Keyboard language advice

[gbalex]

Hey guys, I'm a switcher and I'm planning on buying a Macbook as soon as I return to the States. My problem is that most of my work is in Spanish... so do you think I'm better off ordering a BTO Macbook with the Western Spanish Keyboard, or should I just stick to the English keyboard and select Spanish as my input language in Mac OS X? Can anyone with or without experience regarding different keyboard/input selection languages help me?

Oh, and BTW I don't like pressing more keys in order to get the letter I want, I just like pressing ´+ o to get ó, not option+e+o to get ó.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Queso]

If you already know the Spanish keyboard layout on a Mac, you can simply change the setting in Sys Prefs>>International>>Input menu to a Spanish layout and ignore how the keys on the keyboard itself are labelled. Just remember to activate the keyboard viewer in your menu bar so it's there in case you need to look something up (also in the International Preferences panel).

Though I'm wondering why you would want to get the English layout if you want to use the Mac in Spanish. Resale value?

 

[gbalex]

If you already know the Spanish keyboard layout on a Mac, you can simply change the setting in Sys Prefs>>International>>Input menu to a Spanish layout and ignore how the keys on the keyboard itself are labelled. Just remember to activate the keyboard viewer in your menu bar so it's there in case you need to look something up (also in the International Preferences panel).

Though I'm wondering why you would want to get the English layout if you want to use the Mac in Spanish. Resale value?

I'm thinking of getting the English layout because I don't know what it's like to order a BTO laptop from Apple, and from what I've read of the Online Store return Policy, you can only return them if they're DOA. So, that fear of the unknown is making me consider buying a pre-configured Macbook at a physical Apple Store.

I'm used to using an English layout with Spanish input (since I know the Spanish layout on Windows), but I don't know how much different that will be on Mac OS X.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Queso]

OK I get it. With regards to understanding the Mac Spanish layout this may help. It's on the extended keyboard rather than the MacBook one, but the keys should all be in pretty much the same place on the laptop.

 

[Diatribe]

If you're writing a lot in Spanish I suggest getting the Spanish keyboard. The US layout is the most unfriendly when it comes to typing in other languages.
I love the German layout, with it you can easily write in German, French, Spanish and English. The Spanish one would be my second choice.