BK3001 (Apple Wireless Keyboard Clone) Unboxing & Review

About the Device


I bought two of these keyboards a couple of weeks ago off of Amazon for use with my hackintosh, as I didn't have the €70 for an original Apple keyboard, and couldn't find any reasonably priced second hand ones in the Dublin area. I expected beforehand to be disappointed, but figured it would be at least a step up from the Windows keyboard was previously using which was driving me crazy with differently configured buttons.


There are three different models according to the packaging (BK3001, BK3002, BK3012), available in silver, black and white. The one I purchased (BK3001) cost about £13 on Amazon, but can be found on a myriad of different websites for different prices. It's primarily shown for use with an iPad, but works with any bluetooth enabled device.


Unboxing






















At this kind of price, you can't expect much quality control. Still, I was slightly concerned that of the two I purchased, both the boxes seemed quite a bit worn and torn around the edges. Also, one of the boxes came wrapped in plastic, while the other was simply sellotaped shut. would suggest anybody purchasing to ensure their keyboard is working before throwing away the packaging.

Inside, there was just the keyboard itself (wrapped in a kind of soft plastic I usually see on furniture), and the user manual. For both keyboards the user manual appeared to be for the BK3012 model (but made no mention of this), as it contained diagrams showing a micro USB slot. No batteries were included, but it take two AAA size.

Design


I'll admit straight away that my main reason for purchasing this keyboard, besides price, was aesthetics. I had recently changed my room, and wanted something that looked attractive and matched my Apple Magic Mouse. In this regard, this keyboard gets major points.

Doubtless it's not near as high quality as the Apple keyboards, but it fills in well at this price point. It's made from plastic very light plastic, but the finish on the silver looks almost identical to the underside of the Magic Mouse. The keys are equally attractive, set into place well and with a nice colour to the letters.

Usability


For most people, comfort and responsiveness of the keys will be by far the most important factor in the decision of which keyboard to buy. This is the most disappointing aspect of this keyboard.  I don't do a lot of typing at home, apart from using Facebook chat, so the little annoyances are usually not so obvious to me. However, in typing this review it has become painfully obvious how frustrating this keyboard can be for any significant amount of typing.

The keys require very hard clicks dead on center to register anything, and writing anything without making a conscious effort at this will leave a lot of red lines. For me, this starts to make my hand start to cramp after a few minutes and I imagine most people will be the same. For people like me who will use it for mostly light use,or with an iPad, will probably find it sufficient for their needs.

Another point of note for people using this with a hackintosh (I presume this doesn't apply to Macs), is that you will require another keyboard plugged in to your PC. Most, if not all PCs will go past the BIOS without a keyboard connected, and a bluetooth keyboard does not connect until the operating system stars.

These two issues probably make this keyboard more effort than it's worth.

Follow @CraigDoesTech