Caps lock should not be changed despite it's ostensible uselessness. Programmers often remap caps lock (I personally use this tool [1]), and it's nice to have a big target for the pinky. Remapping is of course possible with these new keyboards, but the split key design that replaces caps lock leaves a much smaller target. In addition, I'm sure there are hunt and peck typists that still legitimately use caps locks instead of shift because it requires less coordination and hand contortions, so leaving caps lock alone also has accessibility benefits.
One area where keyboard designers aren't innovating enough is the spacebar. The left 2/3 of the space bar is rarely used by most touch typists and hogs very accessible real estate. I like how Microsoft split the spacebar on their new keyboard [2] and replaced the left half with backspace, the most commonly typed (but normally most hard to reach) key.
I'm disappointed to see thinkpad/lenovo make these mistakes given their reputation for quality laptop keyboards. I personally use an x230 [3], which has a similar chiclet keyboard as the x1 carbon in the article without the transgressions.
>The left 2/3 of the space bar is rarely used by most touch typists and hogs very accessible real estate.
I am left handed and I use almost exclusively the left 2/3 of the space bar as it's easier to press it with my left thumb.
Maybe I just taught myself the wrong way but I am competent at typing and this Microsoft's keyboard would be just unusable for me.
I wonder how it goes for other left-handed people.
Ideally both halves of the spacebar would default to space for accessibility, with a software or hardware toggle to change one side. For typist that use the left half of the space bar, the right half is wasted real estate.
The left 2/3 of the space bar is rarely used by most touch typists and hogs very accessible real estate.
This is so true for me that there is a thumb-sized mark on my spacebar where the finish on the plastic is worn because I always press the key at the exact same place.
I am left handed
This is, of course, true for a lot of people. I think the solution is to do what the microsoft keyboard did, but provide a hardware switch to toggle which side is space.
I am exactly the same way (lefty using left side of space). I'd probably use that MS keyboard to remove someone's brain before I used it for serious work.
But it also would be useless for gamers, as the left hand is over WSAD and the right hand having the mouse. Space is mapped to jump in many games (some of which you cannot remap), and you gotta jump sometimes.
I'm right handed and also use the left 1/2-2/3 of the space bar. I once ran across a keyboard with this feature at a public library and was nearly unable to use it.
I use a Happy Hacking Keyboard which has no capslock key, control is automatically mapped there. On every other keyboard I've applied that same mapping in the OS. I would hate that weird split key set up that Lenovo has done there though.
I like the minimal ideals of the happy hacking keyboard but I think it went a little overboard. I like having an arrow cluster and page up/down for applications that don't support emacs/vi bindings. I do like how the number pad is removed. It's too infrequently used and increases the distance between keyboard and mouse.
> I do like how the number pad is removed. It's too infrequently used and increases the distance between keyboard and mouse.
Take a look at tenkeyless keyboards, then. They don't have the numpad, but keep everything else the same as a full-size (104 key) keyboard. For example, the Realforce 87U is a tenkeyless keyboard with Topre keyswitches (same as the HHKB): http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=topre_keyboards,r...
Also Leopold 66 key keyboards are almost as austere as HHKB, but they have an arrow cluster with similar placement to laptops. I have the 66key touch mini, it isn't bad but I like the HHKB a little better and it's hard to go back and forth.
Ah, thanks for the pointer... I haven't yet come across any really worthy competitors to the HHKB until now (lots of stuff in the "small keyboard" and "nice feel" categories, but they always seem to screw something up...).
The Leopold looks like a worthy alternative to the HHKB, with a very similar vibe, especially as they allow you to swap Ctrl / CapsLock via a dip-switch (I wonder if they sell alternate keycaps with the labels swapped too). It seems to occupy a nice price middle-ground between the HHKB Lite (2) and the HHKB Pro, and has nicer switches than the HHKB Lite (to tell the truth, I don't mind the HHKB Lite's feel, but it's a little on the cheap-n-cheerful end)...
[The only significant difference in layout seems to be the "\" key.]
> I wonder if they sell alternate keycaps with the labels swapped too
I was looking into this a few days and it doesn't look like Leopold doesn't sell extra single keycaps or sets. You can browse their site (Korean) to confirm http://leopold.co.kr/
Yeah, the \ is swapped with the backspace key, which unfortunately I use a lot. The 66key has it in the normal place, but HHKB moved it south. HHKB has the ~ on the right top which is different as well.
I have to say the Topre tenkeyless is amazing. I was just killing time in a shop before traveling and fell in love with it. Two of my colleagues who i was pairing a lot with ended up buying the same keyboards. The only thing that took me some time to adjust to, was the missing enter key on the numpad. I would hit right arrow and then wait for a second before realizing. But it's very much worth it for the smaller travel to mouse.
I've read that they're rebranded Filco keyboards. The worst thing about the CM Storm is the key cap font, which is just really ugly. And because they're printed on, my wasd keys are fading after 2 years of use.
> I've read that they're rebranded Filco keyboards.
This is definitely not true. Filco build quality is unmatched in terms of Cherry switch keyboards, although Ducky is getting close these days. The CM Storm keyboards are of noticeably poorer build quality, although you do save some money in return.
Personally, I would get the Filco, since a keyboard isn't something you have to regularly replace. It's worth spending the money on the best keyboard you can get. Same goes for your desk, chair, headphones, and laptop bag. People were shocked at first when I dropped a lot of money on these things, but I'm still using them 5+ years later, where many others have had to buy new ones (especially bags and headphones).
While they are not rebranded Filco keyboards they are definitely at or just below the same level of quality as a Filco. They are made by the same OEM, use the same (crappy) material for their keycaps, and are comparable in overall durability. Filco keyboards were semi-infamous for chattering (repeating keys randomly) when they were still sold by Elite Keyboards and there weren't as many other options for mechanical keyboards in the US.
The noppoo is quite low quality compared to most topre boards, and also it's worth noting the keys are smaller than a "normal" keyboard, which gets annoying quickly (I own both a hhkbp2, noppoo choc and a few other mechanical kbs).
I'm probably the only person who can't "touch-calculate" on the number pad to save their life, but still loves the thing for its big honkin' enter key. When I'm using a GUI application and a dialog box pops up, I can smash that sucker with the left side of my hand to close it way faster than I can click on the "OK" button or move my right hand to the traditional enter key. Tapping enter with my thumb on a laptop keyboard just isn't the same.
It took me quite a while to get used to using the function key to access the arrows, and I'm still not entirely happy with that. If you get the Lite version that does have arrow keys, but the Lite is inferior to the Pro in every other way.
I couldn't live without Home and End. They're two of my most frequently used keys. Do you know of any other similar keyboards with the home/end/pg cluster intact?
Are split keyboards really that much better for avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome? It seems like I just don't hear that much about carpal tunnel any more, and I wonder if the general wisdom of taking frequent breaks is a bigger factor than an ergonomic keyboard.
I suffered from some form of CTS and I can say split keyboards didn't really make much of a difference. It's all about placement of the wrists and keeping a good posture. Also breaks, lots of small breaks throughout the day.
A properly designed split keyboard is aimed at improving the placement of the wrists though.
I found a minor but noticeable benefit many years ago switching to the Kinesis Advantage. I've recently switched to the Truly Ergonomic keyboard; I've yet to decide if it's better or worse overall than the Kinesis.
I think it largely depends on the person. If I rest my hands naturally on a traditional keyboard, my fingers end up somewhere around wdfv okjn. To pull them around to the home row basically involves tilting my hands outward and bringing my wrists inward even further, neither of which is good for either your hands or your typing speed.
If I have pain or numbness (either of which can last for days), just having my hands rotated to use a flat keyboard for a few minutes could be difficult.
Generally, though, if I get pain in my left hand/arm, it's from excessive typing; in my right, excessive back-and-forth to the pointing device (I use a trackball at home if I do any gaming, pad at work, just so it's not the same device all the time). I have never really been able to use a mouse.
Single data point: I had severe RSI problems a few years ago, but I am not completely recovered. For me, the biggest single part of the solution was to start using a break program. I also use a split keyboard and a pen mouse, but the break program is the key. I written up my story here: http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-rsi/
I agree. Buying the Kinesis Advantage [0] keyboard was the best investment I ever made. CTS was gone in about the time I needed to get back to the speed of typing I was before (2-3 weeks) and has never returned (4 years and counting). I would LOVE to have something similar on my laptop and would gladly pay the premium for it.
I'll echo this - I was at a point where I was starting to miss work because I had so much wrist pain that I couldn't type, and then I switched to a Kinesis. A month later I was back up to full speed and haven't had any pain since. I don't know how it stacks up against competitors, but the thing quite literally saved my wrists, I highly recommend trying it if you're having trouble.
Definitely has a bit of a learning curve, though, for a few weeks I had trouble remembering which keys were where.
I'd like to try each of them, but at about $300 each, it gets expensive fast. Have you used the foot pedals on the Kinesis? Are they useful in practice?
I've never tried that keyboard, but I'm on my fourth Kinesis Advantage over 14 years or so. I'm not sure I would like the TEK, I want my keyboard to be a bit wider so I don't have to squeeze my hands together. The angling avoids needing to put your wrists into constant ulnar deviation, though, which is the worst part about normal keyboards. And I like the idea of putting extra keys by the index fingers, I'd much rather use those than stretch the pinky. Ultimately, you'd have to try them and see which ones fit you.
As for the pedals, I use them for shift/control, which avoids having to do multiple-key chords. These days I have almost no RSI problems, so I could probably get by without them, but it made a significant difference when it was worse.
As for cost: if you're a programmer, your hands are your life. Investing in proper tools (keyboards, adjustable keyboard trays, chairs) is worth much more than that, IMHO.
I switched to the TEK about three months ago after maybe six or seven years with the Kinesis (although without the foot pedals). Here's what I would say so far.
1. The TEK feels better in terms of physical key presses. Both use the same Cherry MX Brown switches, but because the Kinesis is a big hollow piece of flimsy plastic and the TEK a very solid brick, the overall effect is noticeably nicer to my fingers at least.
2. The function keys are much better on the TEK.
3. The arrow keys and brackets are better positioned by miles on the TEK. You can remap the keys of course, but the Kinesis only has one column to the right of the 'P' key, it's nearly impossible to find a good place to put them, and I just left them where they are. Similarly, the tilde/backquote key is also on that horrible bottom row on the Kinesis. And those arrow keys...putting left and right on the left hand and up and down on the right hand is one of those things that probably seemed like a good idea on paper, but after maybe seven years using the keyboard, those arrows were every single bit as completely unusable as they were the first day I sat down with it.
4. In contrast, the thumb well ends up being a better place for things like the enter and backspace keys than a single column in the middle, so score one for the Kinesis there.
5. The 209 International TEK has plenty of modifier keys. You get control on each hand, meta on each hand, and a blank key on each hand you can choose how to map. Plus you get a menu key in the middle column, and the space bar is split, so you can remap whichever side you don't use for space for something else. On the Kinesis, the thumb wells only have two modifier keys per side, so if you want symmetric layouts, you're stuck without a command or control key on the Mac, or super/hyper/windows on Windows or Linux. You can remap Caps Lock for that purpose of course, but there's no place on the right hand to put an equivalent key. If you use Emacs on a Mac, you know how badly you need Control, Command, and Option keys, and not having that ability on my Kinesis was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to try the TEK.
6. Remapping keys on the TEK is ridiculously difficult. You have to do the remapping on their web site in a (fairly nice, actually) little Javascript GUI. That part works well enough, but then to apply the changes, you have to download and flash new a new firmware image, which can only be done in Windows. Not in a virtual machine, but with the keyboard plugged into the back of a real USB port on a real Windows computer. I don't own a Windows machine, so any time I want to try out a new remapping, I have to haul my keyboard to work and reboot my Linux box there into Windows. On the Kinesis, you remap on the fly by pressing keys right on the keyboard.
7. I've bought two of both models now, and both are sort of a mixed bag. I can't stress enough how cheaply the Kinesis is made. Every once in a while, I have to take apart the flimsy plastic case and glue the USB hub back down (and yes, it's just glued right to the plastic shell). The TEK is built like a brick, but one of the two has taken a full month of use so far, and it's still not completely "broken in". That's the term that Truly Ergonomic use to refer to the property of your keyboard registering the keys you press. Out of the box, about 15-20 keys either didn't work at all, or else pressing them once would insert anywhere from zero to five or six of whatever letter you pressed. They tell you that you might need to press each key a few hundred times to "break them in". In my case, maybe 25,000 times is more like it. If I didn't live in Iceland, I would have demanded a replacement, but since shipping is such an enormous hassle, I decided to see if it got better, and it mostly has. My first TEK worked perfectly, but this second one still has maybe a 2-3% error rate, either duplicating or ignoring keypresses. Which is way better than the 57% error rate I measured on the 'B' key during the first few days I had it (and several others were nearly as bad).
8. The Kinesis has a USB hub. It snaps away from the case and dangles loose inside the hollow shell occasionally, but you can take the thing apart with a handful of screws and glue it back down at least. The TEK doesn't have USB ports. Not a huge deal I know, but it means that I need a separate USB hub with the TEK, and with the Kinesis, I could do without one.
Summing everything together, #4 is a really big point in favor of the Kinesis. You can get used to either one, but you really have to reach to hit that middle column on the TEK, whereas the Kinesis puts all those keys right under your thumbs. The remapping solution for the TEK is frankly embarrassing, but once you settle on a layout, it's not something you need to do very often. In contrast, the TEK feels better and on the whole, has a layout that is better designed for programmers I think, with the brackets and some other non-special keys in more standard locations. And for me, the modifier key situation is at least as big of an advantage for the TEK as the thumb well is for the Kinesis.
I honestly can't say for sure yet which I prefer. I'm sticking with the TEK for now, and I think, if push comes to shove, that the modifier keys are going to be the clincher, but both are really good keyboards.
What was your previous keyboard that caused you CTS?
Was your keyboard sitting on the edge of the table closest to you or did you place it further away from you to have space on a table for your forearms?
I'm using much less expensive "Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 v1.0" for many years and it works good for me.
I'd buy an HH keyboard in a heartbeat if it had the same layout as the Microsoft Natural keyboards. No, I lied. I would buy four or five; for home, for work, and for spares.
I use a Kinesis split keyboard now, and it's pretty good, but ESC / F1 are in the wrong place and I had to remap them.
(MS has been serially fucking up the Natural keyboards for nearly a decade now. The 4000 series started the decline, and I can't use the damned things at all now).
While I've never developed full-blown CTS, I've had mild wrist pain for pretty much ever. Since switching from an MS Natural to a Topre board pain has gotten a bit better. I suspect a natural layout with the topre switchs would be the real killer app.
"In addition, I'm sure there are hunt and peck typists that still legitimately use caps locks instead of shift because it requires less coordination and hand contortions, so leaving caps lock alone also has accessibility benefits."
A recent poll I posted on HN suggests that I'm in the minority on this one, but I actually don't remap caps lock myself. And I like to think I'm a pretty capable writer, touch typing with a decent WPM.
(These are multiboot header definitions used by a kernel to get GRUB to load it, for the curious.)
I'm sure there are plenty of programmers who just use the shift key if they were to write code similar to the above, but I simply prefer the caps lock key myself. Habit, perhaps.
I find holding down shift for large macro machinations to be a severe cause of pinky strain and awkward hand positioning. I don't do "perfect" home row style typing, but trying to hold left shift through that entire macro is borderline impossible for me to type -- I use my left pinkie for those As, and my left hand for reaching over to that B and that G, which is stressful holding left shift. For right shift, the underscore becomes especially problematic as well. On top of that, right shift (not left!) M has become muscle memory to the point where I reach for it even if I make the effort to hold down left shift for the entire identifier.
This results in, if optimized instead of tripping over my own fingers the entire time: ↓mboot↑↓-p↑↓age↑↓-↑↓align↑
My old iBook capslock key broke in half I hit it so often. I think my pinkies might break in half if I hit the shift keys at that rate!
In Emacs I would end up typing '↑mb↓ M-/ M-/ M-/' (where Meta is the Option key on my keyboard). Because of the way Emacs completes, I might also do '↑mb↓ M-/ M-BS M-BS ↑P↓ M-/'. Either way that's easier to me that typing it out with caps lock or holding the shift key. The only time I can't complete is when I'm defining something for the first time and I'll get over it in that case since it's very rare.
Yes, but you'd agree it's no panacea, surely.
- The main code editors I use all have slightly different completion mechanisms. Using a consistent non-IDE editor, while certainly possible, I find much more clunky than making do. I do use the completion of my primary IDE significantly however.
- C++ completion is wonky in general due to the poor language grammar
- I don't find defining things particularly rare. Every variable (local, member, or otherwise), every function, every class, every macro...
- My muscle memory isn't built around the preprocessor, but around much more multi-context languages (such as C++) where entry as terse as yours will generally break regularly.
My mental state is brittle. Mis-completing identifiers breaks my flow and concentration, whereas typing is almost completely subconcious at this point having practiced it so regularly everywhere from this forum to my first clashes with 16-bit DOS programming. This means I could be seen as wasteful from a pure keystroke perspective on just about every front.
Even in the simple act of googling, I start entering my next, more refined search query while still scanning the results of my previous query. Dynamic search results broke this workflow (prompting me to disable Javascript) as my new text would cause the links I tried to click on to disappear because of the additional text entry, causing the results to refresh. I didn't even realize I was doing it until that change.
My use of completion is similar: Type until I scan the refined identifier to select as an early-bail. The closest I get to your completion style is some blind initial 3-5 character tokens + explicit use of completion keywords in some fairly limited contexts where I have a sufficiently low (1-4%?) failure rate. This translates to C-style free functions in C or C++, and C# members of things (classnames generally get typed out and then Ctrl+.ed for "using ...;" statement generation.) My macro names as a rule are too heavily namespace prefixed to blind-complete in that fashion, with the exception of some locally scoped 1-letter #define s which are #undef ed later in the same scope which need no completion.
While I've experimented with acronym-style completion methods rather than start-of-word-only, I find acronyming to require too much conscious thought, and disambiguation gives me outright struggle. If I'm in a context where the completion simply won't work (say that I haven't imported it yet like I thought I did), I have to go back and retype the entire thing.
You sound like you're using and IDE of some sort. I find their completion to be extremely useful when I can't remember exactly what function I want to call, but less useful when I know it and just want to get it typed out.
I use Emacs so I don't even have the nice semantic completion that IDEs offer (Emacs has some of that with its "cedet", but I can never figure out how to get it to work properly). But Emacs's completion heuristics are good enough for almost everything I do. When you hit the complete key in Emacs (M-/) it first looks backwards through the file you're in looking for the word. Then it looks forward. Then it looks in the other files you have open.
That looking backwards first thing is the key to why it works so well. And that's because most of the time you're referencing variable or macros that are nearby in your code, and almost always just up a few lines. It makes it correct a very high percentage of the time, so much so that I rarely completely type a variable name twice.
Like other people said, typing like that is very stressful for your hands. I wouldn't survive many hours typing like that. (This is one excellent use case for the Kinesis foot pedals.)
Yes, for my part, I would really hope for autocomplete. Even if it comes down to enumerating all the MBOOT_ whatsit in a syntax file for my specific language, I would probably be willing to go that route.
Alternatively, Sublime Text supports multi-select. Ctrl-F, mboot[^\s]*\b and alt-enter to select all matches. Then use the command palette to convert to uppercase. Or ~ if you are using Vintage. But this isn't as good as autocomplete.
Anyway I have remapped caps and I miss it occasionally when typing constants. Usually I just hold down Shift, or use ~.
You might want to use some help from your editor for this, e.g. auto completion. I'm hoping you never actually have to type every single letter of this code.
I don't remap it, either. I outright disable the key in the OS (simple option in OS X, registry edit in Windows).
As others have pointed out, once you hit a couple of underscores you're not gaining much with the caps lock (if anything), and your editor should be helping you out, here.
At the same time, I'm really not a fan of all caps and underscores, so I probably don't even use constants as much as I should.
Compaq called them Erase-Ease. I have one and it says 1997 on the back.
To account for left/right preference, you can use a key combination (something like ctrl-alt-shift-escape) to cycle between space-space, backspace-space, space-backspace configurations!
On the Swiss german keyboard layout you have to use the capslock key to access captial �, � and �. You can't use shift � as that triggers �. I wonder if the Swiss german layout of the thinkpad x1 has the capslock key.
Killing caps lock makes perfect sense, especially if it's still around as a shift-lock. Putting Home and End there is not the craziest thing I've seen done with it. (I personally remap it to a larger logo key, and use that with my window manager, but the X1 Carbon actually has a decent-size logo key to use for that.)
However, the soft function key row is crazy. It completely breaks touch-typing; if I wanted that, I'd use a tablet. Likewise, putting Delete to the right of backspace makes backspace a smaller target to hit, and it's a very frequently used key. Moving the `~ key is the kind of thing done by folks who think "Oh, nobody ever uses that", and who don't understand that keys used by 5% of typists are still critically important. (Both for people who need to type "jalapeño" and people who need to type ~/Downloads/foo .)
More importantly, there's no tradeoff here: this makes it worse for the loyal ThinkPad users, but doesn't actually make it proportionally better for others. And even if it did, that kind of consumer-targeted optimization is for consumer laptops like IdeaPad, not business laptops like ThinkPad.
If you're comfortable remapping the keyboard, all of this is pretty much a non-issue.
What's more of a concern to me, as someone who was hoping to buy the Haswell X1 as a Linux box, is the function-key row. Lenovo generally has a reputation for laptops that support Linux reasonably well out of the box, but if that function-key row requires extra driver support (i.e., if the BIOS doesn't set it up to emulate a standard keyboard), things could get awkward...
That much should work; word of mouth from other Linux users suggests that there's a BIOS setting to force it to be F1-F12 by default, and to be brightness/volume/etc via Fn.
Why not replace caps lock with a double-tap of the Shift key? This has the advantages of distance (still close at hand when needed) and memorability (Shift upcases temporarily, Shift-Shift upcases indefinitely) and eliminates one of the less useful keys at the same time.
Also, I tend to fiddle with keys, tapping shift nervously. Having this result in capslock would drive me nuts. It would be a deal-breaker if this functionality were in the keyboard firmware and not configurable.
Does anyone know of any software that can do this (for OS X)? I think double-tap Shift to toggle Caps Lock would be pretty neat. Or even better, I'd like to program an action after double-Shift (or other modifier keys too, Control, Option, Command).
Edit: I got this to work using KeyRemap4MacBook, if anyone's interested, use this snippet in private.xml:
<item>
<name>Double-Shift to Caps Lock</name>
<appendix>Double-tap ⇧ to Caps Lock</appendix>
<identifier>double_tap_shift_to_caps_lock</identifier>
<autogen>
--DoublePressModifier--
KeyCode::SHIFT_L,
KeyCode::SHIFT_L,
KeyCode::CAPSLOCK
</autogen>
</item>
CapsLock has a perfect reuse as language switch for those who use a second language (which is most of the world). It is much easier than Alt+Shift/Cmd+Space, and it will indicate another input language with the LED even when tray/menu are not visible.
Meh. In Linux, at least, you can do this:
setxkbmap -option grp:switch,grp:shifts_toggle,grp_led:caps us,se
It will toggle between US and Swedish layout when both shift keys are pressed together (basically the only time I use rshift), as well as toggle the caps led on when the Swedish layout is activated. I have caps lock bound to ESC, for more convenient for vim usage.
I think Lenovo is slowly abandoning what used to be the niche Thinkpad had filled in: great laptops for developers. There might be some good opportunities for startups. It's really frustrating to see that nothing ticks all boxes these days:
* 4:3 high-res matte screen (like Chromebook Pixel or some old IBMs)
* Good mechanical keyboard which includes insert, delete, begin, and end
* Robust case with serviceable Linux-friendly components
* Trackpoint
I'd really pay a high premium for a well-executed laptop with these features, and many people I know would do as well.
Interesting - I never thought of the Thinkpad niche as developers, I thought of it as business professionals. In an airport, it used to be the way you knew someone worked for a consulting firm was that they had a Thinkpad, especially if it was a tablet.
That might explain some of the keyboard choices. Caps lock, function keys, and the insert key might have important uses for developers. But if you're creating business documents, caps lock is unnecessary, insert confuses you when all your text starts getting over-written, and the function keys don't really do anything.
We've really never had anything which ticked all those boxes, so I don't see a regression there.
Only Lenovo is doing trackpoint seriously these days. Hardly anyone is paying any attention to Linux. I'm no expert, but I've never even heard of a laptop with a good mechanical keyboard.
It's not just Lenovo, it's the whole market which decided people want junk like 1mm thick retina tablets with soldered ram and permanent batteries. Lenovo and everyone on the block is selling high-resolution crap though, so I'm sure you'll get that any time.
The old T60p (and other T-series before they got into the hundreds) came damn close. 1680x1050 was solid at the time, and the keyboard on that plateaued peak that Lenovo/IBM have never really climbed past.
Well, the x220 had an excellent keyboard, and ticked all boxes except the screen. It even included an Ethernet port and a non-ULV CPU. The previous X1 Carbon was also pretty close in many respects.
The very old (think Pentium M) HP nc8000 had all those features, available in 1600x1200 and 1400x1050 resolutions -- those were good back then for a 15''.
Quite feature-complete for its time -- ab WiFi (5GHz and 2.4GHz), gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, FireWire, modem, serial port, SD card reader, two battery bays (about 5 hours of watching movies FTW), even IrDA (ha!).
The six keys were offset to the right and up, but nonetheless quite comfy. The touchpad, while somewhat small-ish, but otherwise excellent. Easy access to all extension ports. As for robustness, it survived at least five dismantling & rebuilds by the untrained owner ;-), including display upgrade from 1400 to 1600.
I've wondered about (and wished for) a mechanical keyboard on a laptop before. It'd increase the weight, thickness and cost significantly—but I don't think that would significantly hinder its popularity in certain circles, provided it did a good job of the implementation.
I'm a developer and I either don't care about or specifically do not want everything on your list except "robust case". You've confused "great laptops for developers" with "great laptops for nextos".
Dell Precision are laptops, not ThinkPads. It's easy to check off a list of features on a laptop. But putting it together properly is apparently amazingly difficult, even for Lenovo. Lenovo could literally take my X201 tablet, upgrade the display panel and CPU and I'd give them 3 grand.
Calling ThinkPads just a line of laptops is like calling Alan Turing "a computer guy".
At least, that's how it used to be. Lenovo seems intent on messing up IBM's engineering so they can market to the "I want to show off shiny stuff at Starbucks" crowd.
I passed over buying an X1 Carbon for a few reasons, but I always check the keyboard of a potential purchase for the pgup/pgdown/home/end keys on the right-hand column. Modern ultrabooks got rid of them (despite there often being more than enough space for them) and it makes me really mad. Those are super-useful keys for coders and also for general web navigation.
After reading this article, I went back to take a closer look at the X1 keyboard, and actually gasped. No hardware Fn keys? Home/end replacing Caps (which I remap to ctrl)? Backspace/del next to each other? What were they thinking??
I'm so glad I didn't do an impulse buy on the X1, because my mind doesn't think to inspect the keyboard so closely. I would have returned it 10 seconds after opening the box. I'm going to have to look very closely now at the keyboards of new laptops I'm thinking of buying.
Actually, they're nearly useless if you use software/OS capable of Emacs-style keyboard navigation and develop a habit of using C-a/C-e shortcuts. (Especially with CapsLock rebound as Control.)
I like them specifically for reading web pages. When reading I can just rest my hand on the right side of the keyboard and browse with home/pgup/pgdown/end. Usually when I'm reading like this I'm not typing and so not in the mood for ctrl gymnastics.
Unfortunately, the T420s seems to be the last Lenovo notebook with a decent keyboard[0], but even this one contains non-standard elements – most importantly the larger Esc and Del key, which, however, are actually quite useful. But I have to admit that even with these keys I actually like, I often end up pressing Insert rather than Delete on standard keyboards.
Fn key is switched with Ctrl - this completely breaks my touchtyping. On last Lenovo I used there was no way to make Fn to be Ctrl, don't know if it was possible on T420. But with that little swap I can't call that keyboard decent.
On T530 you can do it from the BIOS settings. I have the weirdest problems with that though. If I touch-type I always use the Fn as Ctrl, but when I read a more complex shortcut and try to apply it by looking at the keyboard (like: Notepad++ XML format = Ctrl+Alt+Shift+B), I always use the "Ctrl" instead of Fn frist.
The Fn key has always been the leftmost key on Thinkpads, so I don’t really care about that. However, even my T410s has the option to swap Fn and Ctrl in the BIOS, so I would assume the T420s to have it, too.
I feel you. I use my desktop 80% of the time, touchtyping on my Das Keyboard. When I switch to my T430s my typing speed definitely drops for that reason.
I like how Asus put PgUp/PgDn/Home/End on Fn+Arrows, it really feels natural since their actions are just extended arrows. Convenient placement of Fn also helps. If only there was a right-hand Fn.
For what it's worth the previous generation X1 Carbon has a "new style" keyboard, but with a completely standard layout. It feels great, too. If you don't mind older hardware, I'd thoroughly recommend it.
Until I started using EMACS I would have thought the author's argument was a slam dunk four star lock. Now I realize that habits are habits because they're habits, not because they are the right way of doing something.
We are more flexible than our machines, and though it might take a day or two to figure out home` and `end`, a laptop is a tool that one uses for years.
You missed one key point of the article, this is only practical if it's the only machine you use. When you try to switch between an "innovative" keyboard and a "normal" keyboard you'll go batty.
This is also highly theoretical. If the machines are different enough, you can adapt quite well. Even if you have trouble telling other people exactly what to do, your brain doesn't have much trouble. I especially find it easier if I use different operating systems with keyboards that are somewhat different, because my brain has an easier time treating them differently when there are visual cues (since I'm not looking at the keyboard).
For instance, I have always though that cmd+X/C/V vs. ctrl+X/C/V would drive anyone nuts if they used them enough, and realistically most of the common Mac/Windows editors commands have exactly that one difference of ctrl vs. cmd, which is essentially pinky vs. thumb (at least for me) for the modifier key. It turns out that it is extremely rare for me to accidentally use the wrong one even though I usually use the same software in both environments, because my brain picks up on visual cues from the OS and the tactile differences between my keyboards.
Of course, coming from this mix of environments, I think they could have taken the cue from the MacBook and just kept the backspace key and removed the delete key (even though Apple wants to call it the delete key...), rather than bastardizing the key with that weird split key.
Over the past year I've used four drastically different types of keyboards: a classic keyboard, a lenovo laptop, a Truly Ergonomic Keyboard [0], and an Ergo Dox [1].
The laptop keyboard was pretty normal, but Fn and Ctrl are switched. When my other keyboard was a classic keyboard this was a huge problem, I couldn't get used to Ctrl not being an outside key. That problem went away once I switched to the TEK, I think because the layout was different enough that I developed different touch typing skills. The Dox is even more different, and it's easier to switch between laptop, Dox, and classic keyboards.
I thought the author sounded like a curmudgeony luddite. Ofcourse anything "different" will feel wrong for a little while. You have some muscle memory that you need to get over. So if you really wanna write a review, suck it up and use it till your fingers get rewired. Then write your reviews complaining about keyboard design.
I don't think he even tried the keyboards he's talking about, let alone give himself some time to get used to them.
I don't go read Vi's man page and then complain how it's too hard and unusual.
Have you met the author? Peter is opinionated, but most of the time he has a valid reason for it. As a writer and a programmer, a good keyboard is a necessity for his work. (I'd bet he's typed as many or more lines of code than a good number of folks here at HN.)
At work we have have folks that order and try out several different keyboards before settling on one that meets their needs. When a programmer makes 80K, a few extra hundred dollars at the extreme to make them efficient and happy is noise in the budget. Even our interns get their choice.
I take your point, but the OA was reviewing a laptop. No choice of keyboard, and perhaps need to mode shift between non-standard and standard key positions.
I attempt to play piano. Any clever redesigns of that 88 key layout are not going to work.
I chose my laptop mainly on the quality and layout of the keyboard. Unlike the OP, I don't travel as much so I had more choices due to the fact I have 17.3" laptop.
I think you missed the point where someone may have more than one keyboard and switching between is an necessary pain. Yeah If you want to train yourself to use a keyboard layout no big deal but if you're like me and you switch from server to server during the day having a consistent keyboard layout means I can thing about what I'm doing and not worry about typing.
Switching to emacs may have some productivity gains for you that make re-training useful. There is no added benefit for me to learn to type again.
I switch from EMACS to applications with CUA mappings to websites with their own mappings to graphics applications where moving by words and lines doesn't even make sense. Then there's PowerShell.
I don't bang with gas pliers or grip with a Torx screwdriver. Tools are rigid. My brain and body flexible. But if I was switching machines all day I would bring my Microsoft natural ergonomic 4000 with me.
I was going to say the same thing. But then, my MacBook DOES NOT HAVE A RIGHT CTRL KEY. I... I can't begin to explain how annoyed I am of this fact. This, above all else, is the reason for why my next laptop will probably not be a Mac.
I use KeyRemap4MacBook[1] to map the enter/return key to control,
but only if held down. If you tap it, it's still return. Sounds
weird but it works really well, it's a large target, and it roughly
mirrors caps lock as control on the left hand.
Try remapping it so that the Command buttons, i.e., the keys next to the Space Bar, are Control. This was the position of the old Symbolics machines. To my hands, it makes Emacs much more efficient, since the rest position for the thumbs can be between the Space Bar and the Control keys.
Also of note - if youre buying a 15 inch pc laptop you now get a numeric keyboard by default whether you want it or not. This also has the side effect of making the keyboard and mousepad layout assymetric since the keyboard and mousepad are now pushed to the left to make way for the numeric keypad on the right. The only two machines I know that dont do this are the dell xps 15 and the dell m3800 but both of them are > 1800$s. Quest for the perfect laptop continues.
EDIT: other major quibble - backspace needs to be the right most key without any nearby power / other buttons. When I violently hit backspace to delete code that I know is wrong I dont want embarassments like hitting delete instead or powering off my machine.
Lenovo lost at least $800 of revenue from me because of this. I was going to get the T540 or W540 ($2400+), but the idiotic keyboard layout means I can't really type in front of it without feeling a pain in the neck. Now I'll probably get a T440p, although I'm very wary of the lack of physical buttons for the trackpoint (and the reviews are mostly negative).
The X201 and other earlier keyboards are damn perfect. Full size 7 row, including the propery 6-key pgup-dn/del-ins/home-end. Has break and sysrq. I'd pay a $$$ to put this keyboard on a W540 or T540.
Other things like removing LEDs for power charging, but adding them for mute and fn lock (or removal of screen hinges) show that the last of decent IBM engineering is gone, replaced by some idiot managers intent on locking slick instead of satisfying their high end customers.
It wouldn't surprise me if on the next gen, another laptop line surpasses ThinkPad. Lenovo inherited ThinkPad with such a huge lead on everyone else, it's taken them a while to totally screw it up. It's only because other OEMs suck so much more that ThinkPads are still in the lead.
I have a T540p at work, and the lack of touchpad buttons means you need an incredible amount of care when clicking. I don't really mind the keyboard, but that thing is torture without a mouse.
I used the trackpad, but the trackpoint buttons, especially the middle button (for easy scrolling and opening/closing tabs/windows). Is this practical anymore?
Money is one factor. The other factor is that I dont want a retina-esque screen right now since I will be running linux on it and kde and chrome's support for hidipi screens is not great right now.
I believe that was discontinued in the October 2013 refresh. Unless I'm missing options hidden somewhere else, Apple has a summary here of all their current laptop form factors here: http://store.apple.com/us/mac/compare
I want to run linux - retina displays don't work well with it. If I could make do with OSX I agree the MacBook Pro 15 would be nice (save for the location of the power button)
If you're not tied to the idea of running native, I'm running various linuxes in VMWare Fusion on my MPB and full-screen mode works perfectly. The only thing you might find annoying is the lack of middle-click for pasting selections when using the touchpad.
Thinkpads T500-series (T500, T510, T520, T530 and variants) and their W counterparts are 15' (or larger) and have no numpads. The new ones are pretty expensive too, though.
They are much easier and faster but I don't find myself entering numbers often enough to be an issue.
I can see if you are a worker who enters accounting information all day or have data entry with your job for extended periods of time how it would be invaluable but for what is regularly done on a computer I don't find myself needing it much anymore.
If I did need it I would probably buy a number pad to hook up to the computer (there actually looks like a huge selection for usb number pads for under $30).
Personal pitch: Get rid of the "ginormous" f-ing shelves that push sharp front edges (yes, get rid of those, too) into the users' wrists, especially when working mobile at a table or workspace whose height and resultant forearm position cannot be optimized.
Some of us still need to do significant amounts of, you know, typing, which is one reason we are on a laptop and not a tablet or whatever.
If you're going to stick a keyboard on your device, make it comfortable and ergonomic.
You could probably fix this...if you dare. Since it's solid aluminum, you could probably take a file and round the edges...just be careful not to get the shaving anywhere inside.
This is a huge opportunity for Dell on their portable machines. As far as I know, Dell is practically the only OEM that hasn't royally screwed up their professional-grade notebooks. The M4800 is a beauty – extremely powerful, and fantastic to use. The keyboard isn't as good as it used to be, but it's still a traditional, non-Dentyne (yes, chiclet keys type like Dentyne) canted design, with a numpad, but a good keyboard nonetheless. It has a TrackPoint, which isn't as good as the previous model ThinkPads but is now much better because Lenovo have somehow decided that their sole purpose of existence is to copy Apple and "unify" shit that didn't need to be messed around with. I hate to play stereotypes here, but it was kind of expected from a Chinese company. Their pants-on-head retarded marketing videos and even their products – for example, the Yoga tablet copies iOS 7 icons and iOS 6 dock... wtf, and the marketing video for the new X1 is blatant Ive-hyperbolic. The marketing and hyperbole has long stopped working for Apple (thus the Designed in Cali bullshit), what the HELL were Lenovo thinking?
Dell isn't perfect. They have horrible QC and design issues on their lower-end products, and the Precision machines aren't cheap. But they're solid and well-built with a ton of features, good battery life, good keyboards, decent pointing devices.
If they put in a 3:2, high-density display, 7-row keyboard, Topre short-throw switches, and a nipple mouse that's less recessed, and market it like mad, it would be the perfect machine, one I would pay for and a lot of professionals, too.
Lenovo has a huge pile of models, which would let them see pretty directly what people are demanding. Your criticism of Yoga tablet may be valid without really touching much of their overall strategy. Maybe Yoga tablet is the kind of crap people are buying.
Since we're bashing on laptop keyboards, I hate with passion all the layouts that put FN key in the bottom left corner instead of CTRL. It's far easier to reach the button in the very corner and I use CTRL order of magnitude more often than FN.
Also it seems that for each producer, half of the laptops have FN and the other half have CTRL in the corner which just adds confusion when you're using someone else's machine.
Can someone persuade me to the superiority of FN-in-the corner?
I'm really not pleased with what Lenovo is doing with the x230 and x240. The old Thinkpad keyboards used to be the a huge selling point for the X series line and now that they've gone chiclet keyboards like everyone else it's almost enough to make me want to shop around for a new Linux laptop.
Got a laptop recently for a new project. All of my colleagues raved about Lenovo. I went with a Lenovo ThinkPad W530.
Great machine, right? I hate it. I hate it because they put the Fn key in the lower, left and moved the Ctrl key. Now I have to think every time I need to hit the Ctrl key!
Also, keys are easily physically swapped, just popped them from under gently, 95% chances the plastic cap will detach from the bouncing mechanism (two plastic~handles crossed above a latex ~cushion). Reattaching is just placing the cap on top, pressing down smoothly and plastic dents will match again.
ps: I said 95% because there was a few times where the underlying handle/cushion came with the cap and fell apart. It's possible to fit them again but is a bit challenging because of the tininess. So if you try, be warned.
the bios swapping of "fn" and "left control" on my x121 had its own problems (it was a bit strange, sometimes the remapped fn key didn't actually behaved like a real control key). so i switched back to the original behavior and learned to deal with it.
a hardware hack would be cool :) letting the fn key electrically do the same thing as the ctrl key and for the rare use of fn use the capslock-key for it :)
I have exactly the same problem when switching between Apple's current two keyboards: the USB model with numerical keypad, and the smaller, 50% more expensive wireless model. I use CTRL enough that trying to use both is an exercise in futility. Why can't Apple release a 'proper', full-size wireless keyboard?
My model has a backlit keyboard and a little light near the videocam that shines down. You can rotate between modes (dim, med, bright keyboard, top light) using the FN-space combination.
The only argument is: "We should have a Caps Lock key above Shift cause that's what we've always had".
It only takes a few days to get used to a new keyboard, and it seems like, for people who aren't used to rebinding keys, this could be a huge improvement. Caps lock is like the penny, not all that useful in the modern world.
> The only argument is: "We should have a Caps Lock key above Shift cause that's what we've always had".
Did you actually read the article?
1. The caps lock is being replaced by two smaller keys, which breaks muscle memory.
2. No function keys.
These two things are a deal breaker for me as well, I use function keys all the time for coding and while I don't care much for the Caps Lock key, I do remap it to "Control" all the time, something I can't even do with this keyboard.
> It will, definitely. And after a few days of use, you'll have built up a new muscle memory.
Not as long as this keyboard is the only one in existence with this layout and you have to switch to different layouts all the time.
Maybe you are lucky to only ever type on one keyboard for years at a time, but I use at least three different keyboards every day (personal laptop, work laptop, work desktop).
Which is why I always remap it to a second ctrl key. Now, having a second control and a second option/alt key in place of the home/end could be pretty nice, i gotta admit. The missing tilde makes it a total non-starter, though.
The tilde isn't missing, it's on the bottom-right, making it very strange for the times you need it. I really thought the fact that the ESC key was in its place was more problematic than moving the key, since it will either do nothing (the best possibility), or perform some default action (being the ESC key, likely one that will cause loss of work as well).
Incidentally, the only keyboard "innovation" I've used and liked is the Kinesis Advantage (which I wrote about here: http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/further-thoughts-on... ). But the Advantage is a standalone keyboard, which makes it inherently easy to ditch for anyone who doesn't like it. At $300 it's also a niche product only likely to appeal to people who type a lot—usually meaning programmers and writers.
Among laptops, I think Peter Bright is right: path dependence dictates that the more standardized a keyboard is, the better. I actually prefer the old-school Thinkpad keys to the newer Apple chiclet keys, but that difference is pretty small.
I loved my advantage(s), but eventually dropped it for a happy hacker pro for two reasons: (1) the brackets and arrow keys on the advantage are painfully bad; (2) I fell in love with Topre key switches.
The Lenovos have just been getting worse keyboards with every generation. I don't think the people they're going after care about the changes, but I've actively been looking for a new laptop vendor since they started fiddling about with the layouts.
How good are the Topre switches, compared to the ones on the Kinesis Advantage (I'm assuming you used 'blue' ones on the Kinesis)? I'm about to get a Kinesis Advantage, and the only con that I could think of so far is that I read here an there about how the Topre switches are even nicer than the Cherry MX switches.
There's nothing wrong with keyboard innovation, the problem is with commodity laptop manufacturers trying to innovate in an integrated device. The important differentiators on laptop are numerous: form-factor, specs, screen, etc. Even keyboard quality is a big factor, so trying to get clever with the layout and soft keys is just begging to throw a deal breaker in.
What laptop manufacturers should be doing is following Apple's lead and standardizing heavily across their entire line and keeping that reasonably in line with national keyboard standards.
Leave the layout innovation to external keyboard manufacturers where there is an opportunity to make drastic changes and sell them based on the strength of that innovation alone. Later the best of the innovations can trickle their way back into laptops.
I agree with this article, standardisation of keyboard layouts would be better. If there was an industry organisation that got companies together to agree on things, the situation might be much better, although I don't hold out much hope for home and end!
I feel that a lot of people copy apple because it's designs and hardware are great, but they copy things that aren't really that good at all, such as removing Home and End keys. I like to call this cargo-cult design, people blindly change things to the apple way for no clear reason. I'm looking at you gnome 3.
Here are my personal preferences. I don't really care about caps-lock, but I do use it occasionally. I'm more likely to go back and use a keyboard shortcut to change a whole word to upper-case when doing sql programming.
I personally want the 6 delete-insert-home-end-pgup-pgdn buttons separate in a way that mirrors the desktop pc keyboard. I quite liked this layout from microsoft keyboards of about 8 years ago which has gone out of fashion:
Home End
Ins Pgup
Del Pgdn
I want the arrow keys to have spacing around them so I can feel the triangle without looking at them, no pgup or pgdn touching them, just a gap.
I want a laptop keyboard that is sufficiently close to the desktop keyboard that I don't have to adjust as much as I currently do. My T410 isn't too bad in that respect, except for the arrow keys as mentioned above.
As with many standards, you can find an unofficial 'final committee draft' for free if you look around. It doesn't prescribe a layout for keys other than the cursor arrows.
ISO9995 has been responsible for a lot of nonsense from a programmer's point of view — for instance mandating Control in the lower left rather than beside A. Similarly its sister ISO9241, despite nominally being concerned with ergonomics, helped drive some of the best key switches off the market.
I have a Lenovo T420 the last of laptops whose keyboard was fair and free erm where was I yes? so the last laptop with a decent keyboard. However, someone reports http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=104797#p7197... a T410 transplant into a T430 I wonder whether such a feat is possible into the T440p...
I was going to replace my first-gen Thinkpad Carbon with the newer model (wanted the hi-res screen and better battery life), but this keyboard is a complete dealbreaker. Like the author, I am distressed at the removal of the caps-lock key (I remap mine). The ~/` key move is plain weird (it was bad enough when they moved print screen down there (I kept accidentally taking screenshots)). Lenovo, please fix your keyboard!
This is about laptop keyboards, but there is a huge diy scene around improving keyboards. I have an ErgoDox (http://ergodox.org/) which is very well thought out and open source (and people are iterating on it - see: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=44940.0 )
I've also been using a Cherry Clear switch ErgoDox at work for a couple of weeks now. Tweaked my layout a few times, and am now extremely happy with it.
Massdrop (http://massdrop.com) runs pretty frequent periodic group buys for the kit, and assembley really isn't that hard - don't be scared off by the need for some surface mount soldering.
When I saw this article I thought of the X1 before reading it. The X1 looks decent, other than the wacky keyboard and the non-removable battery. A big part of the Thinkpad brand is the fact they have good keyboards.
This is so odd how people can unknowingly create difficulties for someone else. Remapping Caps lock to switching input language has probably been the most useful thing I've done to improve my computing productivity (followed closely by Linux and tiling wms).
What used to require weird combinations like Control-Shift, or worse Shift-Alt (windows default which triggers window's menu half the time) now takes only a quick flick of my left little finger. Typing even the most technical texts with English words in every sentence has been easy and effortless ever since. And now Lenovo is taking this away from me by removing the Caps lock key from what otherwise looks like an absolutely perfect laptop. This is such a shame.
Google japanese keyboard layouts. They have always been like this. It always made sense to me, as I touch type. I once bought a japanese thinkpad just because of this.
I actually recently came across Japanese layouts because a user requested support in http://typing.io, a programmer's typing tutor I work on. I like the smaller space bar but dislike the shrunk delete/backspace key [1]. Backspace is already hard to type because of its distance from the home row. The problem is even worse for programmers because the right pinky not only needs to type most of the symbol keys, it also needs to correct typos made when these symbols are mistyped.
I never use the backspace key. I have had it mapped to 'C-;' for ages. The japanese backspace is terrible, but the normal US layout isn't too good either.
My father bought a Lenovo Thinkpad last week. One evening we were installing and configuring some more things on the laptop, and at some point he mentions that it's annoying that the keyboard has no printscreen button which he had needed that day.
This was the first thing I noticed when the laptop arrived, so I pointed out to him that the PrtScn button is between AltGr and the right ctrl key. We both shook our heads at that.
That key is ridiculously placed. I but know i like it very much. I mapped it to f13 and that key opens a new terminal. I think that way it is very useful.
For true "innovation" you can always go the Twiddler (http://www.handykey.com/) route. I've got one of the original models but have never actually tried it.
Supposedly this is something the guys at Xerox Parc were excited about and it's based on the much older idea of a chorded keyboard.
i think the capslock function should be disabled by default. let the key stay there, so people can bind it to what ever they want.
i'm a passionate programmer and im currently typing on a lenovo x121 keyboard and i have to say its one of the best laptop keyboard i've ever used. the only annoying thing is the "nearly useless" "Fn" key left of the left control key. i'm an emacs user and i can not understand why to place such a rarely used key at the place of such an often used key like the left control key!
but i learned to deal with it.
@lenovo: the x121 keyboard is good, but please put that useless fn key somewhere else! like replace the right control key with it! (who is using the right control key?)
all this is about the german x121 keyboard layout.
I hate Apple keyboards. Once you've used a real ThinkPad keyboard (for laptops) - a real one, not the crappy chiclet-style Apple clones they're forcing on users these days - or a mechanical keyboard (for desktops), you realize that Apple keyboards are absolute crap. The funniest part is seeing people use those Apple desktop keyboards that have laptop-style flat keys - what the hell are they thinking? The wireless version of those keyboards doesn't even have a Home/End/Delete/Insert/PgUp/PgDown cluster - a complete disaster.
No, they're actually not. Terrible travel, and a completely flat key top is a non-starter – there's no bevel to guide your fingers, and no tactile travel to absorb the shock from your fingers, leaving your hands fatigued.
Before you ask, I'm typing this from my MacBook. Yes, it's painful. The sharp edges on the notebooks don't help either.
You are typing too deeply and too hard. I urge you: fix your bad keyboarding habits. Your fingers need to glide over the keys, pressing each with as little pressure as possible.
I have been disabled by RSI for several years, and now I'm recovered, I won't use anything but these mac keyboards. They are much healthier for your hands - it's that very 'tactile travel' that does much of the damage.
I'd like to see some science on RSI. All i can find now is anecdotal evidence, and often does not make much sense (e.g. vi is better than emacs because emacs uses the hardly reachable control key, but in vi mode changes are just as hard)
I think this is very hard to research because it need a long time and people often change habits in that time.
that said, I hate apple keyboards. If there was a macbook air with a thinkpad keyboard (including trackpoint), replaceable accu and better linux support i'd pay 3k€ for that.
MacBook, Air or Pro? I've noticed a slight physical difference in the feel of the keyboards in the stores. I don't know if it's how they're attached to the frame or an actual mechanical difference in the switches (or maybe it's just all in my head?).
Laptop keyboards are pretty much universally terrible, but my MBP is probably the least. That said, my daily worker is a variable-weight Topre 103UB and it's been pretty good despite missing an extra windows key to remap.
Take some sand paper to the sharp edges. Don't be afraid. You own the machine!
My MBP (mid 2012) lacks a # character. It can be accessed by tapping Alt 3, similar to the euro sign (alt 2), but whereas the euro sign is shown on the key, the pound sign is not.
So every time someone gets one of these laptops, they need to google how to type the pound sign. How is that good design?
> I'm not going to pretend that the Break key is a key you use every single day, but it's not useless, either. For example, Windows' ping command, when used with the -t switch (endless pinging until stopped) lets you type Ctrl-Break to print the current stats without ending the pinging (as opposed to Ctrl-c, which prints stats and ends the pinging). This isn't the most important thing ever, but it's nonetheless useful to be able to do.
It might be useful sometimes, but is it useful enough to justify a key on everybody's keyboard, all the time? No.
Hmm, it has a much better left-control than most Thinkpads (which tend to cram fn down there, not an issue with this design). And good riddance to capslock - I'm not sure that home/end are the perfect replacement, but they're both much more useful. And honestly, the placement of home/end insert/delete etc. varies significantly from keyboard to keyboard, and we somehow manage to adapt...
I've remapped the caps lock key using AutoHotKey (Windows ) to act as Close Document (Close MDI child window) by double-tapping it. It retains its existing functionality by requiring you to hold Shift before using it.
But the ability to quickly close a document in Visual Studio or a browser tab by simply double tapping caps lock instead of stretching for Ctrl-F4 is invaluable.
I would like to see keyboards with flexible layouts, where you could reconfigure the positions and sizes of the keys as you choose, so that if you wanted to replace half the spacebar with backspace or move the numbers from the top row to a 3x3 grid on the far side of the keyboard, you could do that. Hackable keyboards, in essence.
It's also missing the context menu button. The one usually located between the altgr and ctrl on the right side. This key is very important if you don't want to use the mouse as it's equivalent of right clicking.
In my opinion, the Home/End keys instead of caps lock would actually be pretty nice. I have a tendency to just remove the caps lock key (on mechanical) since the only time I use it is by accident.
It's cool if you don't like the new keyboard layout. As programmers, we need to use special keys and caps lock a lot. But to say Lenovo is doing it wrong is clearly missing the simple fact that they might not be building these things for programmers.
They're building for the other 99.9% of the population that doesn't need caps lock, insert, bars and back-ticks ever. People who don't use function keys regularly and who, quite frankly, find "standard" keyboards incredibly awkward.
Couple this with the fact that laptops have always lacked the real-estate for a full keyboard and I have to disagree with the author. This is certainly a positive evolution, just maybe not for programmers.
Actually, I can see it work for programmers as well; tilde is easily pressed with the right thumb instead of left ring finger, esc is more easily reached for us vim users, and I know I sure don't use caps lock, ever. The soft function keys might be a problem for some, but I, at least, don't use them very often.
I think an important point here is that these aren't really "innovations". It's stripping features to make keyboards more compact. Keyboards are certainly a technology that could be improved. What about a touch screen split keyboard mouse combo that could take 10-finger multitouch and also give incredible haptic feedback that let you "feel" the keys?
Hail to the dinosaurs! Seriously, this mentality is the main reason why keyboard aren't improving. Dvorak was right: "I'm tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human race, they simply don't want to change!"
> The benefits of the Dvorak layout aren't well proven (if they exist at all), but some people find the layout more comfortable to use.
The benefits are obvious and well established. Only irrational fools and extreme believers in the so called "efficient market" would believe otherwise. It just have a learning curve, which most people don't want to suffer. Some people find Dvorak more comfortable? Come on, nearly everyone who has tried it for over a month would reckon it's more comfortable.
> Good keyboards are standard keyboards.
No. This is a good keyboard: http://ergodox.org/This is an okay keyboard: http://typematrix.com/ (I have tried that one myself, and got used to its layout in a couple hours. And I touch type too.) If we switch to such layouts overnight, people would complain for a few months, then forget about it. I even suspect that after the fact, most would mock the silliness of keeping the staggered design even though the keyboards were no longer mechanical.
> Good keyboards are […] keyboards that […] let me switch effortlessly to other systems.
Oh, you're the rare breed who use several systems regularly? I suggest you buy a keyboard you like, and plug it to those various systems. Unless you're an even rarer bread who cannot even even plug external keyboards to his computers for security reasons.
"you're the rare breed who use several systems regularly?"
Rare? I don't know anyone who doesn't.
In a typical day, I use a MBP, an IBM Model M, a Unicomp EnduraPro (modern equivalent to the Model M, only slightly inferior), and one or two random keyboards. Oh, and my phone.
Even my elementary-school-age son will use two or three keyboards in a day: one on a laptop, one on the desktop in the living room, and a virtual one on his tablet.
(Phones and tablets don't count: they have no keyboard to begin with.)
I write custom software for a living. I use 2 desktop computers: one at home, one at work. I plug my typematrix to both. When I'm on vacation, I may use my laptop, to which I pug my typematrix as well. Some of my co-workers (10%) also use a laptop at work, because they have to move around. Others (1%) are sysadmins, and often have to go to the server room. Both could buy a keyboard, and plug it to the computers they use. The sysadmins would have to pay for an additional keyboard that stays on the server room.
By the way, I use a completely non-standar keyboard layout. Like Dvorak, only optimized for French (Bépo). Since I only rarely use systems that I don't control, this is okay. 90% of my co-workers are in the same situation.
What do you work on that requires you to use several different keyboards you don't choose on a daily basis? To me that doesn't sound rare. That sounds alien.
I chose the IBM and the Unicomp. I don't like the Apple keyboard much, but I don't use it much. Random keyboards are needed because I might be bringing up new hardware and using whatever keyboard is supplied or debugging a user's problem and using their keyboard.
Lots of people have a personal laptop, a personal desktop, and a work laptop or desktop. My wife has her own preferences in keyboards; so do my kids.
> Random keyboards are needed because I might be bringing up new hardware and using whatever keyboard is supplied or debugging a user's problem and using their keyboard.
Ah, that sucks. If I did that often, I'd likely bring my own keyboard, and a software utility to temporarily change the layout from Qwerty to Bépo. It's a drag, but not as much as suffering Qwerty.
> Lots of people have a personal laptop, a personal desktop, and a work laptop or desktop.
I have too. It's just that since I control the keyboard I use on my desktop, so it doesn't really count. As for my laptop, I just put my Typematrix on top of the original keyboard (or on my lap). Ideally, though, I would have liked to have standard keyboard slots in laptops, so I can insert my favourite keyboard instead of the default one. It doesn't have to be ergonomic. Just a little more sensible: http://loup-vaillant.fr/articles/better-keyboards
> My wife has her own preferences in keyboards; so do my kids.
Looks that it strengthen one of my points: good keyboards aren't standard. They're adapted to their users. Hence my point about laptop keyboards. It would be sooo cool if users could change them.
One area where keyboard designers aren't innovating enough is the spacebar. The left 2/3 of the space bar is rarely used by most touch typists and hogs very accessible real estate. I like how Microsoft split the spacebar on their new keyboard [2] and replaced the left half with backspace, the most commonly typed (but normally most hard to reach) key.
I'm disappointed to see thinkpad/lenovo make these mistakes given their reputation for quality laptop keyboards. I personally use an x230 [3], which has a similar chiclet keyboard as the x1 carbon in the article without the transgressions.
[1] https://github.com/alols/xcape
[2] http://techland.time.com/2012/09/20/new-microsoft-keyboard-s...
[3] http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x230/