keyboard II, and I think I’ve finally found peace when it comes to keyboards after combining it with Touch ID and making it my primary keyboard.

I haven’t stopped rotating through other keyboards, and the REALFORCE R2 is still my solid second choice because Topre switches are my other secret love. But the AEK II holds a permanent place in my heart. So much so that I now own four of them, plus one more that I disassembled, desoldered the switches, soldered them onto another PCB, and built a different keyboard around them. Unfortunately, during this “transplant,” it lost the AEK magic, so I don’t use it anymore.

However, in the process of collecting Macs and studying the history of the AEK, I began gathering other interesting Apple keyboards that once used mechanical switches. I’ve delved so deeply into this that I now own nearly all the key Apple keyboards with mechanical switches. I want to tell you a bit about them. This is a deep rabbit hole, and you’ll come away with a wealth of knowledge about vintage Apple keyboards that you probably don’t need.

Macintosh Keyboard (M0110)

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