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Would a Spanish keyboard be that very different to use ... ???

M

McNut

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 24, 2010
9
0
London
HELP please ?? :eek:) ... I have an opportunity for a pretty good deal on a second-hand Macbook Pro. However the keyboard is (unfortunately ??) in Spanish. ... So I'm hoping "you guys" might tell me if typing on a Spanish keyboard would prove really that different and troublesome for someone used to an English/USA/Standard keyboard ???
Are there really that many differences beyond the obvious few extra alphabet keys ? Or do the differences "run much deeper" ?? ... Or might it rather be quite easy to just quickly adapt ?? (Or not even notice if you never, or hardly ever, use the extra keys ???)

Or another worry : would certain software (i.e. ones that might use extensive "key combinations") prove problematic (or even impossible ?) to use on a Spanish keyboard due to "hidden" changes ???

Lastly, does anyone perhaps know how many keys exactly I would need to change/swap in order to change it into a standard keyboard ??? (And could that even be an easy (cheaper !?) viable option ??? ... Or would it rather just easily "add up" to too much, in which case I might as well just "fork out" to have it swapped over "from scratch" instead ??? ... (In which case it might not prove to be that good a deal after all ??? :rolleyes:)

~ Thanking you all in advance for any help/tips/info/advice !!! :eek:)
 
McNut said:
HELP please ?? :eek:) ... I have an opportunity for a pretty good deal on a second-hand Macbook Pro. However the keyboard is (unfortunately ??) in Spanish. ... So I'm hoping "you guys" might tell me if typing on a Spanish keyboard would prove really that different and troublesome for someone used to an English/USA/Standard keyboard ???
Are there really that many differences beyond the obvious few extra alphabet keys ? Or do the differences "run much deeper" ?? ... Or might it rather be quite easy to just quickly adapt ?? (Or not even notice if you never, or hardly ever, use the extra keys ???)

Or another worry : would certain software (i.e. ones that might use extensive "key combinations") prove problematic (or even impossible ?) to use on a Spanish keyboard due to "hidden" changes ???

Lastly, does anyone perhaps know how many keys exactly I would need to change/swap in order to change it into a standard keyboard ??? (And could that even be an easy (cheaper !?) viable option ??? ... Or would it rather just easily "add up" to too much, in which case I might as well just "fork out" to have it swapped over "from scratch" instead ??? ... (In which case it might not prove to be that good a deal after all ??? :rolleyes:)

~ Thanking you all in advance for any help/tips/info/advice !!! :eek:)
Click to expand...

System Preferences -> Language and Text -> Input sources -> Add spanish keyboard, put keyboard viewer into the menu.

Switch to spanish keyboard, select keyboard viewer, look for yourself.
 
Edit: Basically what he's advising ^ just change to US keyboard when you buy it

In system preferences you could change it so that while they keyboard physically would be Spanish they keys'd actually correspond to the US layout.

I used to do it the other way around when I was writing in Spanish for university, if you can touch type you'll never have to notice it's a Spanish keyboard.

I used to change it to a German layout as well - your mind adapts quite quickly to the different layouts, I didn't even notice that they keys I was pressing were actually in the UK English layout after the first few times. If it's a good price you'd be just as well making the computer act like it's a US keyboard and just forgetting the Spanish is there at all.

If you don't want to do that - well, it is a bit of a pain using a foreign keyboard for English tbh, If you've ever been in an internet cafe in a foreign country looking desperately for the @ symbol you'll get what I mean. The Spanish one isn't miles away, but it's still a pain. You'd get used to it but I think it's easier just to change the layout.
 
Here is a standard US layout:

400px-KB_United_States_Dvorak.svg.png


Here is a Spanish layout:

400px-KB_Spanish.svg.png


The differences are minimal. My machine has a Swiss French layout but I'm using the US settings. It's not that different, although if you look down to find a key you might not see it.
 
Thank you !

Thank you all above, for all your replies and help ! ... And so sorry for the very (rude !) tardy reply. But I'm afraid that my trusty ol' powerbook finally died on me a couple of days after posting this thread. So I haven't really had convenient web access till now. ... (How was that for timing ! Giving up on me just when I was thinking of giving up on it (LOL) ... Mind you, I really can't complain for my powerbook lasted me an entire massive 9 years without giving me a days trouble of any sort whatsoever. Pretty damned amazing and most impressive ! ~ I wonder if my new macbook pro will be just as reliable and long lived !??

So I did finally go with the Spanish keyboard, and am happy to say that I'm adjusting to it pretty well. Have hardly noticed the difference at all actually. ... So once again, thank you very much !
 
i can only give you my experience....

as there are no other keyboards availabe in panama but latin american spanish i bought one for my mac-mini which is set up in german. it is a nightmare as everything is different. i spent days trying to change and could not do it. i now have to remember where the keys are i need, even the at-sign does not work anywhere - so i always copy pate.

i will never go for a no-matching keyboard any more - i am desperate and even people who knew more than me could not find a solution

McNut said:
HELP please ?? :eek:) ... I have an opportunity for a pretty good deal on a second-hand Macbook Pro. However the keyboard is (unfortunately ??) in Spanish. ... So I'm hoping "you guys" might tell me if typing on a Spanish keyboard would prove really that different and troublesome for someone used to an English/USA/Standard keyboard ???
Are there really that many differences beyond the obvious few extra alphabet keys ? Or do the differences "run much deeper" ?? ... Or might it rather be quite easy to just quickly adapt ?? (Or not even notice if you never, or hardly ever, use the extra keys ???)

Or another worry : would certain software (i.e. ones that might use extensive "key combinations") prove problematic (or even impossible ?) to use on a Spanish keyboard due to "hidden" changes ???

Lastly, does anyone perhaps know how many keys exactly I would need to change/swap in order to change it into a standard keyboard ??? (And could that even be an easy (cheaper !?) viable option ??? ... Or would it rather just easily "add up" to too much, in which case I might as well just "fork out" to have it swapped over "from scratch" instead ??? ... (In which case it might not prove to be that good a deal after all ??? :rolleyes:)

~ Thanking you all in advance for any help/tips/info/advice !!! :eek:)
Click to expand...
 
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