I recently got an external apple keyboard since the keyboard on my laptop has keys that does not work and have tried charging my ipads via the usb keyboards input with it and it doesn't work. I also tried using my ipod touch and it charges but I get pop ups from time to time that says it using too much power.
With this said what kind of things can be used in the usb inputs on the mac keyboards?
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)
Wired mouse if your keyboard is also wired.
Wow, that's all. That is terrible!
Any USB peripheral should work, as long as there's enough power to the keyboard's USB hub. Thumb drives work from the keyboard on my Mac. A USB connection to a printer will work.
However, iPhones and iPads use more power than the USB 2 spec calls for -- Apple USB ports are special that way. So they won't run off an unpowered USB hub like the keyboard.
You can see the max current of the hub and the requirement of the devices connected in About This Mac > System Information.
if you try to plug in a device with a powered requirement you may get a warning it wont work.
Further if you have a 2.0 USB port with your keyboard and you plug in a 3.0 device your running it a 2.0 speed.
your fastest devices (usually Hard Drives, Digital Cameras that support high speed transfers) should be plugged into the fastest port on the mac itself, slower devices (mice, printers, rocket launchers) should be connected to hubs if you ran out of connections that came with the computer, e.g. don't plug your USB 3.0 drive into the keyboard if you have a USB 3.0 port being taken up by the mouse, it defeats the purpose of the hub which is speed. If you have a dedicated 3.0 hub in a 3.0 port then you are running at capacity so all this is moot.
non-os specific error message.
I've plugged various USB devices into my Apple USB keyboard. Currently I have a Griffin PowerMate plugged in (I use the Bluetooth Magic Trackpad for a pointing device), and my iPhone (where it charges and syncs to my iMac).
I've plugged USB thrumb drives, USB external drives.
NOTE: It is a USB2 interface, so even if you are using an USB3 capable Mac, the keyboard ports will only be USB2. You can check this via Applications -> Utilities -> System Information -> USB and dig down until you find the "keyboard hub"
Its a USB port with the same restrictions of any other USB port.
What kind of things can be plugged into an apple keyboard?
