does the mbp keyboard take long to get used to?

[rosas]

hi, as you can see i'm a newbie in macrumors, and also i'm a newbie to mac pcs.

I'm planning to buy the next mbp when it updates, and my question is:
Looking at the keyboard it looks a little strange (the fn, cmd ctrl option etc keys on the left). taking into account that I've been using windows for + 15 yrs, will i have any trouble switching to a mac keyboard? that is, are the shortcuts somewhat similar or easy to getting used to?

thanks in advance, and if you don't understand the question say so, and i'll try to rephrase it. English is not my native language...

 

[miles01110]

taking into account that I've been using windows for + 15 yrs, will i have any trouble switching to a mac keyboard? that is, are the shortcuts somewhat similar or easy to getting used to?

It depends on how much you type and how fast you can learn. It's really not that difficult to get the hang of, as new users especially tend not to utilize the special keys very much. The rest is essentially the same as any other notebook keyboard layout.

 

[rosas]

thanks!
I do type a lot and i am quite used to my keybord that i've been using in the past 4 years +-. I noticed that photoshop uses diferent shortcuts, but since I'm not a power user of photoshop I guess i won't be seeing much of a diference.

I know this question sounds a bit absurd and futile, but if I am spending more 300€ then I would to buy a new laptop, i might as well gather a lot of information about it, such as user experience, etc. and I couldn't find any question related to the keybord experience (only thousands related to the touchpad )

 

[redsxtreme]

You'll end up falling in love with it. It's very comfortable to type on. I would suggest going down to your local apple store and giving it a try. I prefer the keyboard on the MBP to the wireless keyboard by apple.

Hope this helps!

 

[macfrik]

You'll end up falling in love with it. It's very comfortable to type on. I would suggest going down to your local apple store and giving it a try. I prefer the keyboard on the MBP to the wireless keyboard by apple.

Hope this helps!

Yes I have to agree with this one. As soon as you type on the new Apple keyboard, you'll fallin in love with it. The keyboard is rigid and solid. Before using this unibody MBP, I have the older gen of MBP and compare to that, the new Apple keyboard rocks!

 

[Collider]

I know this question sounds a bit absurd and futile, but if I am spending more 300€ then I would to buy a new laptop, i might as well gather a lot of information about it, such as user experience, etc. and I couldn't find any question related to the keybord experience (only thousands related to the touchpad )

Personally, I think it's a great question.

For me, once I got my MBP home and started playing about with it (my first , for the record), the keyboard was literally the very first thing I fell in love with (shortly followed by the trackpad). I do a LOT of typing, for work and other purposes, and within two days of getting my MBP I was infinitely more comfortably with its keyboard than I had been with my previous (HP) keyboard after eight or nine months. I can honestly say, of all the laptops I've had, I've never before gotten so comfortable with a keyboard so fast.

Literally the only thing I had trouble adjusting to was the location of " and @ (and, to a far lesser extent, the lack of #). Coming from a British keyboard layout, I've been using the @ and " keys in the opposite positions my entire computer-using life, and so it took me a couple of weeks to get used to the polarisation. That's it, however. On every other level, the keyboard learning curve (one that, again, I totally get your desire to research!) is practically nonexistent. As the above commenters have said, you'll fall in love with it.

 

[rosas]

thanks everyone!

I've just downloaded a picture of a macbook pro keyboard and zoomed in to check the layout with more detail. I understand what you say when you talk about loving the keyboard. the keys are separated, yet not too far away and they look quite solid. I had the opportunity to mess around with a mbp one week ago in a mac reseller (fnac) and it felt quite good but i did't have much time and that's why i started this topic.

I use the Portuguese layout wich is a bit different from the UK or the US layout (still QWERTY, but we use ^~ on the right side instead of other accents/keys)

as far as I can tell, the question mark, <> keys are dislocated from their usual position. although they are perhaps better located near the righ shift key (as in the mbp's keyboard)

After looking again at the image and confirming with your answers, I'm pretty sure I won't find much trouble in getting used to the keyboard. after all, i am using a terrible one (although I am used to it after 4yrs) but, let me pose another question, just by curiosity, do you find the arrow keys to small?

 

[bigaudiofanatic]

In my words no.

 

[redsxtreme]

thanks everyone!

I've just downloaded a picture of a macbook pro keyboard and zoomed in to check the layout with more detail. I understand what you say when you talk about loving the keyboard. the keys are separated, yet not too far away and they look quite solid. I had the opportunity to mess around with a mbp one week ago in a mac reseller (fnac) and it felt quite good but i did't have much time and that's why i started this topic.

I use the Portuguese layout wich is a bit different from the UK or the US layout (still QWERTY, but we use ^~ on the right side instead of other accents/keys)

as far as I can tell, the question mark, <> keys are dislocated from their usual position. although they are perhaps better located near the righ shift key (as in the mbp's keyboard)

After looking again at the image and confirming with your answers, I'm pretty sure I won't find much trouble in getting used to the keyboard. after all, i am using a terrible one (although I am used to it after 4yrs) but, let me pose another question, just by curiosity, do you find the arrow keys to small?

They are small, but what would you really use them for? The MBP has a glass track pad that allows you to scroll up and down/sideways by just using multiple fingers.

The only thing I could see you using it for is to navigate around in some code, or text. But then again with such a great track pad, why take your hand off of it?

 

[niuniu]

Some stuff is the same, or similar. So you will find a lot of it intuitive. I went from 15 years of solid PC use before switching to a Mac with no prior experience and after a couple of weeks I was fluid. Oddly enough, I took a greater interest in keyboard shortcuts when I got the Mac than I ever had done on the PC. It's really very intuitive except for the screenshotting on a MBP, which I really think could be done better.

 

[rosas]

ok. usually i only use the arrow keys to scroll left/right when I'm typing something and I want to delete something i wrote, and in windows i sometimes use them in some shortcuts (opening the start button and then scroll down to the option i want (example: shut down LOL)) or in photoshop (positioning some layers require more precision than the one my trackpad/mice has.)

but it is minor, and as redsxtreme said, the trackpad is really great and i probably wont use them as much as i do now.

 

[tomjleeds]

I use the arrow keys a lot, and find them to be of adequate size. The space above the left and right keys makes a big difference (when compared to a typical Windows laptop, where they keys just merge into the rest of the keyboard...eurgh).