Peace of Mind Organizing

Keyboard love

18 August 2014

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a new computer. I’m now the happy owner of a 13-inch mid-2014 MacBook Pro with Retina Display. It replaced a 13-inch mid-2011 MacBook Pro that had become sluggish.

So far it’s going great. Apple transferred my data from my old computer to the new one. Mavericks was easy to get used to (I’d upgraded from Lion). The computer is very fast. I’ve had few, if any compatibility issues. I swear, I love my Apple products and their ease of use. (But you knew that, didn’t you?)

Since I was shelling out all that dough, I decided to add on a couple of peripherals. One is the Elgato Thunderbolt Dock ($225). I connect my computer to it via a Thunderbolt cable and into it I connect my monitor, external hard drive, and other USB devices. So when I want to unplug my computer and take it on the road, it’s just a matter of unplugging the dock and the power cable. That’s going to change the landscape of my cord control which I’ll blog about as soon as I’ve figured it out.

The other thing I bought was the Belkin YourType Wireless Bluetooth Keypad ($50) to supplement the standard Apple aluminum keyboard I use at my desk. For years, I loved my now-discontinued white plastic Apple keyboard that included a numeric keypad and a delete key (as opposed to a backspace key) that deletes the character to the right. It finally bit the dust and I’d had to satisfy myself with a keypad- and delete-key-deficient Apple keyboard, because I really didn’t want a wired keyboard. But the Belkin product, which is designed be compatible in appearance with the Mac keyboard has saved the day. Here’s a photo from the Apple website—the keypad is on the left, next to the keyboard:

It makes me very happy now, but when I was trying to install the keypad, I wanted to pull my hair out. As part of the pairing process, you’re asked to press the key to the right of the shift key. There’s no shift key, so that’s impossible. I went online, read the complaints, then tried something that was suggested. I changed the batteries. (Never mind that I’d put in fresh batteries already.) Once that was done, the little keypad worked like a dream. I mention it in case you buy one, so that you can avoid the frustration I experienced. Probably simply taking out the batteries and putting them back in would suffice.

Sometimes it’s the little things that count and this little thing has made my new computer seem all the more special.

Tagged with: computer, cords, dock

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