As noted by Italian site iSpazio [Google translation], Apple has quietly tweaked its standalone Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad for OS X Lion.

lion keyboard f keys
One minor change is a slight adjustment to the icon displayed on the F3 key to remove the frame around the collection of windows. The F3 key had been used to activate Exposé, but with that feature now being folded into the broader Mission Control feature in OS X Lion, the key now activates Mission Control.

In a larger change, the F4 key has now been repurposed since the previous Dashboard function has also been folded into Mission Control in Lion. Consequently, the F4 key is now used to invoke Launchpad, Lion's iOS-like application launching screen.

The new keyboard is billed as requiring Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later.

We don't know for certain that Apple has also updated its wireless keyboard with the same changes, as the company has not updated the images on its keyboard page or in its online store, but we do know that both the wired and wireless keyboards saw their model numbers transitioned to "/B" revisions alongside Wednesday's launch of OS X Lion. Consequently, it seems reasonable to conclude that both keyboards have been updated with the tweaked functionality.

Top Rated Comments

M-O Avatar
170 months ago
when are these bad boys getting back-lighting?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Akapp42 Avatar
170 months ago
I'll save everyone about $50

Do what I did, change the shortcut key from System Prefs>Keyboard. Then do this: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65356661@N05/5965532030/)
Hacked for Launchpad (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65356661@N05/5965532030/) by akapp42 (http://www.flickr.com/people/65356661@N05/), on Flickr
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Andy-V Avatar
170 months ago
Why not use the rocket icon for LaunchPad?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coder12 Avatar
170 months ago
Replacing the Dashboard button with Launchpad is extremely stupid:

* There is no gesture to activate Dashboard
* There already is a gesture to activate Launchpad
* Dashboard is more useful than Launchpad


This way, the only way to activate Dashboard is either swipe left a zillion times until you get to the leftmost space which is Dashboard, or if you're like me and find that Dashboard has no place among your desktops and windows in Mission Control, you either have to assign a hot corner to it, or keep the Dashboard icon in the Dock. I just press the Dashboard button on my keyboard and I have Dashboard, simple as that.

FN + F12 still works :P
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mbarriault Avatar
170 months ago
Is there a way to change F4 to open Launchpad instead of Dashboard on older keyboards? (without setting them to use standard function keys obviously).
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
9822737 Avatar
170 months ago
IIRC, it always has been. That just means it's not assigned as a specific hot key (with function keys turned off). Probably because many browsers use F5 as "refresh".

Ah thinking about it this could be because it doesnt have a backlit keyboard. As on Apple's portable options this gives the user the chance to turn the brightness down.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
Apple TV Plus Feature 2 Magenta and Blue

Apple TV+ Curbs Costs After Expensive Projects Fail to Capture Viewers

Monday July 22, 2024 5:11 am PDT by
Apple is scaling back its Hollywood spending after investing over $20 billion in original programming with limited success, Bloomberg reports. This shift comes after the streaming service, which launched in 2019, struggled to capture a significant share of the market, accounting for only 0.2% of TV viewership in the U.S., compared to Netflix's 8%. Despite heavy investment, critical acclaim,...
bsod

Microsoft Blames European Commission for Major Worldwide Outage

Monday July 22, 2024 11:55 am PDT by
Last Friday, a major CrowdStrike outage impacted PCs running Microsoft Windows, causing worldwide issues affecting airlines, retailers, banks, hospitals, rail networks, and more. Computers were stuck in continuous recovery loops, rendering them unusable. The failure was caused by an update to the CrowdStrike Falcon antivirus software that auto-installed on Windows 10 PCs, but Mac and Linux...