Future MacBooks Could Have Keyboards That Change What Keys Display

Apple has a lot of ideas on its end, a reason why they have been known to file patents for certain technologies. One of them could be an interesting one if successful – that which is to change the display on the keys of keyboards.

The Cupertino company is allegedly working on a perforated aluminum keyboard chassis with keycaps that would incorporate an array of LEDs that can change what is displayed on the keys.

Although there have been touchscreen keyboard concepts in the past, the one being suggested would use physical keys and LEDs would be tasked to do the trick.

The only difference under this patent is that the keys would be made of aluminum and not plastic. When the MacBook is turned off, there would be no visible markings on the keys.

With the change in the material on the keys, some may ask if the strokes would be the same. The typing feel would reportedly still be the same as the plastic keyboards of MacBooks in use to date.

However, the keyboard would be made from the same material as the rest of the laptop, enabling a more uniform design, colorway and rigidity. As far as using aluminum key caps, this was also done in the past on the PowerBook G4 although it had no regular key markings.

Some may find it difficult to figure out how these keyboards would look, not to mention their functionality. For those who may have an iPhone, a glimpse of the concept would be similar to the mobile device’s software keyboard – something that changes what is displayed on the key cap.

Further, this would be made possible through the help of a mini-LED or backlight that would be located below the aluminum key plate. Each key would have perforations cut precisely so each LED would shine directly through the top of the key cap.