Sometimes it seems like you can never have too many USB ports in handy locations, especially if you use a tower Mac stashed under a desk. The USB 2.0 Keyboard for Mac from Matias is an inexpensive rubber-dome keyboard with a powered USB 2.0 port situated conveniently on top, where it’s always within reach. Better yet, it also has two USB 1.1 ports, so you can plug in your wired mouse (or anything else that doesn’t require the speed or power of USB 2.0) without “wasting” the USB 2.0 port.

The keyboard’s split cord does require two USB ports on your Mac, though. One plug connects the keyboard and USB 1.1 ports to the computer, and the second powers and connects the keyboard’s USB 2.0 port. Which means that if you get this keyboard to replace another wired keyboard that only takes up one port on your Mac, you’re not really netting a USB 2.0 port, just moving it. So this feature is more or less lost on anyone who uses an iMac or Mac notebook. But if you find yourself crawling under your desk to get to your tower Mac’s ports, having a USB 2.0 port at your fingertips is a good thing - and easier on the knees. One caveat: The keyboard’s cord splits about four inches from the dual plugs, so if the USB ports you’re plugging it into are more than four inches apart (as on many Mac notebooks), you’ll need a USB extension cord.

The white plastic keyboard includes Mac-specific keys like Command, Eject, and Volume Up, Down, and Mute. The keys also have symbols printed on them to help you find keyboard shortcuts and special characters without having to look them up—a nice touch. One thing that baffled us was the placement of the Caps Lock key. It’s in the bottom row, three keys to the right of the space bar, between a Control and an Option key. The spot where Caps Lock usually appears (above the Shift key on the left) is taken up by a third Control key. After using the keyboard for a couple months, this still threw us: Every time we wanted to turn on Caps Lock, we had to look down at the keyboard. And we’re not sure what this says about our typing style, but the letter M started to wear off its key within those two months too.

The bottom line. The USB 2.0 Keyboard isn’t perfect, but for just $30, it soundly beat our expectations.

COMPANY: Matias

CONTACT: www.matias.ca

PRICE: $29.95

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X, two USB ports

Provides a powered USB 2.0 dock, along with two USB 1.1 ports. Symbols on the keys let you find special characters easily. Inexpensive.

Using it with a notebook might require a USB extension cord.