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I Want my Black Translucent Keyboard Back!

Have you ever wished to get some of the nicest features of the Titanium PowerBook in the new Aluminium model? I want my translucent black keyboard back. Read more…


Since just getting my hands on my first Titanium powerbook, I fell in love with it. Its design made it probably one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, laptop computer ever. It wasn’t all bed of roses though, and scratches, paint loss, faulty hinges and other issues took Apple to design it better.
My second TiPB didn’t suffer such illnesses, although I did have to replace the bottom case due to scratches. But, overall, I love its keyboard: the black translucent, semi-italic characterised one. Now I have an Aluminium PowerBook, much better in performance aspects, 1.5 GHz, 1.5 GB RAM, faster bus, 64bit video, but not as beautiful as the TiPB.
The keyboard is ugly, looks much more prominent, serious, de-flavoured, tasteless, with those straight letters in every key; the backlight is not something to die for, and my relation with the machine has decreased to almost consider it just that: a machine: the TiPB had a personality! (also a name, of course) …. and I don’t even like to name the new with the same name of the older (a name that had passed from one PB to anotther, since my first 190: Gandalf).
Has any manufacturer out there thought of making a replacement keyboard for the Aluminum PowerBook?
I tend to agree with Gandalf here, the Aluminum keyboard is difficult to see in low light conditions, in fact, the ambient keyboard light makes it more difficult to see the keys in certain lighting conditions ? which is bad for hunt and peck typists. Don’t get me wrong, the keyboard light is great in total darkness, but I rarely find myself using it in those conditions. What’s your take?

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.