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Non technical people don’t need most of those keys, kind of how non car mechanics generally don’t need pneumatic tools. I’d never buy a keyboard without them

Non technical people don’t need most of those keys, kind of how non car mechanics generally don’t need pneumatic tools. I’d never buy a keyboard without them but the trend is logical.

red_trumpet 5y ago
> Non technical people don’t need most of those keys I disagree. A numpad can be nice to have if you have to input lots of numbers, or use a calculator app. I often use the END-key when editing text to jump to the end of a line, similarly for POS1. So IMO this has not so much to do with being technical or not.
- medstrom 5y ago
  A numpad is one thing as it's visually obvious, but the End key? Lots of people don't even know about ctrl+w to close window or ctrl+t to create new tab in browser. The End key is advanced black magic.
  - LandR 5y ago
    Thanks, I didn't know about ctrl+w For anyone else like me who might not know all the shortcuts, ctrl+l takes your mouse to the url bar! This changed everything for me when I learnt this, ctrl+w is great too!
  - no1lives4ever 5y ago
    I have had to use excel Ona windows system a fair bit in recent past and the end key sees a lot of use inside excel. It took me a fair bit of time to get used to my laptop’s fn+arrow key combo to get end to work on excel for me. On the mac ctrl+a and ctrl+e so the job of home and better for me as that also works on the terminal. My daily driver keyboard is the older Apple wireless keyboard. There one that uses the AA battery. Mainly because this has the exact same layout as my MacBook Pro. This keyboard plus the trackpad works great for me. I don’t understand why Apple did not revert to the inverted arrow keys on the external keyboard. Now there is no way to get the same exact layout on a MacBook Pro and with an external keyboard from Apple.
- Akronymus 5y ago
  I work with some software that requires the use of the break key. Quite painful on a laptop keyboard without it.
rgoulter 5y ago
> Non technical people don’t need most of those keys But... if you're non-technical, then considering you may encounter a situation where you need to use the keys (e.g. "press ctrl+alt+delete"), choosing a keyboard where it's more complicated to press those keys seems a weird choice. I think the people who opt for small keyboards are more likely to be keyboard-enthusiastic, and go for e.g. vim or emacs as their main text editors.

Non technical people don’t need most of those keys, kind of how non car mechanics generally don’t need pneumatic tools. I’d never buy a keyboard without them but the trend is logical.

red_trumpet 5y ago

> Non technical people don’t need most of those keys I disagree. A numpad can be nice to have if you have to input lots of numbers, or use a calculator app. I often use the END-key when editing text to jump to the end of a line, similarly for POS1. So IMO this has not so much to do with being technical or not.

medstrom 5y ago
A numpad is one thing as it's visually obvious, but the End key? Lots of people don't even know about ctrl+w to close window or ctrl+t to create new tab in browser. The End key is advanced black magic.
- LandR 5y ago
  Thanks, I didn't know about ctrl+w For anyone else like me who might not know all the shortcuts, ctrl+l takes your mouse to the url bar! This changed everything for me when I learnt this, ctrl+w is great too!
- no1lives4ever 5y ago
  I have had to use excel Ona windows system a fair bit in recent past and the end key sees a lot of use inside excel. It took me a fair bit of time to get used to my laptop’s fn+arrow key combo to get end to work on excel for me. On the mac ctrl+a and ctrl+e so the job of home and better for me as that also works on the terminal. My daily driver keyboard is the older Apple wireless keyboard. There one that uses the AA battery. Mainly because this has the exact same layout as my MacBook Pro. This keyboard plus the trackpad works great for me. I don’t understand why Apple did not revert to the inverted arrow keys on the external keyboard. Now there is no way to get the same exact layout on a MacBook Pro and with an external keyboard from Apple.
Akronymus 5y ago
I work with some software that requires the use of the break key. Quite painful on a laptop keyboard without it.

rgoulter 5y ago

> Non technical people don’t need most of those keys But... if you're non-technical, then considering you may encounter a situation where you need to use the keys (e.g. "press ctrl+alt+delete"), choosing a keyboard where it's more complicated to press those keys seems a weird choice. I think the people who opt for small keyboards are more likely to be keyboard-enthusiastic, and go for e.g. vim or emacs as their main text editors.