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by killjoywashere 2562 days ago
you should try the old ThinkPad keyboards, like the X201. So nice.

For the MacBook, if they had a version with a physical escape key, I'd be fine. Just make it a little shorter. It will be okay. I promise.

3 comments

I remapped capslock to esc and never looked back. In fact, I’ve gotten so used to it that I remap “normal” keyboards too. I use esc way more often than I’d ever use capslock, so having it at the pinky is perfect.
Yup, some years ago I used vim a lot on macOS and did the same. This was sooo much more practical than the escape key in the upper left.

> I use esc way more often than I’d ever use capslock, so having it at the pinky is perfect.

I think every 2 years I have a proper use case for it ;)

I remap capslock to "Super" (the logo key), which makes it much easier to invoke keyboard shortcuts like Super-L (lock screen), Super-left/right/up/down (left-maximize, right-maximize, full-maximize, restore), and Super-F (fullscreen).
I remapped that way, and had to go back.

I work on a lot of different computers in a week, and some of them aren't mine, so it's more useful for me to stick to the default map instead of getting things wrong on half of the machines.

This thread reminds me of using Dvorak back in 1999. Sure it may be better, it may even be faster.. but what happens in 20 years when I’m the only sucker using that layout? Take my own keyboard everywhere?
Even though I have a 2017 MBP 13" with the Escape key, I still use Ctrl-[ to change modes in Vim. I'm not a fan of the Touch Bar, but it probably wouldn't interfere with my Vim workflow.
Do you find changing modes with ctrl-[ superior to changing modes with caps lock key that has been remapped to Escape?
I do, but not because there's anything wrong with that remapping. It's that I already have Caps Lock mapped to Ctrl/Command, as in UNIX or Sun workstation keyboard style. So, when I press `Ctrl-[` only my right pinky leaves the home row, and it's hardly much of a move, since the `[` key is above and to the right of `;`.
Holy Crap! Thank you, I never use capslock and now I never will! Still vote to add a physical key in the top left.... please....
Hmmmm I appear to have deleted my comment by mistake.

Unsure which was the first I ever tried, ~20 years ago I used my uncle's ThinkPad but I don't recall the model.

I tried someone elses ThinkPad and was like "Wow this is nice to type on" so while in Taiwan I went to the Lenovo store and looked at the laptops. Ended up buying a ThinkPad X1 Extreme and I love it. Best laptop I've owned.

The Lenovo Legion series tho, the keyboard isn't as good as the ThinkPad.

I still have a T420 for the keyboard and have no plans of leaving it.
Yeah the keyboard is nice, but the full-click trackpad is a rackety piece of crap.

Have to use a mouse on mine as the trackpad click switch has so much travel that I’ve accidentally moved the pointer off the thing I wanted to click on by the time it reaches the bottom. Tried using tap to click and fiddling with the settings, but on Linux it’s temperamental.

The track-pad is small enough for me not to be a problem typing (it is small, compared to Macs especially), and have never used the nipple for anything serious, and have a mouse. But the keyboard.. simply the best.