Using the Apple wireless keyboard with my Sony laptop
Just bought a new Apple Wireless keyboard to use with my Sony laptop mid-week. I’ve been eyeballing it for a while now, due to the much smaller footprint compared to my Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution keyboard that I have been using.
As you can see, I have decided to document my thoughts on it.
Why Apple Wireless Keyboard?
Having used computer keyboards since the days of mechanical – and noisy! – full-stroke keyboards, I suppose it is somewhat ironic that I now consider the shallow depth of laptop-style keyboards to be superior where reduced typing effort is concerned.
I guess what really tipped the balance is my increasing fondness of the chiclet style keyboards found on my Sony laptops. And yes, contrary to popular speculation, Sony didn’t “rip” that one off from Apple. After all, Sony had laptops based on that design as far back as 2003. And even then, chiclet keyboards have already existed for a while.
Installation
Despite the dire warning from the sales representative at the Mac shop of pairing a Mac product with a non-Mac partner, installation proved to be a breeze. Not really worth talking about, except for a brief non-event where I inserted the three AA battery in the wrong direction. Whoops! Once rectified though, Bluetooth pairing was completed quickly (I opted for a system-generated one; which I typed using the keyboard before hitting ENTER), and I was good to go!
Oh yes, I also downloaded the open-source uawks tool, which stands for “Unofficial Apple Wireless Keyboard Support for Windows.” How’s that for an original name huh? But the credit goes to author Brian Jorgensen for this nifty tool though. Among other things, it remaps the Mac Command key to the Windows key. It also maps FN + Arrow keys to various keys such as Page Up, Page Down, Home, End – exactly like they are on my Sony keyboard. How cool is that!
The only thing issue I have with it is that the CD-Eject key doesn’t work as it was supposed to. I found that really surprising, since the Win32 API for it is relatively straight-forward, based on my work with my Winamp Keycontrol plugin. Maybe I’ll roll-up my sleeve for this one and go into the source code myself. Then again, I’ll probably spend the time on changing it into a dedicated DELETE key instead, which is way more useful to me than hitting the default (with uawks) FN + BACKSPACE combination in order to delete junk e-mails.
A couple of issues
I do have a couple of issues with the Apple Wireless Keyboard however, though nothing crippling or major.
The first one is that the keyboard doesn’t appear to be 100 percent stable. What happens is that every once in a while, the keyboard will start going into repeat mode for a particular key. It will automatically stop after a while, and everything will then revert back to normal.
I initially thought the problem was software-related, but noticed that the power LED on the Apple Wireless Keyboard will light up for a while each time that happens. My current suspicion is with the Bluetooth stack on Windows Vista – then again, such problems have NEVER happened with my Logitech keyboard.
The other “issue” I have is relatively personal. Basically… the arrangement of the CTRL , FN, ALT and WIN keys aren’t the same as with my Sony laptop! I realized that I’m a really heavy user of shortcut keys. You know, CTRL-C, CTRL-V, CTRL-T, CTRL-A, CTRL-W, ALT-TAB, CTRL-TAB, CTRL-SHIFT-TAB, FN-LEFT ARROW-SHIFT (To select whole row), ALT-F4 etc, I use all of these and more on a regular basis. And since I touch type, I never look at the keyboard – so you can imagine the problems that crop up when I hit the wrong combination. Ouch!
Remapping the keys in software is not a viable option, due to various intricacies inherent to how Windows intercept certain of these important keys first. Anyway, I’ll probably get used to the new layout soon.
In conclusion
Am I happy with the Apple Wireless Keyboard despite the couple of issues mentioned above? Yes, and very much so. Will I recommend others to go for it – yes, why not? Anyway, perhaps I’ll post an update after using it for another month or two, so be sure to check back!
Below, you can see the enormous difference in desk real estate taken up by my Logitech keyboard versus the Apple Wireless one.
Apple Wireless Keyboard beside my Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
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how much did the keyboard cost you?
Hi Nicolas, it cost SG$128 I believe. Prices for Apple products appears to be similar everywhere though.
how do you find the lack of keypad on the apple keyboard?
I’ve been considering purchasing the apple wireless keyboard (for PC/Linux), but I’m slightly hesitant considering there is no keypad.
Hi Tim, I basically evaluated my own usage of the keyboard… and discovered that I always use the row of numeric keys along the top to key in all my numbers anyway. It might be different if you are an accountant of course, but I personally haven’t missed the numeric key at all.
With the amount of space saved, the only regret was that I didn’t make the change earlier..!!
hi, do your know how to pair this keyboard with BlackBerry tour?
Max, it won’t be possible because the BlackBerry requires a (non standard) way of connecting HID devices. After the ThinkOutside keyboard was discontinued, there is only one other portable keyboard that can be used with the BB.
Hi, can you give me some step-by-step instructions on how to install this keyboard with windows 7. Do I have to download some extra drivers or just pair it via bluetooth using the control panel?