- 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.
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.
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.
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.