mini - Switching to Mini Using Existing PC Peripherals

matelot · matelot #1 (**permalink**)

11-01-2007, 02:59 PM

Does anyone here have experience of switching from PC to Mac Mini
and used your existing KB, mouse, external HDD etc ?

Because this is the route I'll be going, if possible - just spending money on the Mini and use all existing (USB) peripherals and I wonder if it will work and how the experiences are.

thanks

D R · D R #2 (**permalink**)

11-01-2007, 05:33 PM

I ended up buying a mac keyboard and used a left over microsoft usb mouse. All worked fine. Since I kept my Windows Vista PC, I hooked the mini into the VGA connector on my monitor. I just switch between the two.

I didn't want to change out my keyboard, which is still PS2 and my bluetooth mouse, so that's why I did what I did. I could get adapters, but I'm fine with it the way it is.

I'm not sure if that helps you at all, probably not; but it's my experience. Things are fine.

bryphotoguy · bryphotoguy #3 (**permalink**)

11-01-2007, 07:49 PM

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. The HD, KB, and mouse will work fine.

mac57 · mac57 #4 (**permalink**)

11-01-2007, 09:06 PM

If you use a PC keyboard, how to do emulate that Media Eject key? Without that, it is difficult to use CDs and DVDs...

technologist · technologist #5 (**permalink**)

11-01-2007, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mac57

If you use a PC keyboard, how to do emulate that Media Eject key? Without that, it is difficult to use CDs and DVDs...

Not really. Firstly, F12 usually triggers an eject in the absence of an actual ⏏ key. More obviously, though, the mini has a slot-load drive, and you eject disks by dragging them to the Trash, or choosing File > Eject, or from the Finder sidebar.

dtravis7 · dtravis7 #6 (**permalink**)

11-01-2007, 10:53 PM

Agreed with Tech. I have seen some keyboards like say Logitech and Microsoft that had an OSX driver where you could re-map the function keys. It's been a while but I thought one of them had a way to assign a key for eject. Just drag it to the trash or use the menu command.

Also you can Right Click and eject DVD's. Just tried it.

technologist · technologist #7 (**permalink**)

11-01-2007, 10:56 PM

About the only time you need to use F12 or the dedicated Eject key is on a Mac Pro, Power Mac, or an old iMac G4 to open the tray-loading CD drive.

mac57 #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Apr 29, 2006 Location: St. Somewhere Posts: 4,547 Mac Specs: PowerMac G5 Quad, 2.5 GHz, 4 Core, 120 GB SSD, 500 GB HDD	11-01-2007, 09:06 PM If you use a PC keyboard, how to do emulate that Media Eject key? Without that, it is difficult to use CDs and DVDs... My Macs: PowerMac G5 Quad, 2.5 GHz, 4 Core, Mac Pro, 3.2 GHz 8 Core, Power Macintosh 7500/100 My iStuff: 32 GB iPhone 4, 30 GB iPod Video, 16 GB iPod Touch My OS': Mac OS X Tiger, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X Leopard, Mac OS 8.6, openSUSE 10.3, Win XP I was on the Mac-Forums honor roll for September 2007
	QUOTE Thanks

dtravis7 #6 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 04, 2005 Location: Modesto, Ca. Posts: 25,807 Mac Specs: iMac C2D Late 2007 20" with 10.8.3, Macbook Santa Rosa 4GB Ram OSX 10.8.3	11-01-2007, 10:53 PM Agreed with Tech. I have seen some keyboards like say Logitech and Microsoft that had an OSX driver where you could re-map the function keys. It's been a while but I thought one of them had a way to assign a key for eject. Just drag it to the trash or use the menu command. Also you can Right Click and eject DVD's. Just tried it. ...Dennis Mac-Forums Community Guidelines
	QUOTE Thanks

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matelot #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Aug 08, 2007 Location: NY Posts: 29 Mac Specs: dont have one yet <sob>	11-01-2007, 02:59 PM Does anyone here have experience of switching from PC to Mac Mini and used your existing KB, mouse, external HDD etc ? Because this is the route I'll be going, if possible - just spending money on the Mini and use all existing (USB) peripherals and I wonder if it will work and how the experiences are. thanks
	QUOTE Thanks

D R #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Mar 20, 2007 Posts: 36	11-01-2007, 05:33 PM I ended up buying a mac keyboard and used a left over microsoft usb mouse. All worked fine. Since I kept my Windows Vista PC, I hooked the mini into the VGA connector on my monitor. I just switch between the two. I didn't want to change out my keyboard, which is still PS2 and my bluetooth mouse, so that's why I did what I did. I could get adapters, but I'm fine with it the way it is. I'm not sure if that helps you at all, probably not; but it's my experience. Things are fine.
	QUOTE Thanks

technologist #7 (permalink)
Member Since: Mar 30, 2004 Location: USA Posts: 4,744 Mac Specs: 12" Apple PowerBook G4 (1.5GHz)	11-01-2007, 10:56 PM About the only time you need to use F12 or the dedicated Eject key is on a Mac Pro, Power Mac, or an old iMac G4 to open the tray-loading CD drive.
	QUOTE Thanks

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