zlacker

>>ekianj+(OP)
Oh my god...is that a 15" laptop without a number pad being crammed onto the side of the keyboard, thus not forcing all my typing to be awkwardly offset and uncomfortable?

>>XorNot+n9
This is my beef with laptops. I bought a huge laptop just so I could have a numberpad.

But I've been amazed at how many programmers don't like to have them. Why?

>>tomrod+Xd
Why would I use numpad?

Even on normal keyboards I don't use it, and they are annoying because they make the mouse position awkwardly more to the right than it should be healthy for the arm (I really envy left handed people, they don't have to deal with this).

And it is next to impossible to get a keyboard without the numpad, fortunately I found two such keyboards and I have one at work and one at home (Logitech K310 and Microsoft Sculpt).

And I haven't seen in live any person that uses numpad, I always thought it is used by accountants only (and those that don't want to use two hands to enter numbers).

>>krzyk+9l
I'm left handed but can only use a mouse right-handed, so I can see how a numpad could be an issue, however;

> And it is next to impossible to get a keyboard without the numpad

Every single keyboard in my home, would like to disagree with you. I have at least a dozen, not one with a numpad.

A lot of them are mechanical, Tenkeyless (TKL) which is my favourite size, and is _literally_ a numpadless form factor.

You might say, that they don't count because they're mechanical, or expensive, or loud, or some other argument, non of which are unavoidable, but, if you want to argue concern about comfort of keyboards and long term use, I think you should seriously consider investing in a half decent mechanical. There are ergonomic form factors, and variety of sizes and key counts from 40% to over 100% (of standard).

You can get a cheap TKL for as little as £30, or hand build one like some of mine for £500-700+ and everything in between.

>>alias_+FC
Thanks, now I know about the strange name for those keyboards :)

It is a bit harder to find non-mechanical (I love low key travel and silence) one and one that is wireless, which I prefer but I see there are ones :)

>>krzyk+z71
If you happen to like Thinkpad keyboards, Lenovo on and off sells external USB and bluetooth keyboards with the Thinkpad brand. They feel identical to laptops of the same era when they are manufactured, and they have the same embedded trackpoint and buttons.

I am typing this on an old USB one that greatly resembles the keyboard on an X200 or T400 laptop. This old thing even has the little touchpad from those days and therefore identical palm rest areas. I also have a newer bluetooth unit that is just like my T495, minus the touchpad. I miss the touchpad even though I use the trackpoint for all pointer movement. I like to keep edge-scrolling enabled on the touchpad on my old keyboard as well as on my actual laptop.

One caveat is that the trackpoint acceleration profile seems different for these external devices, so switching back end forth between these and the built-in Thinkpad controls can feel clumsy while your fingers and eyes readjust.