Follow us on TwitterWhenever I try to do any serious touch typing with my Eee PC 4G Surf, I get frustrated. Of course the keyboard is small, I can adjust to that. I just can’t adapt to the half-sized right shift key.
The problem is created when the netbook manufacturers cut the right shift key in half to make room for the up-arrow (as you can see in the picture below).
Everytime that I’m zipping along, thinking that I’m making time, I look up to find that my work of art has become all higgledy-piggledy. Somewhere along the way, I up-arrowed when I thought I was shifting. I have to undo-undo-undo, until I (once again) have a legible document. Then, I have to try to remember all those wonderfully intelligent thoughts that I had captured earlier.
It’s not just the Eee PC 4G Surf’s that have this style keyboard. Many netbooks do.
For these netbooks, just about every review complains about this arrangement. I thought that the netbook makers would listen. Apparently, not yet.
All of the Asus Eee PCs are this way, even the 10″ Eee PC 1000 series. The new Lenovo IdeaPad S9 and S10 models have half-sized right shift keys, too. And if the leaked Dell mini pictures are accurate, then Dell blew it as well.
At least Acer and MSI did not simply mimic Asus. They apparently were listening. Both the Aspire One and the Wind sport full-sized shift keys.
A full-sized right shift key is an absolute must for my next netbook. I didn’t have many choices when I bought my first one. But I sure do now.
I believe that I’m not alone. Netbook makers, are you listening???
