


The power key is functionally no different than the old power button - tap to turn on, hold to power down in the event of a hard lock.

The dedicated power button from the older Macs is gone and replaced with a power key that looks like another function key. Apple's keyboard remains one of the best on the market. As Apple has now fully transitioned to this style of keyboard across all of its Macs, I can't really say I have any complaints about it. Key travel and physical feedback are both as good as they can get on a chiclet-style keyboard. The function keys are half height on the 13 and even smaller on the 11, but there's no sacrifice in key size otherwise. You get a full sized keyboard on both the 11 and 13-inch models, with the alphanumeric keys measuring ~15 x 15mm. The keyboard on the 2012 MacBook Air is the same as the 2011 model.
