I need a new keyboard. It isn’t an emergency or anything. There isn’t anything actually wrong with the keyboard I have now. In fact, considering the rate of one keyboard a year I used to go through, due to being a manual-typewriter-trained key-pounding touch-typist, this one from Apple has held up surprisingly well. There are only a few keys that are only just now beginning to show some issues, and there’s almost no wear on the keys at all. But … I need a new keyboard at some point.

I have discovered a usability issue with my iMac. Not software, but hardware … the extended keyboard.

I find myself either leaning to the left to type, or I find my chair scooted over and not directly in front of the monitor, or I find myself reaching to the right to use the mouse and the keyboard off-center to the monitor. I don’t need an extended keyboard. I just about never use the ten-key pad. It’s just wasted space as far as I am concerned.

I see the new Apple wireless keyboard is a short keyboard, but it’s also $80 and doesn’t match my computer. Wireless would be nice, but I really want a white keyboard and not a silver one. It’d also be really cool if it was really cheap. I’m going to poke around on the internet today to see what I can find, but if anyone knows where to find cheap, short and non-extended, USB or Bluetooth keyboards that will work with an iMac, let me know. Not getting one right now, but this leaning and typing or reaching for mousing thing is what is making using my computer less comfortable to use. It’d be really great to sit squarely in front of my monitor with my keyboard directly in front of me, and my mouse right there in a comfortable location.

Now what I really need … really, really need is a new pen for my tablet or a new pen and tablet. Using a mouse SUCKS! I’ve adapted well enough, and it is pretty great for surfing internet, but for working on graphics, I just can’t do it. Drives me insane, and as we all know, I am already as insane as I need to be.