I've spent plenty of time on keyboards without them (largely macs) and I still hate it. My old Toshiba laptop (z830 -- a 14" laptop, no less) just has them in a straight line along the right edge of the keyboard and that works just fine and doesn't require me to use two hands to do something that should be one finger. Again, it's not like there's some lack of space on this and other 15" laptops.

"It's not that hard to..." arguments are basically admitting defeat before the debate begins. I could probably get used to a 5 key chording keyboard if I tried, but I don't think it would enrich my life.