Once you are accustomed to back-lit keyboard,
returning to normal keyboard which is not illuminated feels backward. Apple introduced
back lighting technology with 17in PowerBook G4 in 2003. Then, the manufacturer
has retained that feature through MacBook Pro in 2006 brought it on MacBook Air
in 2003. Though, Apple has never sold a separate back-lit keyboard for iMax,
Mac mini, Mac Pro or MacBook. There’s no problem – a Mac accessory
manufacturer, Moshi, responded to that demand with Luna, a USB plastic black
keyboard having keys back-lit and a translucent acrylic-made frame with
glowing edges.
Luna
– illuminate your workspace
18.6in Luna is a big-sized keyboard, wider
than Apple’s conventional keyboard (featuring number keypad) by 1in. Made of
glossy black plastic and black anti-glare keys, the keyboard looks beautiful but
easily gets fingerprints due to plastic-made coat and acrylic-made frame. However,
we didn’t see grease stuck on keys – and as black-colored, they don’t seem
dirty like Apple’s usual white-colored keys.
Back-lighting is controlled by F5 and F6
keys (like on Apple’s laptop) but there’re only 4 steps from off to
full-lighting. Keys are seeable in dark room and the glowing edges make the
keyboard stand out of space.
We felt scissor-switch keys fast and Mac’s function
keys designed for Mission Control and iTunes worked smoothly. The 9-degree tilt
level was not freely adjusted for typing but we didn’t encounter any difficulty
keeping our wrist in position. But, Luna has some weak points. Fn key lies in
an odd position, among modifier key rows on the right of Space bar. Instead of
a row of Command, Option and Control keys, Fn key is placed between Option and
Control. (On Apple, landline keyboard, it lies in a mess of 6 keys above arrow
buttons and on Apple’s laptop it is on the keyboard’s bottom-left corner). Backlash
key, beneath Delete key, gets wider for some reasons and our fingers continued running
into it every time when we tried to press Delete key. Caps Lock light is
situated on the top-right corner (and it disappeared when not used) instead of
lying Caps Lock button. This was such a small hindrance. Plus, Luna has no
extra USB port because it can only absorb enough power form Mac to light up the
keyboard. This won’t be a problem if you use Magic Trackpad or Bluetooth mouse,
but in case you use a wireless USB mouse with dongle, you will need to find
another way to plug it in.
Key features
If you can’t live without backlighting, you
will prefer the nice and well-designed Luna keyboard. Though, for $99.95 it
charges double as much as Apple’s landline keyboard costing only $49. Besides,
with such money, you can afford Das Keyboard Model S
Professional Mechanical Keyboard.
If
you can’t live without backlighting, you will prefer the nice and well-designed
Luna keyboard.
Info
·
Price: $99.95
·
Manufacturer: Moshi
·
Website: www.moshimonde.com
·
Requirement: USB connector
Verdict
Pros
·
Back-lit keys
·
Number pad
·
9-degree tilt level
·
Mac’s function keys
·
Windows/Linux support
Cons
·
No USB port
·
Fn key lies in an odd position
·
Some keys are only for PC
·
The keyboard easily gets fingerprints
Ratings: 3.5/5
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