Wow, so I got the shiny new Apple Keyboard – the aluminum, USB version – and at first it seems pretty cool. Definitely nice looking, and I think in the end I like how it feels. But then I was amazed at how Apple totally dropped the ball with this thing.

For starters – 2 USB ports on either side of the keyboard, built-in hub. Neato! Too bad they can’t power anything when attached to my Mac Mini – not even a SanDisk Cruzer. The device reports that it needs 200mA. I guess maybe it’s a shortcoming of the Mini, but … c’mon!

Secondly, none of the boot-time special keys work – i.e. “C” to boot from cdrom, “Option” to choose the boot disk – they don’t work. My Dell USB keyboard works; my Apple USB keyboard doesn’t. So much for controlling a small universe of hardware so that everything “Just Works!” Ah well… I’ll keep it, I guess, but once the initial impression wore off, this thing has some rough edges.