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No, the conclusion is that more buttons are always better. You can always customize a keyboard with minimal effort, unless you're on a really bad operating syst

by caslon 5y ago

No, the conclusion is that more buttons are always better. You can always customize a keyboard with minimal effort, unless you're on a really bad operating system, like any of the proprietary ones.

Fnoord 5y ago
> No, the conclusion is that more buttons are always better. Not really. There was a time where laptops, especially 15", had front speakers. If the choice is that or numpad, I pick front speakers. Its a bummer smartphones don't have them anymore these days. More keys might seem like a no-brainer, but its always also less is more and keys you don't use are useless keys. As power user, it seems (re)binding of keys is in order anyway. 1080p and numpad is a downgrade from my MBP 2015. It also doesn't specify much about the AMD graphics card. I'd rather get a modular laptop instead, but with 1440p minimum. The thing with a trackpad centered to left (let alone its gonna be as good as a Magic Trackpad 2 by Apple from 2015 and onward), is that if you use your right hand your arm can get hurt if you let it rest. And, you should let your arms rest. Also, the arm is in the way. Apple had a neat solution to it: large(r) trackpad (though I prefer the previous one, centered). But I was never in the market for this because if I order something like this from USA I get to pay a large amount of taxes on top of it cause the price never includes tax. Let me know if its available in Europe and I'll have a look, but the above remain serious concerns so I doubt it.
- SilverRed 5y ago
  The iphone has a front speaker. The top one is a loudspeaker and a normal phone one. And they tune it so when in landscape I don't really notice the difference between the front and outwards speaker. Phone speakers have come a long way since samsung was putting them on the back of the phones..
- caslon 5y ago
  My laptop has front speakers & a number pad. Keys you don't use need to be rebound until you use them.
- luke2m 5y ago
  I got a 14 inch laptop with front speakers, and a 6 row keyboard. Since I came from a laptop with a 7 row, I actually would prefer to have one of those extra columns of keys that hp makes.
evilduck 5y ago
Hard disagree. I dont need more keys, I need better keys. More keys just means more reaching and more strain. I use the Preonic and would love to see layer keys on a laptop instead of a stupidly big spacebar nobody ever uses wasting so much real estate. I think the Framework laptop is our best shot at it though.
least 5y ago
More buttons isn't always better because there's a limited range of motion that is reasonable for someone to type with. Having a number pad on a laptop keyboard reinforces bad ergonomics because you either need to shift your entire body to the left and have your screen off center or you have a constant and pretty severe lateral deviation in your right hand. As for customizing a keyboard with minimal effort... it's actually easier to do that with MacOS and Windows than it is in linux, in my experience. Sure, you can do basic key remapping really easily in linux with xmodmap but if you want to do anything complicated with the built in keyboard, MacOS has Karabiner Elements which is far better than any of the built in or custom keyboard software like xcape or xkeysnail. Similarly on Windows, AutoHotKey is much easier to do complex customizations as well. I haven't really tried Kmonad but that is cross-platform so it wouldn't really be considered an advantage to linux.

by caslon 5y ago

No, the conclusion is that more buttons are always better. You can always customize a keyboard with minimal effort, unless you're on a really bad operating system, like any of the proprietary ones.

Fnoord 5y ago

> No, the conclusion is that more buttons are always better. Not really. There was a time where laptops, especially 15", had front speakers. If the choice is that or numpad, I pick front speakers. Its a bummer smartphones don't have them anymore these days. More keys might seem like a no-brainer, but its always also less is more and keys you don't use are useless keys. As power user, it seems (re)binding of keys is in order anyway. 1080p and numpad is a downgrade from my MBP 2015. It also doesn't specify much about the AMD graphics card. I'd rather get a modular laptop instead, but with 1440p minimum. The thing with a trackpad centered to left (let alone its gonna be as good as a Magic Trackpad 2 by Apple from 2015 and onward), is that if you use your right hand your arm can get hurt if you let it rest. And, you should let your arms rest. Also, the arm is in the way. Apple had a neat solution to it: large(r) trackpad (though I prefer the previous one, centered). But I was never in the market for this because if I order something like this from USA I get to pay a large amount of taxes on top of it cause the price never includes tax. Let me know if its available in Europe and I'll have a look, but the above remain serious concerns so I doubt it.

SilverRed 5y ago
The iphone has a front speaker. The top one is a loudspeaker and a normal phone one. And they tune it so when in landscape I don't really notice the difference between the front and outwards speaker. Phone speakers have come a long way since samsung was putting them on the back of the phones..
caslon 5y ago
My laptop has front speakers & a number pad. Keys you don't use need to be rebound until you use them.
luke2m 5y ago
I got a 14 inch laptop with front speakers, and a 6 row keyboard. Since I came from a laptop with a 7 row, I actually would prefer to have one of those extra columns of keys that hp makes.

evilduck 5y ago

Hard disagree. I dont need more keys, I need better keys. More keys just means more reaching and more strain. I use the Preonic and would love to see layer keys on a laptop instead of a stupidly big spacebar nobody ever uses wasting so much real estate. I think the Framework laptop is our best shot at it though.

least 5y ago

More buttons isn't always better because there's a limited range of motion that is reasonable for someone to type with. Having a number pad on a laptop keyboard reinforces bad ergonomics because you either need to shift your entire body to the left and have your screen off center or you have a constant and pretty severe lateral deviation in your right hand. As for customizing a keyboard with minimal effort... it's actually easier to do that with MacOS and Windows than it is in linux, in my experience. Sure, you can do basic key remapping really easily in linux with xmodmap but if you want to do anything complicated with the built in keyboard, MacOS has Karabiner Elements which is far better than any of the built in or custom keyboard software like xcape or xkeysnail. Similarly on Windows, AutoHotKey is much easier to do complex customizations as well. I haven't really tried Kmonad but that is cross-platform so it wouldn't really be considered an advantage to linux.