[kryogen1c]

> weird keyboard layout

Classic lenovo. Some models have FN as the most bottom left key, instead of ctrl. Gotta be the worst design decision ive ever seen. Everyone copy+pastes and finds, whoever thought that was a good idea really needs relieved of decision making power.

[myself248]

You've got history backwards. IBM Thinkpads did it that way 30+ years ago, when there was no consensus in the industry. Do you switch it now, and anger every lifetime Thinkpad loyalist, or keep it and annoy just the folks who switch back and forth between different vendors' laptops?

In a brief survey of laptop photos from the early 90s, IBM, Toshiba, Zenith, NEC, Packard Bell, Compaq, and Fujitsu all put Fn on the outside.

Epson, Apple, HP, Panasonic, and Sony put it as the second key.

A handful put it as the third key. Heck, one Toshiba machine had Ctrl left of A, Alt on the extreme lower-left starting out the bottom row, followed by Caps Lock and Fn and backslash and finally spacebar.

Only in the last 15-ish years have most of the Fn-Ctrl keyboards died out and the majority of the industry is now using Ctrl-Fn. Thinkpads are the last major holdout, but they didn't decide to buck the trend, the trend bucked them.

[scrlk]

> Thinkpads are the last major holdout

ThinkPads were one of the last major holdouts, they went to the Control-Fn layout in 2024.

[myself248]

Whoah.

Is that the end of it, then?

[scrlk]

It seems so, even niche manufacturers like Getac have adopted Control-Fn for their newer models.

[nehal3m]

You can swap those in BIOS for most models.

[bmacho]

Yes. I use my Lenovo that way. Bottom left key is labeled "Fn" and act as Ctrl because I swapped them in BIOS.

[bluecalm]

Idk, I find it easier to press control on a Thinkpad because it's closer. It being in a corner would be farer away. Anyway, control should be (and traditionally was) where CapsLock is. Just remap it - everything is suddenly easy and ergonomic.

[snazz]

Apple also puts fn/globe in the bottom left corner and control to its right.

[clates]

Yeah, but that's conflating that a key labeled "control" for a Windows machine and a key labeled "control" for a Mac refer to different concepts.

[mmcnl]

All MacBooks have Fn at the left bottom corner too?

[Xiol]

But CMD is generally used instead of control, and at least in my case, with the thumb rather than pinky. Different muscle memory.