Why do we have Number keys twice on the keyboard for Desktop ?
By preetam9533
@preetam9533 (229)
India
October 8, 2008 1:16pm CST
Why are there number keys 2 times on the keyboard ? What is the significance behind it ? Laptop has only once but Desktop has two times, Why ?
7 responses
@Myrrdin (3599)
• Canada
8 Oct 08
Because on laptops they are trying to conserve as much space as possible, while on a desktop they have the room for it.
The reason you'd want two sets of number pads are it is either to use one or the other depending on what you are doing for touch typists. If you are typing alot of text with only the occasional number the number keys at the top row of the keyboard are nice and simple to use. However if you are doing a spreadsheet where it is rare you'll ever use a letter the number keys on the right hand side of the keyboard is much easier to use, and using one hand you can fly through data entry.
1 person likes this
@preetam9533 (229)
• India
8 Oct 08
I still doubt and am not convinced.
Why will you repeat number keys ? And as you said that there is a room in desktop then why do we have shift keys to be pressed for special characters like :"?
1 person likes this
@Myrrdin (3599)
• Canada
8 Oct 08
there is still limited space even on a desktop keyboard, putting keys for the special keys alone don't make sense then anytime you have to type a number in a regular sentence you would have to take your hands off the keys entirely, thus defeating the purpose of touch typing. Its all to speed up the process of typing. Numeric only typing would be slow with the numbers spread out on top of the keyboard, but alphanumeric suddenly it is easier with them spread out.
1 person likes this
@preetam9533 (229)
• India
8 Oct 08
See the thing is that you are not able to convince me , hence you are talking about extra USBs for Laptop. If an accountant buys a desktop, he gets the number keyboard as he wants but when he buys a Laptop, he has to buy an extra USB or whatever. I have a laptop and a desktop. I can see a lot of Space beside the mouse pad on my laptop so why cant they think of using it, if they want portability.. :)
@darth_eletius (107)
• United States
9 Oct 08
When PCs first came out, there were only the numbers at the top like a typewriter, not the num pad (keys on the side). Eventually someone thought that it would be more efficient to have the numbers in a block to the side, so they put the num pad there. They also serve as directional keys when numlock isn't on, and I know a few people who use the num pad for that. As for keeping the redundant set on the top, imagine the nightmare of using a desktop or big laptop with only a num pad, then using a smaller laptop that had only the numbers at the top. Plus, where would Backspace, ~`, and the symbols go? All about standardization.
@preetam9533 (229)
• India
9 Oct 08
There are many other ways to do it ? I still feel that numbers at the top dont make any sense. Its just illogical!
@darth_eletius (107)
• United States
9 Oct 08
It is redundant, I agree. The problem is that people do not like to remove something so well established. Look at point-of-sale machines in stores. Many of them still use old embedded OS/2 or Windows NT, etc. They add new workstations for other purposes in the store (break room, warehouse...), but the POS machines still work just fine, and they do not want to upset that. Sometimes silly redundancy is easier than redesigning everything to streamline things.
@virinchi (82)
• India
8 Oct 08
In my view one set of keys are used when u want mixed text which includes both characters and numbers....the other set of numbers is to perform calculations
@preetam9533 (229)
• India
8 Oct 08
In one post you say that its easy to for the user and in the other post you say that its not required. Are you trying to say that the person who made the keyboard was a fool ? How dare you ?? Lol... :)))
@Myrrdin (3599)
• Canada
8 Oct 08
its not that laptop users don't do calculations, its that for general use the number pad at the side is not generally used and thus can be eliminated. You can buy a separate usb number pad to plug into laptops in order to accommodate people who do alot of spreadsheets on their laptop, there are also some laptops that have a function key that allows the qwe to equal 789 the asd to mean 456 and zxc to be 123 (or something like that) thus giving you basic number pad for use.
1 person likes this
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
8 Oct 08
When desktop computers first came out, they were intended to replace adding machines and typewriters, their usage was intended primarily for business.
The number keypads were put in both places to make both types of users happy.
I guess they are both still there, otherwise those people with that preference
would be unhappy. Laptops come with only the top row, because they are not wide enough for both. Plenty of plug-in numeric keypads get sold, to show that plenty
have that preference.
No, my question is this....why are telephone keypads opposite to a computer or adding machine keypad? How many of you just looked? If I've been keying numbers all day, I end up phoning numbers backwards without realizing it. Maybe phone companies did that to get extra long distance revenues?
