We have been looking for new notebooks for about six months. We are very satisfied with our current HP (Compaq) nc8000 notebooks. But you can never get enough power under the hood and the new Intel Dual-Core processor seems to fulfil our demands for a step-up in performance.

Most of the manufacturers are starting to use the new Dual-Core processors along with some nice GPU’s, so the selection is getting larger. It should be no problem finding one that has the features we need, at least in terms of performance. When you look beyond the spec sheet and on to the actual laptop, they are still miles away on the design.

I’m not talking design as in “is it pretty or not” - that is a luxury we PC users have gotten used to ignore. What I’m talking about is, if the keyboard layout and connection options obstruct daily use or not. I have yet to find one of the newer notebooks, that can steer free of one or more design flaws.
Worst of all, in my opinion, is the “fn” and “CTRL” key switch. When they have switched the position of the two key, making the “fn” key the outermost key in the bottom-left corner.

To me it is beyond belief how someone in charge of product design can let this happen. I use the CTRL key all the time. So much that on my nc8000 the text on the left-shift, CTRL, and ALT key are almost worn off.

You only have to take a glance at Fitts’ law to learn that using the valuable space that is the edge of your work area (in this case the keyboard), for keys/buttons etc. that you hardly ever use is poor design. Take a look at your browser for instance; it is not a coincidence that the “close window” button is in the top right corner (or left if on a Mac). Placing keys/buttons near the edge of your work area makes them easier to find and hit/click.

It all comes down to how you use your laptop, I guess, but laptops with the “fn” and “CTRL” key switch will have a very hard time getting on my shortlist.