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Comment by dblooman | Hacker News Reader

I for one prefer a simple keyboard layout, no number pad, no extra cruft, never use them

First off, a number pad is really not even in the running as something any laptop less than 17" should even have, so bringing it up is a bit silly here.

But, I would not really have an issue with there being laptops that don't have them if it weren't for the fact that it has become a near universal trait of laptops, even when there's plenty of bezel to accommodate them.

Some of us do use those keys, and having that option would be nice.

Number pads are significantly faster than using the number keys. They really are worth learning how to use.

I almost never enter tons of numbers, so having a numpad isn't very useful for me. Especially since the fact that you have to leave home row means that there's an initial penalty to using the numpad that makes it significantly less useful for sequences of numbers <4-5 in length.

Not having a numpad means my keyboard takes up significantly less space on my desk and means mousing is more ergonomic; not having one on my laptop makes it much prettier and lets me have nice speaker grills.

I suspect that this is true of the vast majority of people, except maybe accountants, data entry folks, and some scientists. But I generally do finance, math, and programming just fine without a numpad.

It's more than just numbers.

IP addresses 127.192.168.00.1

You can enter many calculations quickly: 327.5 / 15.3 * 7

[enter] also means you can add type in a column on numbers quickly which is useful for setting up spreadsheets or depending on software time sheets etc. Teachers often enter lot's of grades at the same time etc etc.

The downside is wider keyboard. But, you can just use a separate USB device.

At a huge cost of moving the keyboard off-center, no thanks.

USB to the rescue.

http://www.amazon.com/V7-Ergonomic-Resistant-Notebook-KP0N1-...

That's much better, perhaps they have one for a full size home/end arrow block? ;)

If you do enough data entry to justify them, yes. Can't say I've used mine in a very long time.

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