Alternative MAC Keyboards

[mtdmitchell]

Okay so we have purchased 20 Mac Mini's, but no Kerboards or Mice.

the MAc Keyboards and Mice are very Expensive and our Students are very destructive so im looking for a decent priced USB keybaord with USB ports on it.?

Anyone have a nice Alternative for under a tenner?

[Ben-BSH]

Any reason for needing the USB hub on the keyboard?

most mice will have a plenty long enough lead, if that is the reason

[mtdmitchell]

The Mac Mini's only have USB Ports on the Back, so Plugging in a USB Drive means the Student Pull the nice Tiday Mac Mini's all over the place.

[mac_shinobi]

Ask simon at CP LTD

Computer Products Ltd | Computer Hardware | Desktop PCs | Laptops | Notebooks | LCD | Software | Printers | Servers | Wireless Networking | Office Supplies | Ruckus Wireless | Meru Wireless

As long as they are USB keyboards / mice should be fine

[Ben-BSH]

cheapest i have found so far

Scan.co.uk: Colours IT 8102C Multimedia Wired Keyboard, USB with USB Hub, Silver/Black

[mtdmitchell]

cheapest i have found so far

Scan.co.uk: Colours IT 8102C Multimedia Wired Keyboard, USB with USB Hub, Silver/Black

Thanks, not to be fusy but they are ugly

[Ben-BSH]

LinITX.com - FK-380 Compact MultiMedia Keyboard with USB Hub
Techinfo
Perixx PeriBoard 402U USB MINI Multimedia Keyboard with 2 Built in USB Ports - R Digitalpromo.co.uk

few more?

seems hard pushed to get anything nice for the tenner mark

[nicklec]

Its pretty frustrating trying to find keyboards without the usual glut of 'windows functions' buttons; interested if you find a copy (feature wise) of the mac alu keyboard

[Robbocop]

Sadly, third party Mac keyboards (Macally and so on) tent to be as expensive as Apple ones. Any Windows usb keyboard and mouse will work, but you won't get Apple specialist keys, which probably also means the CD eject key! Forgive me for the plug, but we've been selling one made by Cherry, which you might also be able to source through other resellers. Not a great deal cheaper than the Apple one I'm afraid. There's a couple of useful resources I can point you at if you want to give windows keyboards a try: Doublecommand is an OSX kernel extension which lets you remap keyboard commands DoubleCommand and there's a nice article around the subject from Macworld here Mac mini, Windows Keyboard | Desktop | Mac Gems | Macworld

I hope that helps you out.

Rob

[mtdmitchell]

Sadly, third party Mac keyboards (Macally and so on) tent to be as expensive as Apple ones. Any Windows usb keyboard and mouse will work, but you won't get Apple specialist keys, which probably also means the CD eject key! Forgive me for the plug, but we've been selling one made by Cherry, which you might also be able to source through other resellers. Not a great deal cheaper than the Apple one I'm afraid. There's a couple of useful resources I can point you at if you want to give windows keyboards a try: Doublecommand is an OSX kernel extension which lets you remap keyboard commands DoubleCommand and there's a nice article around the subject from Macworld here Mac mini, Windows Keyboard | Desktop | Mac Gems | Macworld

I hope that helps you out.

Rob

Thanks for that, Im just going to have to stick with a normal Keyboard and maybe tape a USB extension lead to the front MAc!

The other main Problem is the Power button is on the back on the MAc im hoping this can also be mapped a key?

[nicklec]

Wake on lan? Pretty sure F12 ejects a disc if your using a generic usb keyboard