I'm considering getting a Legend to use with my Macs. I've been looking for a quality keyboard with dark keys, lettering that doesn't wear off, and a solid construction, but most of the keyboards I've come across with Mac-specific keycaps are white (and show dirt very quickly!) and/or use a cheapo clear plastic to mimic Apple's keyboards.

I (briefly) owned a Matias TactilePro, which also used mechanical key switches and claimed to be a high-end keyboard for the Macintosh. However, I was decidedly less than happy with it and want to make sure I don't have the same problems if I order a Legend.

• Has anyone had problems with "shadow keys" with the Legend?
Basically, this is a documented problem with the TactilePro and a few similar keyboards (including, apparently, the StudioBoard Kensington made until recently) where something about the design of the circuit boards used meant that certain key combos would not register when they were pressed in. I don't think this is acceptable in a "high end" keyboard that I'm paying $90+ for, and I came across it after about a day of trying it out, so I wound up trading in the Matias for a cheaper membrane-based keyboard that didn't do this.

• How easy/hard is the Legend on your wrists compared to an average-quality keyboard with membrane switches?
After a day of intense note-taking at lectures, the TactilePro actually seemed to exacerbate the soreness in my wrists despite having easier keypresses than my spongy white Apple keyboard, but I've also come across a few complaints on the web that suggest it's probably something about the construction of that particular keyboard rather than a trait of mechanical switches in general.

• Finally, what's the simplest little utility I can use to switch the Win/Command and Alt/Option keys to the standard Mac positions? This won't be a problem with my laptop (a MacBook running Tiger), but my PowerMac will be staying on OS 10.3, which doesn't have the ability to switch these keys built into the OS.

Thank you in advance for any advice

Hello,
To answer a few of your questions, the characters on the keys will most definitely not wear off as your have experienced before.

What you call "shadow keys" we call "phantom keys." The engineer recognized this as a potential problem early on and was able to re-design some circuitry so that when multiple keys are pressed at once, when gaming, for example, the function is as it should be and the correct keys are registering.

For the other question regarding how easy/hard it is on your wrist, I will defer to our happy population of Deck owners. They will give you a better opinion than I could.......Deck Girl Amy

Great!

For awhile, I was apprehensive that I'd wind up shelling out tons of money for another high-end keyboard, only to find out that I couldn't hit certain hotkeys that I use on a daily basis without using some sort of sticky keys program (like some people have done with the Matias and Kensington keyboards).

And I'm sick of getting cheap keyboards, only to find that some of the lettering either scratches or wears off in a couple of months...

The keycaps on a Deck keyboard are unique compared to your standard keyboard in the respect that the letters are actually 'inside' the keycap itself. We use a high-pressure process where the ink is shot into the plastic, meaning for the letters to rub off, you would have to wear through the plastic almost entirely.

My personal belief after building these every day and working with them is that you will never in your lifetime wear out the letters.