Will Apple bluetooth keyboard work in Win XP?

[jon08]

I'm currently considering getting an Apple keyboard, but haven't been able to decide yet whether to take the USB one or the bluetooth one.

I went to a local Apple retailer today and was told that the bluetooth one wouldn't work in Windows. Now, I mostly use OS X, but I do some occasional gaming too, and would need the keyboard to function properly in Windows too. Btw, I have Win XP Pro SP3.

Will a bluetooth keyboard work then?

 

[Syonidism]

ive had a lot of trouble with bluetooth on my mac pro woodcrest but 4 the MBP its quite great. IIRC it works ok.

 

[davwin]

There are several threads for this keyboard and Windows support... but the short answer is yes - it will work in Windows.

You may have some issues with certain BT adapters if trying to pair it with a generic Windows PC but, you should have no problems at all pairing it with the Mac via Bootcamp.

 

[jon08]

Is the keyboard reliable though - will it work fine? Or does it get laggy etc?

 

[jon08]

Also, does anyone know if the angle of the USB one VS. the bluetooth one is about the same, or is the latter elevated slightly higher?

 

[J&JPolangin]

...it worked great on my 20" iMac but wouldn't pair with my eeePC1000H (the main reason I wanted it) so back it went...I really wanted it to work and tried all the registry hacks I could find but it wasn't meant to be, for my eee...

 

[xraydoc]

Is the keyboard reliable though - will it work fine? Or does it get laggy etc?

I've found no lag with the Apple bluetooth aluminum keyboard.

I will say that I haven't been able to get it to reliably work with Windows in Boot Camp, however, on my Woodcrest Mac Pro. I know its supposed to work - somehow - but I was never able to get it. It wouldn't be recognized automatically in Windows, and if I repaired the keyboard in Windows it gave me grief when I rebooted in to Mac OS (requiring me to repair again). This may be because I don't have built-in bluetooth on my Mac Pro (using Apple's recommended D-Link USB adapter), but either way it still was a big hassle. Same deal with the BT Mighty Mouse.

No issues with Parallels of course. But Boot Camp with the BT keyboard & mouse gave me grief.

I've gone to a wired keyboard and a wireless RF mouse instead. More reliable for me with Boot Camp.

 

[jon08]

Guys, since I always use Airport for wireless connection, and if now I used the bluetooth keyboard along with a Logitech wireless mouse, would there be a high chance of them interfering with each other?

 

[geoffreak]

Not really. Only bluetooth devices tend to interfere with other bluetooth devices. Wifi can get much more saturated before the performance begins to drop.
The problem is only really present in a stereo bluetooth headset that uses most all of bluetooth's bandwidth. A mouse and keyboard can easily deal with lower bandwidth.

 

[rkdiddy]

I'm typing on one right now - I love it!

I have a Dell XPS 210 running XP and I haven't had any issues at all. I used keytweak to remap a few keys but that is it.

I also have a USB keyboard (the one with the numbered keypad). Not a whole lot of difference. The keys on the wireless have a little more spring to them and the wired keyboard allows you to plug in a USB device into it (nice feature if you use a thumb drive).

Also, I'm using a wireless Mighty Mouse as well. I guess my home PC is kind of a poser.

 

[Gonzo3333]

I have an Apple Keyboard (wired) on my XP Computer at Work. It has been working flawlessly.