Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

stevod

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 25, 2009
87
0
London
Well it may seem odd, but there are no nice keyboards for PCs, or I can;t find them!

So is there a way of using the Apple keyboards on a PC. I'm thinking of the wired ones, so just using USB.

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,

S
 
Yes, I believe they'll work. Only thing is you might not be able to use the media keys on the top row.

As for there being no nice keyboards for pcs, check out Logitech's dinovo edge. That's one awesome form + function keyboard that rivals apple keyboards.
 
It'll work fine. And if you install Apple's bootcamp keyboard drivers, then you can have all the media keys working as well.

When I had a vista machine I used my apple keyboard on it, no problems at all. Even the eject key worked.
 
Back when I was running XP, I had an alu Apple keyboard. It worked, except that since I never bothered mapping keys, a few things didn't work as labelled, but it wasn't an issue.

For example, 'clear' is numlock, fn was printscreen, etc.
 
Yes. I used my bluetooth aluminum Apple keyboard with Windows XP, Vista and 7. All works. If you don't install the drivers, the special media function keys at the top won't work, they just function as normal F keys.
 
I miss the Prt Scrn/F11 keys for gaming screen shots on my tower. Otherwise it's a fine keyboard for Windows.

The Bluetooth model won't work for BIOS either kids. :(
 
I miss the Prt Scrn/F11 keys for gaming screen shots on my tower. Otherwise it's a fine keyboard for Windows.

The Bluetooth model won't work for BIOS either kids. :(

Use this Its a little program called SharkKeys and it lets you reassign the keys on the Apple Keyboard to ones that Windows sees. So you can make F13 or whatnot your print screen or what have you.

Hope that helps.
 
Have you looked at all?

Ha ha yes of course I have!

The nicest I've found is the one that comes with the recent Sony Vaio JS all-in-one - their imac copy. Really great, but I can't find where to buy them separately.

Thanks for all the other comments. My main concerns were the Windows button and things like that, but it looks that that's all covered above.

Thanks!

S
 
Yes, I believe they'll work. Only thing is you might not be able to use the media keys on the top row.

As for there being no nice keyboards for pcs, check out Logitech's dinovo edge. That's one awesome form + function keyboard that rivals apple keyboards.

Yes I've seen that, but I really like the scrabble type isolation keyboard, and I need a number pad.....

Cheers,

S
 
Ha ha yes of course I have!

The nicest I've found is the one that comes with the recent Sony Vaio JS all-in-one - their imac copy. Really great, but I can't find where to buy them separately.

Thanks for all the other comments. My main concerns were the Windows button and things like that, but it looks that that's all covered above.

Thanks!

S

Oh I see. What you actually mean is "PC keyboards which look like the Apple ones". In that case given Sony's price for their (nicer, IMO) wireless keyboard, I guess you're best off going for Apple's.
 
im using a wire alu apple keyboard on a HP running XP.
all did was extract the Keyboard drivers from my Bootcamp and installed them on the HP and all the keys function (media, volume, eject, etc) minus brightness since i dont have an ACD hooked up to it..


so yes, very much compatible...just be smarter than the peripherals and computer :p
 
Oh I see. What you actually mean is "PC keyboards which look like the Apple ones". In that case given Sony's price for their (nicer, IMO) wireless keyboard, I guess you're best off going for Apple's.

Sort of - scrabble/isolation keys are what I'm after. The Sony that's available (AFAIK) is a conventional style keyboard.

I have a Vaio Z which has a great keyboard, but I'd love something similar for when it's docked....

.....like the Apple one!

S
 
im using a wire alu apple keyboard on a HP running XP.
all did was extract the Keyboard drivers from my Bootcamp and installed them on the HP and all the keys function (media, volume, eject, etc) minus brightness since i dont have an ACD hooked up to it..


so yes, very much compatible...just be smarter than the peripherals and computer :p


Sounds good - I am also on XP.

Is there anywhere I can download these drivers from? Do they come with the keyboard?

Thanks also to Osarkon who mentioned these drivers above.

S
 
Use this Its a little program called SharkKeys and it lets you reassign the keys on the Apple Keyboard to ones that Windows sees. So you can make F13 or whatnot your print screen or what have you.

Hope that helps.

The F13 Key by default is assigned to print screen under windows use.
 
I don't dock my Z's (superior key feel to the Apple wireled/wireless keyboard IMO), but this is what I'm using with the docked SZ's.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/4740&cl=gb,en

That looks nice actually.

But I now have the Apple keyboard! And it's really good. Not quite as good as the one on the Z itself, but still excellent and great value.

I haven't tried the bootcamp drivers as it sounded like it would also affect how my laptop's built-in keyboard works too, but as I have pretty much everything working without them (apart from the special functions) it's unlikely I'll tinker with it in case it all goes wrong.

Thanks for all the assistance though.....

S
 
the genuises say it at the retial stores i asked one of them one time

Well it's 99% there just plugged in on USB. You only miss a couple of buttons like right-click, print screen, and scroll lock. Everything else is AOK!

S
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.