Mac Keyboard

[Luc1300]

Hi,
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, but no other category seemed appropriate.

I don't have a mac but will be getting it soon. I am French but I live in Ireland. I have always used AZERTY keyboards and got used to them. I also only used PC keyboards. I don't know which keyboard I'm gonna get installed on my macbook, an AZERTY which I'm used to or a QWERTY keyboard which I'll have to get used to because all computers here are QWERTY, in school or at work.

Which one should I get? And any tips on how to switch from a PC AZERTY to a Mac QWERTY

 

[Pakaku]

http://store.apple.com/us/question/...azerty-or-a-qwerty-keyboard/QX2YHTY2FDYXAFYXF

So if you order from Apple's Ireland website, and select "French" as your language, it should pick an AZERTY layout for you.

 

[Luc1300]

Thanks, but my question is which one should I choose? I'll spend most of my time in English speaking countries and school/businesses all use QWERTY. I however can type without looking on an AZERTY keyboard. I'll get use to QWERTY anyway (I switched my phone and iPod to QWERTY recently actually)

Is there a way to transition from both? Like tips and tricks about the QWERTY macintosh keyboard? Maybe like software they give to kids to learn how to type or something?

And is there anything I need to know before making the transition to mac from PC keyboard wise?

Thanks again

 

[arjen92]

If you're working on your macbook solely, I would stick to AZERTY.

But if you need to keep switching to computers (at school or work), I would entirely switch to QWERTY. You want to just type, not think about which keyboard it is and then type. Although you might become quite good at realizing on what keyboard you're working and switching your brain, the few times you don't would drive me mad.

If your computer's AZERTY keyboard is USB, you can just attach it to the macbook when working at home.

You might already know this, but most shortcuts on the mac are the same on windows. Except everything that's done with CTRL in windows should be done with the Command key on the mac.

So [CTRL-v] becomes [Command-v]. Right clicking is done by tapping with two fingers on the trackpad, but can also be done by holding Control (CTRL) and then tapping.

Something I really like is using shortcuts. Whenever you use the menu to execute a command (e.g. print), look at the rightside of the menu to see the shortcut and try to use that next time (command-p). It speeds things up, and most command are the same for different programs. For example preferences are always Command-,

One I find really useful is Command-q. You probably would click the red button (which only closes the window, it doesn't shut down the program) while Command-q doesn't require you to move your mouse and shuts the program down, instead of just closing the windows (just closing the windows can be done with Command-w).

 

[Luc1300]

Thank you for this reply.

I think I will get my macbook with the QWERTY keyboard, because each time I use the computers in school, I get mad when I type Q instead of A. People never understand why I get mad, as they don't realize that there are different keyboards. I just wanted to be sure about the keyboard I'm getting because it's an expensive computer and I don't want to regret it.

I'll probably get myself a magic-keyboard/mouse (or trackpad) for when I'm working on a monitor, so I could get it AZERTY.

What's left for me to do is learn how to make accents and other French messed-up letters on a QWERTY sand get used to key locations. I think I have an old QWERTY PC keyboard which I could plug in into my current computer to try it out.

Thanks