Magic Keyboard attaching to multiple devices - or alternative?

9 Stone Elvis

9 Stone Elvis

9 Stone Elvis

Associate
Joined
15 Jan 2023
Posts
141
Location
scotland
Hi folks, just trying to think through the logic of my set up. Any advice is appreciated.

I use to same desk for WFH for most of the week but also for my non-work activities. I have two monitors a bluetooth mouse and speakers plugged into a HP hub. I switch the USB C hub cable between my work windows laptop and my Macbook Air depending on what it is Im doing and everything changes between the two machines. This week I have bough a Mac Mini to add to the mix.

The problem is the keyboard. Its an Apple Magic Keyboard which I have to manually connect every time I switch between machines which is a pain.

What is the most cost effective way to overcome having to do this connection manually? Do I buy a new keyboard that can attach between devices at the touch of a button? Do I get some sort of KVM switch thing? Dunno how that works with my existing hub though? I dont really want to spend significant money if I can avoid it. Its a pain but its hardly life altering, just an annoyance I could do without! Any alternative i havent thought of?
 
Cheapest solution is a cable between the Magic Keyboard and your USB hub.

I used to work in an office full of every flavour of Mac and Magic peripherals and the only way to prevent constant re-pairing of Magic Keyboards was to use a cable or bin them for a wired Apple keyboard.
 
Bumhug said:

Share Mouse and Keyboard with multiple Mac and Windows computers.

Mouse and Keyboard Sharing to control a Windows or Mac PC with the mouse and keyboard of any other PC. Or drag & drop files between multiple computers.
www.sharemouse.com www.sharemouse.com

Would that do what you want?
Click to expand...

No i dont need to use multiple computers at the same time. I literally switch between them by switching the hub cable between machines. The problem is the magic keyboard cant switch in theis matter so i have to go into bluetooth settings on the machine Im connecting to and reconnect the keyboard, then do the same when i want to switch back. When you go back to the Windows laptop it says its connected but its not and you have to disconnect and reconnect. Just annoying really.
 
Terminal_Boy said:
Cheapest solution is a cable between the Magic Keyboard and your USB hub.

I used to work in an office full of every flavour of Mac and Magic peripherals and the only way to prevent constant re-pairing of Magic Keyboards was to use a cable or bin them for a wired Apple keyboard.
Click to expand...
Oddly enough I didnt really think of that (facepalm), obviously wont be as nice to run a cable but actually as a no-cost solution that seems pretty obvious now!!!
 
A cable would be the cheapest option, but considering that you're going between a mac and a windows laptop, the better option would be to get a keyboard that has both windows and mac key legends and the capability to switch between three bluetooth devices which can be had for around the £20-30 range, but if you don't want a mechanical keyboard (which pretty much all the cheap keyboards are) a logitech keyboard might be the better option, although I'd recommend the wave keys keyboard which even though it's a battery powered keyboard, 2-3 years on a pair of AAA's is pretty good and has a number pad in a more compact size (even though it has a wrist rest that can't be removed), although I would suggest getting the graphite multi-OS variant with the bolt receiver rather then the white wave keys for mac just to have windows and mac legends printed on the keys (plus the graphite variant is currently £10 cheaper)
 
demonix said:
A cable would be the cheapest option, but considering that you're going between a mac and a windows laptop, the better option would be to get a keyboard that has both windows and mac key legends and the capability to switch between three bluetooth devices which can be had for around the £20-30 range, but if you don't want a mechanical keyboard (which pretty much all the cheap keyboards are) a logitech keyboard might be the better option, although I'd recommend the wave keys keyboard which even though it's a battery powered keyboard, 2-3 years on a pair of AAA's is pretty good and has a number pad in a more compact size (even though it has a wrist rest that can't be removed), although I would suggest getting the graphite multi-OS variant with the bolt receiver rather then the white wave keys for mac just to have windows and mac legends printed on the keys (plus the graphite variant is currently £10 cheaper)
Click to expand...
Wow I didnt realise those keyboard could be got as cheaply as that. That would seem to be the logical solution. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom