New Macs with wireless keyboard and mice in an educational setting

[Carter]

We've always opted to get wired keyboards and mice so that we can use small little luggage sized locks so people would not take the keyboards and mice but now with the move to wireless (again) there does not seem to be a new wired version of the keyboards coming out. With keyboards and mice being completely wireless there is nothing to stop people from taking these from the classrooms or the charge cables need to keep them charged.

 

What are other institutions doing to manage all the new wireless keyboards and mice for a public/classroom setting?

 

TY

[slugshead]

We have spares at the ready and a big box of all the odd components thrown in, we'll be able to make a few complete kits eventually

[Carter]

Are you using a USB -> USB-C Hub. or adapters since the new computers only have USB-C?

[thimon]

When we got our new iMac suite we replaced all the Apple wireless keyboards and mice with wired mice and keyboards we had lying around. They’re nothing special, but they don’t need charging and no ones going to nick them!

[Arthur]

What are other institutions doing to manage all the new wireless keyboards and mice for a public/classroom setting?

We replace the Apple wireless keyboards and mice with wired keyboards (Dell KB216) and mice (Microsoft Basic Mouse). Apple's don't even get taken out of their box.

 

Even if Apple still made wired peripherals we would replace them because our students often pick the keys off.

 

If you need a third-party keyboard with a Mac-specific layout that is relatively cheap Cherry's KC6000 Slim keyboards might be worth a look although they do not come with USB-C for some reason.

[LukeRowberry]

Yep a +1 for swapping the keyboards out. You’ll just end up getting called to the room every day when all of the kb/mice are in front of the wrong monitor and there’s ghosts moving the cursor.

[FN-GM]

Wthere is nothing to stop people from taking these from the classrooms

 

Surely classroom management should stop this?

 

I think an issue will be the keyboards and mice being swapped around and not being sat in front of the correct computer. This isn't easy to spot!

[thimon]

The main issue we had was the cables themselves being taken from the room, seeing as they can be used to charge mobile phones.

[Davit2005]

I think you are jus in for a world of pain if you go down this route in a school setting unless the users are it literate and it is their choice. We used to padlock the wired mice and keyboard by their cables, it does not stop someone ripping the cable out and breaking them but once they do the mice/keyboard are pretty useless anyway.

[Rob_D]

When we upgraded our Mac suite back at Easter, we returned all the wireless keyboards/mice for credit against the order and got a batch of wired ones.

[dmj]

Swap them out, and sell the originals. People pay ££££ for stuff like that. Edited July 28, 2021 by elsiegee40
Language edited by moderators

[Brimstone]

Are you using a USB -> USB-C Hub. or adapters since the new computers only have USB-C?

Macally make both USB-C wired keyboards and mice….

[IrritableTech]

We have used standard microsoft usb keyboards and mice with our macs. A fraction of the price, fairly robust and far less desirable.

[Guest obsidianpillar]

The "Magic" devices are wireless; however in the case of the Magic Keyboard & Trackpad they can be used w/ the Lightning to USB-A/C cable and it "disables" the Bluetooth connection and they operate like any other wired device (w/ no need to charge). I believe the Trackpad comes at a small premium versus the Magic Mouse; however this removes the issue of charging etc and then comes down to a classroom management issue in terms of how effective this solution would be in your case.

 

I personally hate the new "Magic" devices and have been scouring eBay religiously the last few months to pick up the Extended Keyboard (Wired) and Mighty Mouse to have spares. They're quite expensive at around £100 a keyboard & £50.00 a mouse.

 

Are you using specific software w/ said Macs e.g Pro Tools etc? EditorsKeys have a really nice lineup of Keyboards that have the shortcuts on the keyboard as well; and seem to be fairly durable in Studios that I've worked in that have them.

[Carter]

Honestly it looks kinda crappy on Apple's part to not offer a USB-C keyboard.

 

We're looking to order a bunch of computers and we're going to look at buying USB-C Wired Keyboards and Mice from Amazon to replace all the wireless ones we will receive. May not look great with new iMacs but at least we can't put a small luggage lock on wired keyboards and mice to keep around instead of wireless keyboards and mice walking off on their own.

[Driftingforlife]

You would be insane to use wireless K+M in a classroom, its never going to work well. I have yet to meet a teacher that cares/has the ability to stop students wrecking IT equipment.

 

We sell ours back to the supplier and buy wired ones. We have gone down the mac mini with a standard 24" screen route instead of imacs, meant we could actually buy more and they have 2 USB A connectors.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Driftingforlife

[Carter]

We sell ours back to the supplier and buy wired ones.

 

It's crazy that it's come down to this. Appe tried this some years back and there was a lot of back lash so they brought out keyboards and mice wired and school needed to request them and yet the public could not buy them. We've done so literally up until these new 24" iMacs. Actually we could still get the wired ones if we were ordering the 27" iMac.

[Brimstone]

It's crazy that it's come down to this. Appe tried this some years back and there was a lot of back lash so they brought out keyboards and mice wired and school needed to request them and yet the public could not buy them. We've done so literally up until these new 24" iMacs. Actually we could still get the wired ones if we were ordering the 27" iMac.

 

I don't know about Canada but in the UK Apple stopped supplying standard iMacs with any wired USB accessories at least 4 years ago, since then we have been swapping them out firstly for Apple ones and now for 3rd party USB and USB-C ones.

 

It's not any problem whatsoever and schools are happy to get a small rebate on the Apple accessories we take back from them

[Carter]

When we upgraded our Mac suite back at Easter, we returned all the wireless keyboards/mice for credit against the order and got a batch of wired ones.

 

Interesting, this is good to know. So Apple will take them back for credit?

 

We’re going to use old keyboards where we can and order a $4 6” USBC to USBA tail that we can then lock the keyboard/dongle to. For those that don’t have a keyboard we need to look at third party.

[Brax]

I recommend Macally Wired Keyboards if you're looking for some cheaper and easier to maintain Mac keyboards. They're USB and work much like a normal windows keyboard. We've had a lot of Vandalism recently and Apple keyboards take a while to repair.

[Rob_D]

Interesting, this is good to know. So Apple will take them back for credit?

Trams were happy to take them back. Not sure if it's an Apple thing or not.

[mrnoisy]

I can see why this this is a problem in schools for us we took the decision to use the wireless mice and keyboards, we have an estate of 150 M1 iMacs, we have had a couple of the cables go missing, on the whole it’s worked very well, we left the keyboards wired in for the first term and as soon as the couple of cables went missing they were all taken out, the staff just go around and change the keyboards and mice weekly, with checks at the end of each lesson to ensure no one’s accidentally put one in their bag 🤣

So far so good.

[psydii]

Has anyone got recommendations of cost-effective replacement mac keyboard/mice?

[2ilent8cho]

We just use the Basic Microsoft Mouse on our older intel iMacs with USB A ports. Keyboards have some XtremeMac and some from MacAlley , used the XtremeMac mice on our latest iMacs as they are USB C. I would say contact an Apple education specialist like KRCS as they will have Mac wired keyboards and mice for sale.