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Comment by optimal | Hacker News Reader

I don't have much to add, but how do you like your MBP so far?

I've had mine for almost a year and like it very much. I liked my Dell laptop running Ubuntu, but I do prefer the (more expensive) Mac hardware. The fan runs almost silently when compared to the Dell and, okay, it's just a nicer design too.

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I like it very much so far! I don't have a nagging paranoia that I've somehow got a virus. I like the quiet, and design itself. It's also faster all-around, and slicker.

The only downside at all so far--I can't stand the way the home and end keys work and I'm having trouble with not having ctrl-C/ctrl-V and ctrl-Z work--the apple key does those functions, but on my keyboard, I find that key to be more awkward. It's screwing with my keyboard shortcut mojo.

you can swap cmd and ctrl keys if you want, in the keyboard area of system preferences. you can also change caplocks there to something more useful.

for home/end is the problem them not moving the cursor? try cmd-up-arrow and cmd-down-arrow

I'll try the swap asap for command and ctrl. That's great-- Thanks!

In windows, home and end jump to the end of line/beginning of line, so I frequently hit shift-home or shift-end to select a whole line of text, then I copy or cut and move it.

I found app-specific hacks here:

http://www.starryhope.com/tech/apple/2006/keyfixer/

but I haven't checked out how it works yet, as I think I can add Thunderbird and other programs myself. Or I'll just re-adjust...

for line, cmd + left/right arrow (+ shift)

Rather than rearranging everything to be like Windows, maybe you should learn to use things the way they are on Mac.

Just consider that every hack and customization you make will make it that much harder to use another Mac without all your Windows-y adjustments.

For example, on Mac you navigate around text with the Command and arrow keys. So:

                         Win        Mac
    Beginning of line    Home       ⌘←
          End of line    End        ⌘→
     Beginning of doc    Ctrl-Home  ⌘↑
           End of doc    Ctrl-End   ⌘↓

I have had that thought, but I find the positioning of the apple key awkward. Also, 95% of my productivity is determined by how fast I get around my own machine, and also it's unavoidable for a while that I will be using my mac and other people's pcs.

Thanks for the translations.

It's awkward because it's unfamiliar. I was pretty good with Windows before I switched to Mac and now I definitely prefer using the Command keys with my thumbs than the Ctrl keys with my pinkies.

It does suck though to be using something so unfamiliar.

OR you can do: CTRL+e for beginning of the line, CTRL+a for the end, CTRL+k to kill from the caret to the end of the line, CTRL+u to kill from the caret to the beginning, CTRL+h to backspace one character, CTRL+w to backspace one word, CTRL+f to move forward one character, CTRL+b to move backwards one.

Many might recognize these from emacs.

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