Comments on: Typing test: Bigger keyboards aren’t always better

By: Weekly News Digest for August 24th | UMPCPortal - Ultra Mobile Personal Computing

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:01:12 +0000

[...] Typing test: Bigger keyboards aren’t always better I concur. The Gigabyte Touchnote keyboard is good. There’s a slight rattle to it (on my [...]

By: wanorris

wanorris — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:42:29 +0000

Ooo, nifty. I'll try that out tonight.

By: TrackSmart

TrackSmart — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:12:56 +0000

No keys needed for Forward/Back on the Acer 751!

Swipe two fingers left or right to go backward or forward! That's assuming you have drivers that will work on your operating system (they work on XP and Vista). I love that feature.

By: wanorris

wanorris — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:42:29 +0000

Ooo, nifty. I'll try that out tonight.

By: TrackSmart

TrackSmart — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:12:56 +0000

No keys needed for Forward/Back on the Acer 751!

Swipe two fingers left or right to go backward or forward! That's assuming you have drivers that will work on your operating system (they work on XP and Vista). I love that feature.

By: DougC3

DougC3 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:16:10 +0000

I feel that way too. I prefer contoured keys, like those on the ThinkPad, but I seem to be able to type pretty well on the chiclet-keyed Eee 1000HE. i suppose I'll just have to try out the test.

By: Netbook keyboards compared. Is bigger better? | Netbook Review UK - Netbook Reviews, Compare Netbooks and Netbook News

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:35:16 +0000

[...] are Liliputing’s full results: Samsung [...]

By: marklarson

marklarson — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:08:30 +0000

Funny story – I was just thinking about this the other day. I like typing on my NC10 way better than on my g/f's Gateway LT3103u, and she echoes that sentiment.

I'm afraid that flat, featureless keys are just another “looks good, performs worse” things we seem to be getting in laptops, like glossy displays and 16:9 screens.

By: Taxman45

Taxman45 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:06:57 +0000

Great article, Brad. I like the way you are highlighting usability differences among netbooks that are otherwise spec'd pretty similarly. As for the typing test, I was surprised to discover I'm about 60 WPM on either my Asus 901 (whosee keyboard I hate) and my MacBook Air with a nice roomy keyboard. I was seriously thinking about getting a 10″ netbook just to get a less cramped keyboard. After reading this article and taking the typing test, I'm no longer sure I should bother.

By: wanorris

wanorris — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:16:33 +0000

A few years back, I decided to learn emacs over vi, because having a lisp VM down to the core sounded pretty awesome. (In fact, it totally is -- emacs is great.)

But I'm still completely unimpressed with the emacs keybindings, and I finally admitted I hated them and rebound a ton of them, mostly based on CUA, but with a bunch of overridden Ctrl-key bindings for stuff I use all the time, like next window.

Meanwhile, so many people swear by the vi bindings that I think I've about decided to give in to the inevitable, and retrain myself to use them. Especially since you can get vi bindings for nearly everything (emacs, of course, is an easy one).

Maybe I'll go ahead and tackle that when I've finished getting the netbook set up.

By: JimM

JimM — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:33:08 +0000

It's /always/ time to learn vi keybindings. I recommend starting with a tutorial, like nethack. Then move to an advanced tutorial, like bash.

By: retiredinOhio

retiredinOhio — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:35:34 +0000

Probably I am typical in that I use a computer to “compose” and not to take dictation. My brain is sometimes quick, usually slower than I can type. By the way, I was kicked out of high school typing class because the teacher was afraid that would hurt my GPA.

By: wanorris

wanorris — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:15:05 +0000

My primary computer for the last few years has been one or another ThinkPad, so even full-size keyboards seem like a step down. But I'm adjusting ok to the 751 so far. The thing that drives me crazy is the weird placement of page up/down, home, and end. Well, and the lack of the dedicated buttons for browser forward and back.

Maybe it's time to learn vi keybindings.

By: true

true — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:57:55 +0000

Using the same testing method as you (TypingTest.com), I am getting about 125wpm QWERTY over various mini keyboards and notebook keyboards.

I wonder what I would get on a Vaio P?

By: Mikez

Mikez — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:35:29 +0000

Give us a real-world calibration run – -
Drag out that old IBM Selectric-II and use your speed on that as the baseline.