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).
Anyway, I still do use the separate numpad every time I need to input numeric PINs or monetary values.
- It's own tactile identifier
- Easy access to numeric operators
- plus without shift
- Diminished use of the pinky finger
- The only actual 'enter' key on the keyboard
I admit that it's subjective. 'Tenkeyless' is a standard mechanical keyboard trope for a reason.
Search for "keyboard TKL", easy peasy.
What can you actually do faster on the numpad if the starting position is your right index finger resting on J?
Because that's where it should always be.
> 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.
Also, numerical operations / form filling while consuming liquid or holding a pet. It's surprising the number of times the ability to perform even a subset of tasks while not having both hands to dedicate has allowed me to maintain focus and interest instead of stopping dead and having to spool back up slowly.
> Because that's where it should always be.
I must admit, I have yet to figure out how to maintain this discipline while whiteboarding, let alone walking, or sleeping.
In short research, I found they are hundreds of them available on Amazon, Aliexpress. However, most of them have mechanical switches[0][1], some of them have conducted switches (like Topre[2]) and it is very rarely to see cheap, typical office-use TKL keyboards made by companies like Microsoft or Logitech but Matias have at least sell one model [3].
It might be handy to read a short guide [4] of keyboard naming by their sizes, whether you will look for new keyboard in future.
[0]: https://www.amazon.com/10-keyless-keyboard/s?k=10+keyless+ke...
[1]: https://www.keyboardco.com/category.asp?path=Mechanical%20Ke...
[2]: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=topre&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
[3]: https://www.keyboardco.com/category.asp?path=Mac/Standard/Te...
[4]: https://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2017/08/full-size-...
I only use keyboards that have low-key travel and are silent - basically anything that resembles laptop keyboard.
EDIT: Sorry for sounding a bit harsh, but keyboard-without-numpad != mechanical keyboard, which are quite niche, I wasn't aware that a niche product has a also niche variation - lack of numpad :)
For me mechanical switches are a no-go :(
But it wasn't obvious when I was looking for one, i used "no numpad" or similar, and to complicate it I searched for one in Poland.
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 :)
What line of work are you in? A cross between hardware and software?
If one is in pure software it seems extremely error-prone to be typing in numbers all the time manually.
Numbers on the top of qwerty are good for incidental numbers when entering text, but around 5 consecutive digits is enough for me to move.
Are they useful enough to add to a laptop keyboard? Probably not.
If your mouse is right-hand specific, try getting a ambidextrous one next time. Most of the ambidextrous mice these days are gaming mice, but they work fine for pushing cursors around too.
The strength of the mechanical market, the reason why it's getting bigger, is not that it's mechanical and "clicky"(that's the stereotype), but that it's customizable. All of it. Case, PCB, keyswitches, keycaps, stabilizers. If you don't like the switches stock, they can be relubricated and modded with rubber O-rings. If you want a dampened response the stabilizers and keycaps can be heavier. The hobby has developed from that over the last decade - being able to take the platform and "own" it.
Yes, you can get a low-profile scissor switch design and it'll be quiet and function for years. But it will also be unmaintainable and resist even basic cleaning.
I have to say low profile blue switches offer quite a nice typing experience though, quite comparable with scissor switches.
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.