In response to “Defect with the Right Arrow key on some Apple Wired Keyboards,” I have replaced my Apple Wired Keyboard with a new one, directly from Apple’s online store. After several hours of use, the new keyboard shows no sign of defective or insensitive keys. Hopefully it’ll stay that way!
I recently purchased an Apple Wired Keyboard from NewEgg to use with my Vista computer (see this article on how to effectively remap keys with Vista using SharpKeys — it’s helpful for Bootcamp users too). I was attracted to this device because of its sleek appearance, low profile, and gentle typing experience.
To my dismay, though, after using the product for a couple of hours I noticed that the right arrow key required a slightly longer or harder keypress, and that the finger had to be exactly center on the key to register a first response. Holding the key down or pressing rapidly after the first failed response would illicit normal behavior (so long as you were applying continual pressure or taps). As soon as you let off of the key for awhile and came back to it, the first response once again would fail — but subsequent taps or pressure would be successful.
For someone who edits large volumes of text the shift + arrow key combination is crucial to quickly selecting words and phrases for cutting and overwriting. This little problem proves quite frustrating and I am fighting with it even as I write this article.
I did a quick Google search and found one result (on the Apple Support forums) concerning the issue. The only real solution described: return the keyboard for a new one. Unfortunately some users reported that it took several returns (one up to three keyboards) before finding a board without this problem.
NewEgg does not allow for replacements of this item and when I went to find it on their site again I discovered that they have “Deactivated” the product (it does not specify if it is Out of Stock or Discontinued). I will have to deal with Apple directly (NewEgg claims that they provide a 1 year warranty). Some users on the discussion forum have had success getting a replacement at an Apple Store (sometimes only after a demonstration of the problem to one of the Geniuses).
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