I’m sorry if I sounds like an idiot by asking this but I seriously have no idea if I can use any keyboard for either operating system.
My friend wants to buy someone a new keyboard for her Mac and wants to know if she’s restricted by the operating system used.
Help!
Most USB keyboards will work on either system. I am pretty sure that the microsoft ergonomic keyboard I purchased last week said it would work on both mac and windows computers. I will check when I get home.
FTR, I have successfully used both a mac keyboard and mouse on a Windows system. They worked great, but I did miss having buttons on the mouse.
You do want to note, though, that there are a few keys different between the two. PC keyboards have that Windows key, and Mac keyboards have the command key (the one with the cloverleaf symbol on it). If you plug in a keyboard meant for one into the other, those keys will take on each others’ roles, but they’re in different places on the keyboard, and it’ll look funny.
It will work, and most of the Mac specific hotkey stuff can probably be re-mapped if need be, but that might be a pain to someone who is not technically inclined. And some Mac users might not really be into having a generic keyboard for aesthetic reasons alone.
Another consideration is that some Mac keyboards have USB ports for the mouse, etc. and Apple mice tend to have short cables for this reason. She may have to get an extension USB cable to connect the Apple mouse to the computer if the new generic keyboard doesn’t have USB. This will also potentially double the number of USB ports used for the keyboard and mouse from 1 to 2 and many Macs have only two USB ports standard.
The box for the microsoft keyboard said it would work with macs.
I passed along the information. We both thank you all for the quick responses.
She’s still not sure which keyboard she’s buying but at least she’s armed with some information now. 