New MacBook Pro - keyboard changes

Thu, 28 February 2008

We were all expecting hoping that Apple was going to release a redesigned MacBook Pro this month, however the February update is barely worth mentioning. Apart from the faster processor, more video memory in base model and larger hard drive (yay!), the only visible difference is the keyboard.

No, it’s not the MacBook Air / MacBook style keyboard, I would hate to see that in MBP, it’s the same good old keyboard but it’s been slightly reshuffled. The numeric keypad is gone, the F6 key doesn’t have a “NumLock” label, and the letters U, I, O and so on, don’t have any numerical labels either. The top row F-keys now have the media labels just like the iMac keyboard, and the Command key is now labelled with the word Command.

keyboard.jpg
Image source www.switchtoamac.com
One thing I hate to see is that the enter key (next to the right command key) has been replaced with the Option/Alt key. This is why I hate it; In iPhoto, when I do the batch change to multiple images (Cmd-Shift-B), and I add a title or a comment to an image, one easy way to confirm and close the dialogue box is to hit Cmd-Enter. They are next to each other, just to the right of the space bar. Now I have to reach for the mouse and click OK. Doing it once or twice is not a big deal, but I use this a lot. No, the ‘Return’ key doesn’t help in this case, thanks for asking.

The new MacBook Pro comes with the Multi-touch trackpad, however the trackpad size remains the same, which is somewhat disappointing considering the beauty of the MacBook Air trackpad.

The new MacBook Pro also doesn’t include any Apple Remote, it’s the extra $19 that you have to fork out for this thingy. After disappointment with the iPod touch $20 update, once has to wonder if Apple is really getting desperate for an extra buck or two. Sigh …

Stumble it!

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Category Posted in Hardware, Mac

3 Responses to “New MacBook Pro - keyboard changes”

  1. Enrico said: Fri, 29 February 2008 at 02:18

    I guess the Enter key could be remapped with some tool… I don’t remember which was the useful software which can do that… maybe quickkeys?

    I didn’t know about the command-enter combination. Thanks for the hint.

    Have you tried to enable the “System Prefs/ Keyboard & Mouse / Keyboard shortcuts / Full keyboard access : All Controls” button? With this setting, when a panel with three buttons appears, you’ll have the “ok” button (blue) which you can choose with “return”, the “cancel” button which you can choose with “esc” and the third button, whatever it is, which will show a blue halo just around, which you can confirm with the space bar.
    Try it, it’s a very good and fast way to work. I too hate to use the mouse for the confirmation panels. It’s so… interrupting! :)

  2. Meghan said: Fri, 29 February 2008 at 04:19

    I have to say that I am not familiar with the “Cmd-Shit-B” key combination and I don’t think that I want to be doing it at my desk. :)

  3. james said: Mon, 10 March 2008 at 06:52

    i’m no expert, but wouldn’t command-option-enter work in this case?

    command starts the same process as the prev keyboard shortcut, option modifies the return key to be the enter key, as indicated by the superscript on the physical key, and then you hit enter…..does this work? i realize it’s one more key, but it keeps you from grabbing for the mouse. i’d be interested to know. :)
    keep up the great blogging…love the site! :)

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