I’ve posted some thoughts on the MTP2 here and elsewhere, but thought I would write something more definitive.
The short version: I feel simultaneously ripped-off and satisfied.
The long version: The ripped off part comes from the issues raised in the review cited above. The MTP2 I received in the mail was not the keyboard I thought I was buying, plain and simple. It lacks the promised Optimizer key, and the USB 2.0 “Dock” is… well, it’s hole. One USB 2-equipped hole. In my mind, that’s a port, not a dock.
I did get an email the day before they shipped my keyboard that offered me a choice between the white and black versions. Careful reading of the email does, in fact, reveal that the Optimizer key is not on the list of features. But that information is hinted at in a very vague way. It’s not a “Dear Sean, full disclosure here, the white keyboard no longer has the Optimizer thing, but the ugly black one does.” It was more like “You want white or black? Here are some features.” I chose white.
I feel like a kid who discovers that the X-Ray Specs he bought from the back of a comic don’t really let him see through his neighbor Kim Townley’s dress, which sucks because, I mean, you should have seen this girl. Now I’ve lost my train of thought.
Oh, right, so I buy this $150 pair of X-Ray specs. Caveat emptor, I guess. Still, it was shitty of Matias. .
That said, as I type this, I am happy. Every click of the key feels distinct and precise and real, and the mechanical switches really do help me type without looking down at my hands. I’m not sure why – it might be some sort of physical-connection-to-the-process mojo, the way that soup warmed by a flame tastes better than soup heated in a microwave. The Zen of the Real. More likely, it’s all in my head.
Yes, the keys rattle a bit. But they also clack and pang and echo, and when I get on a roll, the sound is a hurricane of noise and productivity.
Yes, the legs on the underside do feel a little insubstantial, but aside from a morbidly obese cat who sleeps on the keys when I forget to close the drawer, they rarely bear much weight.
So, to sum up in the great Macworld tradition:
Cons: Expensive. The smaller features promoted in their initial advertising are not at all as promised. Instead of fessing up, the company tried to finesse its customers. And by finesse, I kind of mean “lie to”.
Pros: It’s a dream to type on this thing.
Would I buy a MTP2 knowing all I know now. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not sending this one back though.
I did learn that there’s more to writing a novel than stringing 80,000 words together.)
