Asked By
alina
130 points
N/A
Posted on - 04/21/2011
Hi,
Apple products have always fascinated me. Recently I saw an Apple wireless keyboard. Since, I don't own a Mac, will it be able to connect to my Windows Machine? I can go ahead with my plans of purchasing only after this confirmation.
Answered By
Mike07
0 points
N/A
#86154
Is Apple keyboard a good deal for a Windows machine
Hi Alina,
First of all you need to confirm if your machine (desktop or laptop) has built-in Bluetooth facility. If yes, then you can pair up your machine with the apple wireless keyboard. In fact with Vista and Windows 7 you can just connect and start working. For XP users you may have to install a paid Bluetooth app to connect to your Apple keyboard. Once, you are in store you can ask the staff there on these details.
Let me know if you have further questions.
Answered By
alina
130 points
N/A
#86155
Is Apple keyboard a good deal for a Windows machine
Thanks Mike for the reply. I am Vista user so I guess I am saved from the initial glitch. I have that some of the keys on Apple keyboard are not compatible with Windows machine. Is that true? What is the workaround?
Answered By
Mike07
0 points
N/A
#86156
Is Apple keyboard a good deal for a Windows machine
Yes Alina,
I forgot to mention it in my last comment. You can download a free program known as Event Ghost. This program lets you create macros that will help you to come up key combinations that let you achieve the functions you want. For example, most commonly encountered problem with Apple keyboard attached to Windows machine is regarding the Delete key.
To overcome this problem you can create a macro like shift key+delete key that will you achieve the delete function. I hope this helps.
Answered By
alina
130 points
N/A
#86158
Is Apple keyboard a good deal for a Windows machine
Thanks Mike. This clears a lot of my confusion.
Answered By
forexmt
0 points
N/A
#86159
Is Apple keyboard a good deal for a Windows machine
With Macs now controls 14% of the US market share (up from 9% in 2006), it’s clear that the world is quickly going Mac.
This is especially evident here at FreshBooks. When I joined last year, we were a strictly PC/Windows shop. Since then, we’ve added 6 iMacs to the grid — and more are on the way.
Resistance is futile
I, for one, welcome our new Mac overlords. To help kick-start the indoctrination process, I’ve begun using an Apple keyboard with my Windows box here at work. Sure, the buttons don’t match up perfectly (where’s the print screen button?), but with a few easy steps, you can re-map your Windows keys such that you’ll hardly notice.
Introducing AutoHotKey
AutoHotKey is a freeware software for Windows XP that lets you create easy-to-write scripts that define alternate key mappings in Windows. You can do the same by modifying the Windows registry yourself – but that’s just plain silly.
The script
After you’ve installed AutoHotKey, download this script and run it (either by double-clicking or right-click -> “Run Script”). This will load a set of pre-defined rules that will make your Apple keyboard operate like a Windows one — but way sexier.
Here’s the rules I’m using:
Swap Windows (Command) and ALT keys
These button locations are reversed on Mac keyboardsLAlt:: LWin
LWin::LAlt
Map F13 to Print screen
Mac keyboards don't have a print-screen button!
F13::PrintScreen
To have this script run every time Windows boots up, save it in your Startup folder (Start -> All Applications -> Startup).
That’s it! Happy is typing.
