Japanese keyboard / MacOSX / English Vista / English AdobeCS3 (win)

[ndstrenge]

I'm contemplating a MBP when released. (if )

Being in Japan, I'm contemplating buying here for family friendliness (vs ordering from the U.S.) I'm not actually fluent in Japanese and rarely type in 日本語. However, being as my Japanese wife runs a mac, I'd like to build a Mac household.

My current software (Adobe CS3 & Lectora) is for Windows, hence my need for Vista, and is an English version (thank god).

Does anybody predict any keyboard issues if I install an English version of Vista, CS3, Lectora via BootCamp on a Japanese machine?

I often use my wife's mac for internet surfing by switching the language of the interface and don't predict any issues on my mac side... but I'm wondering if I'm setting myself up for disaster with the keyboard... or if the machine won't know the difference when in windows mode.

English and Japanese/English keyboards are laid out slightly differently.

Any multi-linguals out there?

 

[beg_ne]

I don't have any specific information regarding Windows having issues with the keyboard.

One thing to consider is the cost of the machine. It seems like if you buy from Apple the price could be a couple hundred dollars more expensive than if you bought it from an american store and had it shipped to Japan.

Although currently Amazon.jp does have the MB and MBP at slightly lower prices which looks to bring them ~$100 within their US Prices.


If you did happen to buy from the US then you would have the US keyboard(if that did turn out to be any kind of issue) and you could buy an external keyboard in Japan that would have the japanese key layout for your wife. You could also do the opposite and buy the Japanese Mac and have a US keyboard sent to you.

 

[ndstrenge]

duuuuh...

I guess I'm so stuck in my ways of loving laptop keyboards that I didn't even think of buying an external one for her.

Yeah, I guess I will be ordering from the states then. Hopefully, I won't have any hardware issues that forces an exchange.

cheers for turning on my light.

 

[macrem]

I wouldn't worry about trying what you're thinking. Japanese keyboards support romanji (ascii) characters in qwerty layout & using Windows from a Mac keyboard is easy IMO. Combining both of these foreign elements together at once might steepen the learning curve a bit.

Language support in OS X is top! Japanese, English and many, many other languages are standard OOTB. You can switch languages on the fly simply by dragging the language you want to use to the top of a list. Really cool! Documentation suggests logging back in; however, without even logging off OS X apps opened after will be in the selected language and Finder can be restarted without logging off. Input Method keys are slightly different. Like shortcuts, it is intuitive on Macs.

In Windows, if you do (however it works) manage to get other language packs, you have to reboot the OS when switching! and one user's language options might affect other users. As I recall, if one user configures Windows to support the Japanese Input Method, then all users will see the yen symbol "¥" instead of the backslash "\" in file paths (e.g., C:¥Program Files¥fubar)

All that said, I'd suggest giving OS X native apps a try before bothering with Windows on a Mac.

こにちわ！

 

[ndstrenge]

I wouldn't worry about trying what you're thinking. Japanese keyboards support romanji (ascii) characters in qwerty layout & using Windows from a Mac keyboard is easy IMO. Combining both of these foreign elements together at once might steepen the learning curve a bit.

Language support in OS X is top! Japanese, English and many, many other languages are standard OOTB. You can switch languages on the fly simply by dragging the language you want to use to the top of a list. Really cool! Documentation suggests logging back in; however, without even logging off OS X apps opened after will be in the selected language and Finder can be restarted without logging off. Input Method keys are slightly different. Like shortcuts, it is intuitive on Macs.

In Windows, if you do (however it works) manage to get other language packs, you have to reboot the OS when switching! and one user's language options might affect other users. As I recall, if one user configures Windows to support the Japanese Input Method, then all users will see the yen symbol "¥" instead of the backslash "\" in file paths (e.g., C:¥Program Files¥fubar)

All that said, I'd suggest giving OS X native apps a try before bothering with Windows on a Mac.

こにちわ！

Perhaps I didn't explain myself very well.

I have a Japanese mac. I know how to change languages inside OSX. My concern is using English software with a japanese keyboard when inside English Windows.

My authoring software cost 3000$ and a mac version does not exist. (Trivantis Lectora) Nor would I consider rebuying it anyway.

English and Japanese keyboards have different layouts, slightly anyway.

I'm concerned about my English software and Windows not accurately communicating with my key strokes.

I think the answer is above... buy an external Japanese keyboard for when needed.

有難う

 

[macrem]

Perhaps I didn't explain myself very well.

[...]

I think the answer is above... buy an external Japanese keyboard for when needed.

有難う

Hi. Maybe I am confused, but I think you mean an English Windows keyboard.

I think my point still stands: I wouldn't worry, you should be fine with the Japanese Mac keyboard. I agree getting an external keyboard is also a good alternative if the differences are bothersome. Personally I'd try the laptop's built-in keyboard before assuming an external keyboard is needed.

 

[ndstrenge]

Hi. Maybe I am confused, but I think you mean an English Windows keyboard.

I think my point still stands: I wouldn't worry, you should be fine with the Japanese Mac keyboard. I agree getting an external keyboard is also a good alternative if the differences are bothersome. Personally I'd try the laptop's built-in keyboard before assuming an external keyboard is needed.

Oh.. I got ya. Yeah, I wasn't so worried about the windows vs mac, just the Japanese vs English. the learning curve for these keys- !@#$%^&*()_+{}[]:;"'<>?/ is presenting itself as a potential nightmare as I don't know if they'll be the same when in English Windows apps. Not to mention some of those keys don't even exist on Japanese keyboards.