I've now bought 2 MBPs. Both have US keyboards. Why?

[ying yang]

I'm not annoyed about this I'm just confused. A few years ago I bought a MBP, and about a month or so afterwards I noticed that the keyboard has an American layout. This struck me as odd but I just figured I'd screwed up while ordering and left it at that. The difference is minimal and doesn't bother me. Today I got a new MBP and it has the same layout. I know for a fact this time that I bought it from the Irish Apple store and I ordered the British layout. Is there a logical reason for this mistake to have happened twice? Again, I'm not annoyed just baffled.

 

[SchneiderMan]

whats so different about the british layout then the english?

 

[koobcamuk]

Take a photo if you can. What do you mean American Layout? They're the almost the same for macs - the return key is a different shape and a couple of the buttons are a little different.

Very different to Windows layout though.

UK return is huge - US one is just one key in 'height' and two in 'width'.

 

[masse]

Probably symbols for pounds and euros and a couple of accented letters.

 

[koobcamuk]

whats so different about the british layout then the english?

English is British.

American is not English; it's the hybrid language called "American".

I think it doesn't include "u"....

colour
rumour
favourite
humour
...ad infinatum

British (real English):

American style (but with other characters) - note the RETURN key (enter):

 

[ying yang]

I can't remember all the differences but the @ symbol is in a different place on British ones. It's over near the enter key rather than on the 2 key.

Very different to Windows layout though.

That's what I'm comparing to: my Windows PC at work. So it's meant to be different?

I've just noticed something else. The keyboard on the box is a little different than the keyboard on the actual notebook. On the box it has the keyboard with all the full wording on the buttons (control, option, command etc.) but the keyboard on the actual Mac is the older one without those words and with a totally different enter key (different shape). I just freaked out thinking I'd gotten an older Mac without multitouch but thankfully that is on it. So why is the keyboard different from it's own box?

EDIT:

http://www.thebookyard.com/images/pb12kb.jpg

This is the keyboard it has.

 

[72930]

I can't remember all the differences but the @ symbol is in a different place on British ones. It's over near the enter key rather than on the 2 key.

On all non-Apple computers only. Its quite annoying for switchers.

 

[ying yang]

Oh right. So is the keyboard meant to look different too, with the different enter key etc.? I kinda liked the big spelled out button titles since I always have to think a second before knowing which is command and which is option.

 

[ying yang]

English is British.

American is not English; it's the hybrid language called "American".

I think it doesn't include "u"....

colour
rumour
favourite
humour
...ad infinatum

British (real English):

American style (but with other characters) - note the RETURN key (enter):

Oh OK. So I do have the right keyboard. The British one you posted there is the one I have. The US one is more like what's on the box. Weird. Pity it's not on the actual notebook too, I kinda liked that one.

 

[nick9191]

English is British.

Cue 6 million angry Scotsmen.

Yes the main difference is the large return key on the British keyboard. On British PC keyboards the @ is over by the enter, but not on British Macs, in which its in the same location as the @ on American keyboards.

And we also have £ = shift + 3 and $ = shift + 4.

 

[alphaod]

And we also have £ = shift + 3 and $ = shift + 4.

Well on US keyboard:

$ = Shift + 4
£ = Option + 3

 

[ying yang]

I should've asked this 2 years ago. It clears up so much.

Thanks a lot everybody.