Mac keyboard in a pc?

Christo · 9 Feb 2007 at 12:00

Unusual question I know! I have been using a mac all week and love the look of its keyboard - do these keyboards work in PCs? Or if not are there similar keyboards for a pc.

Will_3rd · 9 Feb 2007 at 12:06

Yes they do work, some of the keys will not work but apart from it should be fine.

I think XP includes extensive support for it.

Christo · 9 Feb 2007 at 12:07

coolio

cheers.

Anyone else using this setup in vista?

artaxerxes · 9 Feb 2007 at 12:20

I am using one in XP right now.

They are just standard keyboards (US layout).

semi-pro waster · 9 Feb 2007 at 13:29

Is it a USB keyboard? If so it will be fine. It has been a long time since I used a Mac but some of the older ones might not have used the PS/2 standard and you don't specify which one you are looking to use.

Christo · 10 Feb 2007 at 22:25

Yep it will be USB.

Do any of you guys like the mac keyboards?

z0mbi3 · 10 Feb 2007 at 22:26

pics please.

BillytheImpaler · 10 Feb 2007 at 22:30

I'm using a G5 keyboard on Vista. My only two gripes are the same they've always been. First there's no print screen key. Second the design of the keyboard means it looks really cool but it gathers dust, hair, and other crap like it is its job. I think if I leaned one up against my case I'd never have to clean my fans again as all the dust will be stuck in the keyboard.

semi-pro waster · 10 Feb 2007 at 22:37

Chrisp7 said:
Do any of you guys like the mac keyboards?

Not in the least but I never really got on with Macs in general, we had to use them in school and I found them rather limiting compared to PCs. That said they do have their positives, just none of them appeal to me as things I need.

Christo · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:07

semi-pro waster said:
Not in the least but I never really got on with Macs in general, we had to use them in school and I found them rather limiting compared to PCs. That said they do have their positives, just none of them appeal to me as things I need.

Yeh macs dont let you 'play' enough! - too limited. I have a PC but just need a new keyboard, and thought the mac ones were considered to be quite good.

Anyone got any recommendations for decent (not crazy expensive) keyboards.

Zombie - pic

artaxerxes · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:28

[/sarcasm]Yeah I found the FreeBSD underpinnings of Mac OS Tiger let me do nothing of interest with my Mac.[sarcasm]

On a hardware front there is something to be said about 'play', but in software give me a FreeBSD over DOS anyday

BillytheImpaler · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:32

artaxerxes said:
Yeah I found the FreeBSD underpinnings of Mac OS Tiger let me do nothing of interest with my Mac.

What would you like to do that it can't do? I'm just curious.

Brum Man · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:34

Chrisp7 said:
Yep it will be USB.

Do any of you guys like the mac keyboards?

Not using one in Vista, but have one in XP.

I love it, one of the best keyboards I've ever used. I have a bluetooth one, all you need is a dongle and it should be picked up by windows so no drivers needed.

Some of the keys won't be there like 'Print Screen', but I use a little program called sharpkeys that you can write them to the registry with so you can just F13 etc.....

Cost me around £40 and the dongle was about a tenner.

Also it looks nice and tidy on my desk!

artaxerxes · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:53

BillytheImpaler said:
What would you like to do that it can't do? I'm just curious.

I was being sarcastic! Will go back and add the sarcastic smiley. The chap who posted directly above said Macs had no 'play'. If anything they have more out of the box iff you are willing to explore.

The freeBSD was incredibly useful when I was running a lot of matlab and wanted much finer grained access to my files. It was just handy to drop into a unixy environment. However similar can easily be done with cygwin on your PC. The mac just makes it easier as it is inbuilt and as such there is a lot of support.

weringo · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:56

Brum Man said:
Not using one in Vista, but have one in XP.

I love it, one of the best keyboards I've ever used. I have a bluetooth one, all you need is a dongle and it should be picked up by windows so no drivers needed.

Some of the keys won't be there like 'Print Screen', but I use a little program called sharpkeys that you can write them to the registry with so you can just F13 etc.....

Cost me around £40 and the dongle was about a tenner.

Also it looks nice and tidy on my desk!

Ive never understood the need for wireless keyboards

Who are you trying to impress with one less wire on your desk?

artaxerxes · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:57

I hate wireless keyboards.

Christo · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:39

artaxerxes said:
I was being sarcastic! Will go back and add the sarcastic smiley. The chap who posted directly above said Macs had no 'play'. If anything they have more out of the box iff you are willing to explore.

The freeBSD was incredibly useful when I was running a lot of matlab and wanted much finer grained access to my files. It was just handy to drop into a unixy environment. However similar can easily be done with cygwin on your PC. The mac just makes it easier as it is inbuilt and as such there is a lot of support.

lol chill out! I just feel constrained by a mac after using a pc, it may be that I am used to using a PC of course.

I cant get used to having no right clikc either.

PardonTheWait · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:45

Chrisp7 said:
lol chill out! I just feel constrained by a mac after using a pc, it may be that I am used to using a PC of course. I cant get used to having no right clikc either.

I really don't get that.

Plug in a mouse with two buttons, there's your right click. I use my MX1000 and all the buttons work as they should.

Macs don't even come with one button mice anymore.

And besides, even if you have one button, ctrl+click = right click.

Brum Man · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:53

weringo said:
Ive never understood the need for wireless keyboards Who are you trying to impress with one less wire on your desk?

Erm, myself. Is it not ok that I like to have things looking tidy for my own pleasure? I didn't pay £300 for a glass desk to have it covered by cables from my mouse and keyboard.

Besides, it means I can sit away from desk with it on my lap and still use it to type on msn.

artaxerxes said:
I hate wireless keyboards.

Why?

artaxerxes · 11 Feb 2007 at 02:08

I should clarify the hate;

I do significant unofficial tech support for several people. Most of the hate stems from troubleshooting people's cheap ass wireless keyboards and mice. Compounded by start up problems when PCs refuse to notice hem and gives the keyboard error. My only experience with them is poor. I am sure if you buy the Apple one it will work just fine - but alas my experince is with random or generic hardware my mates/family have bought from Lidl.

If I had a glass table I might think about it, however I am firmly in the functionality over aesthetics camp, bang for buck if you will. Only recently have I upgraded from a dumpster diver case (old antec server case made of wrought iron in the 1890s, I am sure, it had a coal bunker) to a Lian Li V1000. My first ever (expensive) aesthetic choice. The second was the (wired) Apple keyboard I am typing on now.

So with added expense, and greater troubleshooting issues I see little need for wireless keyboards or mice.

Mac keyboard in a pc?

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