It's a complete bloody mystery and I thought the same thing when I saw their other laptops. I'm sure their target audience uses the cursor keys more than almost every other key, and they've made them those horrible tiny nubs. You could literally fit all four of them into the footprint of that right shift key, the right shift key that I have never even once pressed in 30 years of computing.

No matter what else they do, the arrow keys tell me they are fools who should not be trusted! (Hyperbole, sure, but only a little.)

I use the arrow keys occasionally, but wouldn't miss them too much if they disappeared.

However, because I know how to type, I use the right shift key constantly. Of all the keys to fuss about...

It's a qmk keyboard, you can literally map CapsLock+H/J/K/L to be your arrow keys!

Yeah there's quite a bit of disconnect between who Framework imagines their market is and who I think gets excited at the phrase "modular laptop". We care about things like real non-chiclet keyboards, full size arrow keys, mouse buttons. What is the point in buying a Framework when the laptop I already own has as much connectivity as a Framework laptop's entire selection of modules, all at the same time? Framework should've offered things you can't get anywhere else, like a module that's just four USB 2.0 ports in a stack, or a module that's actually a fold-out bluetooth mouse.

That is the advantage of modular devices. If you want something, you can literally make it yourself and slot it into the system. If you fall into the camp of just wanting to buy something that works perfectly out of the box, can you really claim you fall into the camp of the 'people who get excited at the phrase "modular laptop"'?

I want something I can't get somewhere else. Being able to make my own modules is cool but there's simply not enough slots to even match my current ultraportable, let alone give me room to experiment.

* * *

I'd love to see this design. There's something similar on the HP Omen 16: https://i.imgur.com/R4O5zzU.png

Not sure why 99% of laptops see a numpad as a higher priority than matching a desktop keyboard layout.

To whoever decides to manufacture and sell a keyboard (for the Framework Laptop 16) with this layout: please take my money!

Have this in an external, but wouldn’t want keyboard off center.

I prefer this design, that my Xiaomi laptop has. Keyboard and trackpad are centered, but I get full size arrow keys: https://imgur.com/dgjUJVV

I imagine that the numberpad thing in the 16s could address this problem. If not outright, then perhaps through the interfaces that enable it. But I agree, as a 13 owner I want a better answer than that.