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Comment by jhancock | Hacker News Reader

My #1 reason to buy Apple laptops: keyboard. All I want is a simple keyboard layout, like Apple's...no extra keys...no numeric keypad...no page-up&down...no custom keys to control media...oh yeah, and also drop all the extra ways to click the mouse...just give me a big touch area and drop the three extra keys and eraser-knob.

If anyone knows of a manufacturer doing it right, please let me know as I am tired of paying a premium to get a sane keyboard. At the moment going Apple for both desktop and laptop allows me to use the exact same keyboard whether I'm at home or on the road. So bonus points to a laptop manufacturer that also sells an external keyboard to match my desktop same as embedded in the laptop.

Seriously, there has to be a market for this!!! The keyboard is the single most important input device. Build it right and they will come.

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Wow, I'm the complete opposite. So much so, that I bought an external keyboard with the 3 keys and eraser-knob for my desktop system. Damnit Apple, I'm USING those function keys, Fn-F7 for mute is no good; give me a single button for mute so I can make it shut-up! PLEASE give me a page-up and page-down, for when I need to go up a page and down a page, I also want a home and an end key. (Don't want a numeric keypad though.)

I do, however, very much want the same input - and the closest I've found is a Thinkpad w/ an eraser-knob and an external Thinkpad keyboard w/ the eraser-knob.

I wonder how hard it would be to build an external keyboard with 'a big touch area' out of mac parts - they're both usb to begin with, all you'd need is a sleek enclosure for it.

(Roughly $130 + labor, judging from this part - http://www.powerbookmedic.com/MacBook-Keyboard--Top-Case-Tra... )

People have commented on my Asus UL80vt as being very similar to the mac keyboard / touchpad layout, it does however have a large plastic bar that is supposed to act as left and right click, however in practice this is just ignored for the multitouch clicks that are parcelled into the touchpad.

thanks for the tip. looks like a great choice. My MacBook Air is toast...that's what happens when you solder the RAM onto the mobo...$900 repair fee, ouch...I'd rather just buy a new laptop.

If you do end up going this route, and you're not a windows user; if you want the nvidia card to work in linux you must set SATA mode in bios to legacy, yes, I know that makes no sense but there you go.

I sadly miss a Control key on the right side of my MacBook Pro.

http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/

Thinkpad without the touchpad, like on the ultraportables. It is like having a mouse right where you are typing.

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