Numpad on Laptop – Stupid trend

I totally understand that there are occassions where one may require a numpad on their laptop for a number of tasks, including accounting or while writing french, but not all of us are accountants, neither we’re all french!

My macbook is old now and I want to upgrade, however I wanted to go for a non apple notebook this time but I’ve been trying to find a decent laptop without a numpad for weeks now!

Note that I’m talking about 15 inches plus laptops, the ones with lesser screen size automatically don’t have enough space available for the numpad to be installed!

Laptops without Number pad

First of all, one of the best things about Apple is their ergonomic keypad! The keyboard keys and the trackpad is not only amazing in itself but also nicely placed. I simply can’t find a suitable laptop to continue having the same feel that I’ve developed with macbook over years!

All the laptops developed by Apple lack the number pad. Checkout these for example:

Now the question may arise, why am I not going for macbook again? well because it’s costly! I was wondering if I could replace it with a cheaper one, someone might have opted to be user friendly and decided to provide nice laptops to the consumer too like apple in past years, but I was disappointed!

Well there are other companies that provide decent and without numpad laptops too, like lenovo. Some companies provide both with and without numpad keypads laptops too, however it’s really hard to find the required specification with this design! really a great pain!

Benefits of numpad on laptop

Numpad on a laptop isn’t always an evil! Sometimes it’s a very useful addition to a lot of people including accountants and also some gamers (I don’t know which games they would like to play using the numpad specifically, but anyway!).

The benefits of numpad on laptop like hp, dell, etc. include:

• easier numerals entry for accountants and bankers for example
• easier calculations

That’s it! well for accountants, when they have to do a lot of calculations and inputs with numerals, they’re mostly static and can do that pretty well using an attached keyboard with numpad or only a numpad too! Why stick the whole numpad in the laptop design itself?

Disadvantages of numpad on laptop keypad

Now coming to the disadvantages. There are a lot! including:

• not at all comfortable for typing, you constantly have to keep your palms and arms twisted to the side, including keeping your laptop off balance and off center
• more moving parts
• more dust entry
• useless for most people

Type faster without numpad

Now some people may argue that they do need a numpad for a lot of activities. Well if they need to enter numerals, there’s a nice line of numbers on querty keypad too. While learning how to type, don’t skip the last lessons that teach you how to use your fingers to type the numerals too. In fact that way you will have 8 fingers to enter the number, not just 4 (of one hand), enhancing the speed further!

What’s your opinion about having a numpad on laptop or not to have it? Which one do you use and prefer?

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