G4 iMac - what keyboard

Any USB keyboard and mouse will work as a basic device; special functions may not work.

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For use with my legacy Macs, portables and desktop models, certain effort was made to

acquire suitable vintage spares and replacements of the white Apple keyboard of the era

(circa 2005 & before) so as to have at least two spares. To cover use with up to 5 Macs.

In the process, found some great deals when talking to Apple users who had upgraded

to newer hardware and software; in that I had to take a sack of Apple software and other

Mac hardware, in order to get an unused OS X install DVD in retail packing. Eight items

for only $50. Including a new Apple last model white keyboard with extension. A score.

Some of the older keyboards (from G3 color iMac, etc) may have issues with later PPC

Macs in that special keys may not work, or may not perform their intended tasks. Take

for instance, the power key on colored keyboard from iMac G3. For a time, there were

adequate drivers and software bits in some G4 models; but not indefinitely supported.

And the early metal keyboards, such as those which shipped with or made for the G5

aluminum tower, were somewhat backward compatible to the G4s. But after a time,

and with a different model number on their case, similar build keyboards did not work.

Be watchful of those early white, black, or somewhat colored variants of Pro plastic

keyboards, since they use those jelly-touch keys and are a big job to repair at home.

Some can be fixed, just like there used to be how-to pages on fixing the Pro mouse.

Switches in them can fail, just not totally. Or Wires can break where they flex, etc.

+Spare parts can be helpful to diagnose problems in almost any model. If they match.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂