Apple Extended Keyboard
Shares rank 5 of 7 keyboards by recommenders
Recommended for its long service life and its switches, and some people rate it above anything Apple has sold in the past. The one critic quoted calls its design a confession rather than a design.
Recommended for its long service life and its switches, and some people rate it above anything Apple has sold in the past. The one critic quoted calls its design a confession rather than a design.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Used for a decade or more
“Used AEK2s for a decade or more”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Rank the 50 best Apple products” Preferred over anything Apple sold
“I would take an Apple Extended Keyboard (or II ;-) ) over anything they've sold in the past”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “I don't know Apple's endgame for the Fn/Globe key–or if Apple does” Liked the white ALPS switches
“I also liked the lost-to-history white ALPS switches on the Apple Extended Keyboard II”
Comment from 11 Apr 2026 in “Industrial design files for Keychron keyboards and mice” Power key safe, Mac boots after failure
“There are no ill effects from having the power key down all the time, and the Mac will boot up after a power failure.”
Comment from 12 Jun 2026 in “You can power on a Mac remotely”
Other keyboards people recommend
The four most recommended other keyboards, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Magic Keyboard | 35 | 25 | 58% | 10 | — | — |
| Lenovo ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II | 18 | 8 | 69% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Logitech K400 | 8 | 1 | 89% | 5 | — | — |
| Logitech K380 | 6 | 2 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
| Apple Extended KeyboardThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“That is a confession, not a design.”
“There are no ill effects from having the power key down all the time, and the Mac will boot up after a power failure.”
“I also liked the lost-to-history white ALPS switches on the Apple Extended Keyboard II”
“Used AEK2s for a decade or more”
“I would take an Apple Extended Keyboard (or II ;-) ) over anything they've sold in the past”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.