alh84001 wrote: I was under the impression that AEK II was "best" of the bunch and thought it was kinda implied by the wiki.
I like the keycaps on the AEK II marginally better, but the case and overall build quality on the AEK I better. The foot design on the AEK II is “innovative”, and useful if you want arbitrary height adjustment, but in practice isn’t very effective, and gets broken very easily.
The orange Alps switches in the original AEK are IMO much nicer.
“Best” is subjective, but in general with Alps keyboards, the earlier the better. (Actually, this is true of keyboards generally. All the best stuff was made in the 70s.)
How does Apple Standard Keyboard compare to AEKs? Keycaps, switches, etc. Based on looks alone it would maybe appeal to me most, because it is more compact, with CTRL in its proper place and CAPS LOCK the right size.
I like the M0116 better than either of the AEK’s. I also really like the Alps version of the Apple IIGS keyboard,
wiki/Apple_Desktop_Bus_Keyboard – it’s very compact and solidly constructed.
And one more thing. Do different rows have different profile on these boards or are they all the same?
The aggressive keycap profile is one of the biggest advantages to these keyboards. If you don’t like the legends, I recommend dyeing the caps solid black.
AEK / AEK II:
(M0116 and Macintosh Portable are also this profile but without the F row.)
A9M0330 / 658-4081:
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