Another Reason the Tablet Shall Inherit the Earth
For as long as there have been laptops, there have been complaints about keyboard and trackpad feel. A disproportionate amount of these complaints come from writers. Some of these guys will even refuse to buy certain brands of laptops just because they don’t like the feel of the keyboard.
Does anyone else see the lunacy in permanently attaching a keyboard to your screen, thereby forcing a one-size-fits-all solution? Looking at the situation from a logical point of view, it makes more sense to allow the computer user to choose the keyboard of his choice. Keyboard feel is about as personal as the temperature on your thermostat. It’s impossible for the same unit to please everyone.
Do you want lots of travel? Do you like shallow, hair-trigger feel? Do you enjoy clickity-clack feedback? If somebody made a laptop that didn’t have a keyboard permanently attached, we’d all be free to choose the keyboard that we like. We could even mix and match keyboards, depending on the situation. A big one with a ten-key pad for work at home or a small, light one for traveling.
This whole thought came to me as I was pondering why I like working on my iPad more than my MacBooks. A major reason was because I’ve settled on my favorite keyboards, and I can pick a keyboard for the occasion.
When Apple released the MacBook in 2015, their latest generation of keyboard touched off a firestorm of criticism regarding its shallow key travel. Most of the criticism was from people who weren’t the target market, so it blew over fairly quickly. But now Apple has given the MacBook Pro the similar shallow key travel. This time I don’t think it’s going to blow over as quickly.
The vociferous ones hoping to restore their relics to their former glory are actually undermining their objective. This debate helps make the case that the laptop as a form factor needs to go away. They are giving more ammunition to the proponents of doing away with laptops in general. Only they won’t realize it until it’s too late.
Do you want lots of travel? Do you like shallow, hair-trigger feel? Do you enjoy clickity-clack feedback? If somebody made a laptop that didn’t have a keyboard permanently attached, we’d all be free to choose the keyboard that we like. We could even mix and match keyboards, depending on the situation. A big one with a ten-key pad for work at home or a small, light one for traveling.
This whole thought came to me as I was pondering why I like working on my iPad more than my MacBooks. A major reason was because I’ve settled on my favorite keyboards, and I can pick a keyboard for the occasion.
When Apple released the MacBook in 2015, their latest generation of keyboard touched off a firestorm of criticism regarding its shallow key travel. Most of the criticism was from people who weren’t the target market, so it blew over fairly quickly. But now Apple has given the MacBook Pro the similar shallow key travel. This time I don’t think it’s going to blow over as quickly.
The vociferous ones hoping to restore their relics to their former glory are actually undermining their objective. This debate helps make the case that the laptop as a form factor needs to go away. They are giving more ammunition to the proponents of doing away with laptops in general. Only they won’t realize it until it’s too late.
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