Amaya Toman Can you remember what you were doing in 1990? For example, the Czechoslovak president at the time announced an amnesty. Gottwaldov regained its original name and the Prague Spring festival was launched in the Municipal House by Smetana's My Homeland. The Rolling Stones visited Prague, Petra Kvitová was born, and Apple came out with its last and best mechanical keyboard, the Apple Extended Keyboard II.
Apple's last mechanical keyboard featured the perfect combination of durability, extremely pleasant sound when pressing the keys and comfort when typing. It quickly gained a lot of popularity among users and, as a matter of course, became a part of Apple computer sets at a professional level - some witnesses still remember the Apple Extended Keyboard II as their most popular keyboard. Thanks to the ADB-to-USB adapter, it could also theoretically be used today.
The first Apple Extended Keyboard saw the light of day in the late 1980s, when Steve Jobs left the Cupertino company. At that time, Apple began to focus more on the possibility of expanding its products, which for the aforementioned keyboard consisted, for example, in the presence of function keys or arrow keys - in other words, elements that Jobs initially rejected. But what Steve would almost certainly appreciate is the quality of the keyboard. During production, Apple placed great emphasis on the high quality of components, the production of which was participated in, for example, by the Japanese company Alps Electric Co., with which Apple also collaborated a little later on keyboards for iMacs. The keyboard was designed by the Irish design company Design ID, and completed by Frogdesign.
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The Apple Extended Keyboard II did not differ much in size or weight from its predecessor, but the mechanism of the individual keys, for example, changed. We also mentioned the sound of the Apple Extended Keyboard II at the beginning of the article. What was heard after pressing any key on this keyboard certainly did not leave you in doubt that you really pressed it, but at the same time the keyboard was not intrusive in any way. Thanks to special springs, the individual keys returned to their place after being pressed with admirable speed. A typical feature of an Apple mechanical keyboard was the ability to adjust its height, so it was surprisingly well-adaptable for its time.
The second generation Apple Extended Keyboard was sold in three variants, Cream, Salmon and White, depending on the date of manufacture and country of origin, and was connected to the computer with a single cable. As was customary at the time, the Apple Extend Keyboard took up a considerable amount of space on the desk. It was held together by a single screw combined with plastic grips, the upper left corner of the keyboard featured the requisite bitten apple logo in rainbow colors. Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock keys had green LEDs.
The Apple Extended Keyboard sold with great success until 1995, when it was replaced by the Apple Design Keyboard.
