Re:Ultrabook: Intel's $300 million plan to beat Apple at its...
by jvdongen on Tuesday September 06, 2011 @08:25AM
(#2965253)
... currently typing on a MBP with a clearly visible #, @, \ and | all reachable by merely using shift.
Is this only an issue with a US keyboard layout perhaps (I've a Dutch layout)?
Re:Ultrabook: Intel's $300 million plan to beat Apple at its...
by splidge on Tuesday September 06, 2011 @08:57AM
(#2965362)
It's an issue on UK keyboards.
UK keyboards on PCs have a dedicated key for #/~, " is shift-2 and @ is shift-'. £ (currency symbol) is shift-3.
On a Mac the " and @ are the wrong way round (shift-' and shift-2 respectively), and the key that should produce # instead generates \. The only way to get a # is option-3, which is not marked on the keys. The Mac "UK" layout is basically the US layout with £/# reversed.
I don't dispute that it works. But it does rather detract from, well, the aesthetic elegance of the machine. Apple has these fancy backlit keyboards--it's a great shame to make the keycaps wrong.
Plus, it also causes big problems when I let others use my machine. Hunt-and-peckers don't stand a chance when your keys are mismatched. Though they probably struggle even with the regular Apple layout--good luck finding # on the keyboard, since Apple doesn't deign to print it. Sure, once you know it's option-3 it's not so bad, but I don't know how you're meant to just figure that out for yourself.
And the thing is, it's all just gratuitous. Apple's layout isn't in any meaningful sense better. It's just... different.