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by keithg 4530 days ago
Got a laptop recently for a new project. All of my colleagues raved about Lenovo. I went with a Lenovo ThinkPad W530.

Great machine, right? I hate it. I hate it because they put the Fn key in the lower, left and moved the Ctrl key. Now I have to think every time I need to hit the Ctrl key!

4 comments

Have a look in the BIOS, there should be an option to swap Fn & Ctrl.
Also, keys are easily physically swapped, just popped them from under gently, 95% chances the plastic cap will detach from the bouncing mechanism (two plastic~handles crossed above a latex ~cushion). Reattaching is just placing the cap on top, pressing down smoothly and plastic dents will match again.

ps: I said 95% because there was a few times where the underlying handle/cushion came with the cap and fell apart. It's possible to fit them again but is a bit challenging because of the tininess. So if you try, be warned.

Thanks. I'll take a look.
You will get used to it. At least, I did. Other than that one thing, it is the best laptop ever.
Why would you get used to it instead of just swapping the two keys?
the bios swapping of "fn" and "left control" on my x121 had its own problems (it was a bit strange, sometimes the remapped fn key didn't actually behaved like a real control key). so i switched back to the original behavior and learned to deal with it.

a hardware hack would be cool :) letting the fn key electrically do the same thing as the ctrl key and for the rare use of fn use the capslock-key for it :)

Well, I shared my laptop with others, so they'd get really confused when I remapped the keys.

If only you could swap the keycaps too.

If you haven't seen the "think-light" yet -- FN-PgUp. Bottom Left and Top Right buttons activate the light -- makes it easier to find in the dark.

http://blog.lenovo.com/design/fn-versus-ctrl-let-the-games-b...

My model has a backlit keyboard and a little light near the videocam that shines down. You can rotate between modes (dim, med, bright keyboard, top light) using the FN-space combination.
That's a lame excuse for not having a backlit keyboard.
A backlit keyboard is a lame excuse for not including a convenient light you can use to read just about anything.
I have exactly the same problem when switching between Apple's current two keyboards: the USB model with numerical keypad, and the smaller, 50% more expensive wireless model. I use CTRL enough that trying to use both is an exercise in futility. Why can't Apple release a 'proper', full-size wireless keyboard?