Show HN: I spent 2 years designing a mechanical Magic Keyboard

A maker showed off Altar II, a super-thin mechanical keyboard built over two years to mimic the sleek vibe of Apple’s Magic Keyboard while adding clickier keys, a detachable volume dial, and even little haptic buzzes for alerts. On paper, it’s a love letter to people who want their desk gear to look like art. In the comments, though, the real show began: admiration, nitpicks, and full-blown keyboard tribalism.

The biggest reaction was pure thirst. One commenter basically said the site looked so good they put money down immediately, while another compared the whole thing to the stylish audio brand Teenage Engineering — meant as a huge compliment. But the honeymoon ended fast when practical people barged in asking the question that clearly matters to Mac users: where’s the fingerprint reader? More than one person said that feature alone keeps Apple’s own keyboard on their desk, no matter how pretty this new one is.

Then came the classic keyboard drama. One user wanted blank keys for maximum cool-kid minimalism. Another delivered the harshest line in the thread, blasting the cramped arrow keys as “Unacceptable design” after two years of work. Ouch. Even the praise had conditions: beautiful, yes; clever, yes; but maybe too low and flat for die-hard fans of chunkier typing boards. In other words, Altar II didn’t just launch a keyboard — it launched a full-on comments-section referendum on beauty versus daily usefulness.