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Comment by trustyhank | Hacker News Reader

The Apple laptop keyboards are pretty fantastic.

I hate Apple keyboards. Once you've used a real ThinkPad keyboard (for laptops) - a real one, not the crappy chiclet-style Apple clones they're forcing on users these days - or a mechanical keyboard (for desktops), you realize that Apple keyboards are absolute crap. The funniest part is seeing people use those Apple desktop keyboards that have laptop-style flat keys - what the hell are they thinking? The wireless version of those keyboards doesn't even have a Home/End/Delete/Insert/PgUp/PgDown cluster - a complete disaster.

I agree, Apple's keyboards are entirely unsatisfying and ThinkPads have them beaten.

No, they're actually not. Terrible travel, and a completely flat key top is a non-starter – there's no bevel to guide your fingers, and no tactile travel to absorb the shock from your fingers, leaving your hands fatigued.

Before you ask, I'm typing this from my MacBook. Yes, it's painful. The sharp edges on the notebooks don't help either.

You are typing too deeply and too hard. I urge you: fix your bad keyboarding habits. Your fingers need to glide over the keys, pressing each with as little pressure as possible.

I have been disabled by RSI for several years, and now I'm recovered, I won't use anything but these mac keyboards. They are much healthier for your hands - it's that very 'tactile travel' that does much of the damage.

Same for the people complains about the edges. Your wrists should not be on that edge.

Those shiny shallow keyboards cause RSI.

http://jeff.ecchi.ca/blog/2008/09/19/apple-aluminium-keyboar...

Rather than urging him to conform his body to the uncomfortable keyboard, how about recommending a keyboard designed to be comfortable to him?

> Those shiny shallow keyboards cause RSI.

[citation needed]

Linked post is quite weak on evidence and is mostly filled with "I think so"-s.

I'd like to see some science on RSI. All i can find now is anecdotal evidence, and often does not make much sense (e.g. vi is better than emacs because emacs uses the hardly reachable control key, but in vi mode changes are just as hard)

I think this is very hard to research because it need a long time and people often change habits in that time.

that said, I hate apple keyboards. If there was a macbook air with a thinkpad keyboard (including trackpoint), replaceable accu and better linux support i'd pay 3k€ for that.

MacBook, Air or Pro? I've noticed a slight physical difference in the feel of the keyboards in the stores. I don't know if it's how they're attached to the frame or an actual mechanical difference in the switches (or maybe it's just all in my head?).

Laptop keyboards are pretty much universally terrible, but my MBP is probably the least. That said, my daily worker is a variable-weight Topre 103UB and it's been pretty good despite missing an extra windows key to remap.

Take some sand paper to the sharp edges. Don't be afraid. You own the machine!

> no tactile travel to absorb the shock from your fingers,

To each their own, I guess. I can't use long-travel keyboards anymore since it's too fatiguing for me.

My MBP (mid 2012) lacks a # character. It can be accessed by tapping Alt 3, similar to the euro sign (alt 2), but whereas the euro sign is shown on the key, the pound sign is not.

So every time someone gets one of these laptops, they need to google how to type the pound sign. How is that good design?

What country is your MBP from?

On North American English MBPs, the # is shift-3, just like every other keyboard here.

Malta (that's why we have the € symbol)

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