MBP Keyboard

[Gnom3]

How do you PC converts deal with the switch to the MBP keyboard? I can't imagine life without my home and end keys. Do the Mac equivalent shortcuts (fn+left arrow and fn+right arrow) work exactly the same? What about if want to position my cursor at the end of a line and select the entire line? I windows I would press shift+home/end. Has anyone found the switch easy or more difficult that it's worth?

I've gotten over the idea of paying for Apple Tax.
I'm at ease with the level of gaming available to the updated MBPs.
If I could just get over the keyboard, I think I'd buy one on my way home tonight. heh

Thanks in advance for any constructive responses...

 

[TiberiusXavier]

The keyboard layout is as peculiar as any laptop's mini keyboard. The keybindings for delete/backspace, line/word/page navigation are different. Many operations use the command button versus the control button. Despite the simplicity touted, it took time to get acclimated to the new keys.

You can easily use an external keyboard for heavy usage. I favor my Sun keyboard for serious coding needs. The distinctly nice feature of the MBP is the multitouch trackpad though. Going to a simple mouse (or magic mouse) just falls short of anything else around.

 

[MCIowaRulz]

On a related note I'm looking at either the 15inch or the 17 inch but am concerned about the length from the base to the keyboard as due to the size it is higher up and it might be difficult for me to reach and use for typing as I have Cerebral Palsy. Could i see a 17 inch picture of the keyboard as all Apple has in the 15inch
http://images.apple.com/macbookpro/images/overview-gallery2-20090828.png
Does anyone have CP on this board that uses a MacBook Pro? This is my first Mac Laptop. I currently have a Dell 16 inch XPS Laptop
Thanks

 

[miketwo]

Gnom3,

Command-LeftArrow and Command-RightArrow get you to the beginning and end of a line, respectively. To highlight a line of text, you begin by doing Command-LeftArrow (or Right), hold then Shift, and then do Command-RightArrow (or Left).

One thing I never got over was Fn-Backspace to forward-delete, since there's no dedicated forward-delete key on mac laptop keyboards. There's a program called KeyRemap4MacBook that allows you to remap certain keys. Personally, I remapped the Right-Option key as forward-delete.