Is there a laptop keyboard that doesn’t suck?

I'm in the market for a new laptop, but I can't seem to find one with a decent keyboard. I'm a programmer so these are keys that must be easy to hit without looking:

  • Esc
  • Enter
  • All the arrow keys
  • Tab
  • Home, End
  • Del, Backspace
  • Alt, Ctrl

Most laptop keyboards, unfortunately, have one of the following problems:

  • A stupid little "Fn" key as the lower right key, making it nearly impossible to hit left-Ctrl without looking
  • No space around the arrow keys, so I can't feel which button I'm touching
  • Little or no consideration for the placement of the Home/End keys, rendering them unusable without hunting (or that blasted Fn key)
My modified Acer Aspire 3500 keyboardMy modified keyboard

I've modified my current laptop keyboard to add space and remove annoying keys:

Victims include: Tab, Scroll lock, Ins, Context menu, and some proprietary dollar and euro keys nestled in with the arrows.

I'm not looking for a fancy machine with an amped-up graphics card or fingerprint reader or other such nonsense. I just want a basic laptop with standard hardware and a keyboard that doesn't suck.

Anyone want to recommend a manufacturer?

Cross-posted to LJ and the Neon Guild mailing list.

Responses: 6 so far [feed]

  1. TedTrippin says:

    I hear ya!!

    My work supplied me with a Dell Inspiron 1600. Whilst originally I loathed it, being a programmer and used to a "proper" keyboard, I eventually got used to it. It had that infernal Fn button but I was able to live with it. The home and end keys (2 of the most useful I find) were small but well placed.

    I poured wine (not on purpose) over it so they've replaced it with a Dell vostro 1500. I regularly beat it. For some reason they have put the home/pg up/pg down/end keys down the side in that order. They have shrunk the right shift key to make way for the cursor keys, so I go up a line when ever trying to type a capital letter! Finally, they have put the context menu key in between the right ctrl and left cursor key so instead of scrolling left, word at a time, I get the context menu.

    So there you go, 1 ok keyboard and 1 to def. avoid.

    # July 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 am

  2. Kemp says:

    No.

    # July 10th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

  3. Robert says:

    I AGREE COMPLETELY.

    I too am a programmer and I went looking online today for a laptop replacement.

    I've always bought DELL's but won't buy a DELL because of the new keyboard layout.

    Programmers use the keyboard all day ... and apparently these laptop designers don't know that.

    # July 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm

  4. Zusukar says:

    My work provided me with the HP nc8430 and it's keyboard is very good for a laptop. There is a link to a picture below which shows the keyboard. Of note is the correct orientation of the Insert through Page Down keys at the top right and also the Fn key is not leftmost.

    http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/14636.jpg

    Perhaps of interest to your windows readers is TouchCursor ( http://www.touchcursor.com ) and AutoHotKey ( http://www.AutoHotKey.com ). TouchCursor will allow you to use your Space key as a modifier (like Ctrl) to change your J,K,L, and I keys to function as the arrow keys. AutoHotKey can be used to remap any key to any other key or a macro. Unfortunately AutoHotKey does not see the Fn key because it does not send a scancode directly.

    I prefer to use CapsLock as a dedicated Play/Pause key and I also remap the Application key to act as an additional Windows key (useful for one-handed Win+L when walking away from your computer).

    # July 25th, 2008 at 1:34 pm

  5. Jim says:

    What your looking for is called a mobile workstation laptop. They typically have 15" wide-screen monitors and full size 104 keyboards; very little use of the "fn" keys. :)

    Something like this from Dell: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4471

    Or this from HP:
    http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3864

    I have heard some complaints about the quality of HP laptop monitors, and I am biased toward Dell.

    # August 2nd, 2008 at 2:21 am

  6. RC, unix sys-admin says:

    Good observations, Tim! I recently got a new HP laptop, but took it back (and paid the restocking fee) because I hated the keyboard layout so much. The designers only seemed to care about making a style statement with the keyboard, not about usability.

    It has the pattern Ted mentions: home/pg-up/pg-dn/end, all in a column at the right edge, which is downright annoying.

    Maybe if I look for a laptop aimed at small-business folks, it'll have been designed with usability in mind and not just abstract style concepts. The "mobile workstation laptops" Jim refers to seem way too much in hardware and price; 2 GB of memory is just fine, thanks; don't need 4.

    # August 16th, 2008 at 4:46 am

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