By that, I mean that my Number Pad doesn’t sit perfectly flat on the desk, and the hard plastic build quality ensures there is an ever-so-slight rattling each time you actuate a key. There is no mistaking an actuation on this little Number Pad - aside from the increased key travel, the Number Pad’s build quality ensures you can both feel and hear every key press. There are some minor differences: the Number Pad keys have slightly more travel than the built-in keyboard and, consequently, a slightly higher sounding pitch when the key actuates. The keys even have the same overall feel as the MacBook Pro keyboard. Aside from the font and the Microsoft logo on the corner of the Number Pad, I’d forgive you for thinking the Number Pad was designed specifically for these MacBook Pros.

Size, Build Quality, and Typing Feelįirst, I presume it’s sheer happenstance that the Microsoft Number Pad has the same black-on-black design as the new M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pro keyboards.

But it has taken some bending and twisting to make the Microsoft Number Pad to work inside macOS and a Windows 11 virtual machine. When I discovered Microsoft’s relatively new external Number Pad, I thought I might be able to morph the great built-in M1 Pro MacBook Pro keyboard with the functionality of a portable number pad that I could take anywhere.įor the most part, this is a great solution. There’s nothing really “portable” about an external keyboard (perhaps the Planck EZ qualifies due to its diminutive size, but whipping an external keyboard out of your bag, no matter the size, will draw some ire from passers by). All these are excellent options for replacing the built-in MacBook Pro keyboard.īut they can’t come with you. I’ve tried others - a variety of Keychron mechanical keyboards, a Vortex ViBE, and the greatest of all 40% keyboards, the Planck EZ - in my search. I also love Microsoft’s Surface Ergonomic keyboard. I really like Apple’s older wired keyboard with keypad.

I’ve zigged and zagged through the external keyboard world. With a fixed - and perhaps permanently great - 2021 MacBook Pro keyboard, the search for the ultimate keyboard has probably slowed for some. An external keyboard was basically an essential, so the search had to begin. This was probably worse when the MacBook Pro had such a crummy keyboard. The deeper your search goes for the perfect keyboard, the worse the search gets.

Microsoft ergonomic keyboard macos