If you're not having trouble with any other key, your keyboard probably works fine. Keep that dust cover on!
They did the same thing to the Eject key: They put a hardware DELAY on it, so you couldn't remap it to be a real Delete key.
How can Apple work so hard to screw up a KEYBOARD? Incredible.
We don't moan about Copy, Paste or Undo because those have not traditionally been on any keyboards, as they are too recent.
The others are Iannoying because we're very used to having dedicated keys for them, and they are very common actions, and it's faster to use a single key. Yes, I can press FN+Backspace to do a Delete... but why when it's such a common operation?!
Home, Page Down etc are the worst though, as I can still never remember the correct key combos, and peck around trying different variations before cursing and using the mouse instead.
What I don't understand is how Mac users put up with this!
Appeal to tradition, not a real argument.
> it's faster to use a single key.
This isn't self-evident as you make it out to be. Depends on keyboard layout and the typist. For me it's usually faster to press a combo than reach for that far-flung dedicated key.
> Yes, I can press FN+Backspace to do a Delete... but why when it's such a common operation?!
That's arguable, and even so, I don't see why it's worse. It even makes sense that a modifier alters the direction of deletion. Notice that on the mac keyboard the backspace says delete on it, not backspace.
> What I don't understand is how Mac users put up with this!
Maybe Mac users honor their traditions?
What people are used to seems a valid enough argument to me...
> This isn't self-evident as you make it out to be. Depends on keyboard layout and the typist. For me it's usually faster to press a combo than reach for that far-flung dedicated key.
I don't have references of course, but it really does seem self-evident to me. Take FN-Backspace vs Delete as an example - I need to use keys on opposite sides of the keyboard, vs a single Delete key that's next to the Backspace key, so I don't buy your "far flung" keys argument. Also, I don't know what kind of massive keyboard you're using if keys are "far flung" ;)
> Maybe Mac users honor their traditions?
I was being sarcastic with that final quip, but that seems fair enough to me.