Okay, so I am not usually a grouch. I'm not usually someone who complains about change, but I recently had the pleasure of shopping for a new laptop. My wife had a 3-year-old HP laptop. It seemed to be working fine until about a month ago when the computer started acting up. Fortunately, we have multiple backups of all important files. When the computer finally gave up the ghost, we went shopping for a new one. We checked out all the usual suspects - HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, ASUS, etc. - and multiple stores - Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, etc. I wanted my wife to see the different options in person, and she fell in love with the screen on a Gateway.

While shopping, we noticed a trend to include a dedicated numeric keypad as part of the laptop keyboard. I would imagine this is due to the form factor of widescreen LCDs in newer laptops. In any case, we got the laptop from Amazon (model # NV5936u) and my wife loved the look, feel, and performance. There was an issue with the WiFi receiver (more on that in a future article, perhaps). But the numeric keypad - I mean, I get it that numpads are useful. They have a purpose when working with financial data and numbers, but my issue is how it changes my interface to the computer. After two weeks, neither my wife nor I got used to the off-set alignment of the regular keys. Her old HP and my existing laptop don't have numpads and what they did is slightly move the rest of the keys over to the left in order to support the addition of the extra keys. Eventually, we returned the Gateway (due to the WiFi issue I mentioned above, not the keyboard).

We went back looking for another laptop and decided on an HP G62-144DX. No numpad. Lighter weight. My wife likes this one even more (she's not picky). However, even thought there isn't a numpad, HP added five buttons along the left side, below ESC. These keys act as hotkeys for email, DVD playback, opening the internet browser, printing, and accessing the calculator. Aside from the dubiousness of someone else deciding what five functions I want hotkeys for, it also happens that these keys are in such a position that it fouls up my ability to type. I am a touch typist, and as such, I use the keyboard by feel alone. The fact that there are extra keys to the left of the ones I use, like Ctrl and Tab, means I hit a wrong key at least once every 10-30 minutes. It doesn't happen so much while I'm actively typing an article like this because my fingers tend to stay exactly on the home keys, but when I am browsing the web, I will accidentally bring up the DVD program or the calculator quite often. It's a pain.

So my question is why are computer makers doing this? I think in large part it is simply the old clichéd answer: Because they can. As laptops have become so much of a commodity, I think it gives them a way to differentiate theirs from the competition. I also think that since the netbook segment was created, manufacturers are looking for more ways to separate a full-sized laptop from a netbook. By having hotkeys and numpads, it gives manufacturers more check boxes for their marketing crap. It helps them justify the price difference between a netbook and a laptop in a physical way that consumers can actually see, as compared to just differences in specs that most people don't care about. The problem is it messes up the fundamental way I interact with a computer.

Now if you read my rant to this point, you might think I don't like innovation, or I'm averse to making changes (even ones that might improve the ultimate user experience). I say nay. Here is what I would propose: First, don't worry about a dedicated numpad. At least not with anything under 17". We're talking about a laptop, after all, and I know many people use one as their primary computer (so do I), but if one needs to work on spreadsheets, financial documents, etc., then one probably has the ability to use an external keyboard and numpad. I know several nice wireless numpads that are portable and can easily be used alongside a standard keyboard (including one in a laptop). Second, if you're going to give me hotkeys, at least make them programmable. I'm pretty sure there's a way to reassign them, but the point is HP should have included an easy way to do it. Third, the hotkeys should be up top. There's plenty of room, especially with widescreen format, to include extra buttons along the top. They even look cool - the smooth capacitive bars with LEDs under them for things like mute, WiFi, etc. Use that space for your marketing buttons. Bottom line, until some other primary interface is developed, don't mess with my keyboard!