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paularizer · Nov 29, 2004, 10:30 AM

Hello everyone. I've got a question. I've got a PB G4 and what I've been doing to save USB slots is, I got this DELL USB keyboard that has two USB ports in it, so I plug the mouse (which is a microsoft two button and a scroller mouse, I love the apple mouse and if that thing had a 2nd button and a scroller I'd get it, but it doesn't, and I can't do without 2nd button and scroller) I plug the mouse in the keyboard, then the keyboard into the PB and that leaves one empty USB port on the PB, which is good.

My question: this dell keyboard isn't too pleasant to use and I would much rather have an apple keyboard, but I don't know if apple has keyboards that have USB ports on them like this dell keyboard. If anyone knows about this please tell me about it.

Of course, the best situation would be if those apple bluetooth keyboards had USB ports on them. That would be just perfect. Then both USB ports on my PB would be free. But I don't know if this is so. Probably not.

Anyway, if anyone knows about this, please fill me in.

Thanks a lot

cpac · Nov 29, 2004, 10:51 AM

I'll bet you could find this out just by looking on Apple's site, but to save you the time:

The Apple Pro Keyboard (normal keyboard) has 2 USB ports on it (on either side - cord comes from the middle)

The Apple Bluetooth Keyboard does not have any ports on it. (I'm not sure it's even possible to have USB info get transferred over bluetooth, but even if it were, would you want your mouse sucking down battery life from your keyboard?) If you want bluetooth but don't like the single button mouse, go for a third-party product.

Skip Breakfast · Nov 29, 2004, 03:40 PM

I don't believe it is possible to have a usb bus on a BT device.

Also, the last comment was a little vague, so I want to clarify. If you do a BT keyboard, you should also get a BT mouse.

cpac · Nov 29, 2004, 03:50 PM

Originally posted by Skip Breakfast:
If you do a BT keyboard, you should also get a BT mouse.

or you could plug your mouse directly into the computer.

SEkker · Nov 29, 2004, 10:57 PM

There are also good, 3rd party usb keyboards that work well on the Mac and have a better feel than the Apple Pro keyboard IMHO.

Take your PB into a CompUSA, plug in the various keyboards and try for yourself!

paularizer · Nov 29, 2004, 11:08 PM

Originally posted by SEkker:
There are also good, 3rd party usb keyboards that work well on the Mac and have a better feel than the Apple Pro keyboard IMHO.

Take your PB into a CompUSA, plug in the various keyboards and try for yourself!

I just might do that! Thank you all very much.

tooki · Nov 30, 2004, 12:02 AM

For what it's worth, Apple hasn't sold the "Apple Pro Keyboard" in well over a year. The model they sell now is called simply "Apple Keyboard" and has two USB ports on the rear, right next to the cord. The "Apple Wireless Keyboard" (the Bluetooth keyboard) looks just like "Apple Keyboard", save for the missing cord and USB ports.

Bluetooth doesn't have anywhere near the throughput to handle USB, and it likely never will -- even the next-generation Bluetooth (2Mbit/sec) will be only barely faster than the slowest USB speed (1.5Mbit/sec).

tooki

webcookie · Nov 30, 2004, 05:57 AM

I have the Apple Keyboard and the Macally Ice Key. I like the Ice Key better. It feels more like a laptop keyboard. It's very quiet except for the space bar, which is obnoxiously loud compared to the rest of it. It has two USB ports.