Digging out my old 13” university laptop from +10 years ago. Check out how they’ve implemented a numpad with the Fn key:
Blue letters on the RHS of the keyboard:
That’s pretty smart IMO. Having a numpad on homerow is pretty slick. I’ve done no deep diving into how the input controller works on the 13” laptop, anyone here have any hands on experience to comment how this might be implemented?
No hands on but the keyboard on the 13 is handled by the embedded controller (I am pretty sure) and that is open source so you could probably implement that if you wanted to.
It is pretty slick, but I remember using something similar long ago. Since the numbers ar offset, it was harder for me to get accurate data entry.
full size external keyboard for me, when I am entering numbers.
This used to be pretty standard, IIR, though it’s been 10 years since I’ve found a laptop with such an embedded numberpad. Not having one used to be an absolute deal breaker for me, but now they’re impossible to find.
I check back here every so often, hoping there’s a new keyboard available. I’d replace mine in a heartbeat. Using windows utilities (vs. ALT codes) when you’re working in multiple languages is clunky at best, and banking/taxes would take half the time with this feature. (No space on my tiny desk for an external numpad.)
Is it as good as a separate keyboard numpad? No, but it fits on a small laptop without taking extra space, so why NOT offer it??
