Very Minor Criticism of MacBook Keyboard

[Grakkle]

This is a minor flaw, or maybe it's just me. I find myself frequently hitting the CD eject button on the MacBook keyboard, when I want to hit the delete button. Does anyone else find themselves doing this?

I suppose the position makes sense, but I do think that somehow adjusting the position so it isn't in such close proximity to such a frequently used key as the delete key would be nice.

 

[ebouwman]

i notice that as well and sometimes it really bugs me (especially when i get frustrated and start typing worse, and hitting it more )

Maybe what they should have done was have F12 act as delete, just how F4 does volume up etc, but have it so that you have to press FN, then F12.

Or you could also have F12 work as Eject but you don't need to press FN to do so, but using the options in System Prefs set it so the F keys only do special functions when you press FN (which is already something you can do in system preffs)

Also if they removed the Eject key then they could have those little spaces between the groups of F keys just like on a standard keyboard.

 

[dukebound85]

yea it does seem close. good thing its not a tray drive cuz that would get annoying pretty fast lol

 

[ebouwman]

yea it does seem close. good thing its not a tray drive cuz that would get annoying pretty fast lol

lol ya, i think i would have to pop off the key

 

[EricNau]

Yes, I also do that at least once an hour it seems!

It annoys me how the CD drive still tries to eject, even though there isn't a disc in the drive.

 

[cmccarten]

That is also a pet peeve of mine. I'm working on several essays at once right now, peppered with the now-familiar "clk wehhh wehh rrrrr" of the disc drive trying to eject as I hit the key accidentely every other minute.

 

[dukebound85]

Yes, I also do that at least once an hour it seems!

It annoys me how the CD drive still tries to eject, even though there isn't a disc in the drive.

i just tested it on mine and it just shows the image but makes no sound when i hit that button

 

[EricNau]

i just tested it on mine and it just shows the image but makes no sound when i hit that button

What image?

I'm referring to the same "clk wehhh wehh rrrrr" sound as cmccarten.

EDIT: After pressing the eject button I just figured out which image you were talking about (duh!).
...But even weirder, it didn't make the noise for me either... but it always has in the past.

 

[musicalmcs8706]

It really knows that nothing is in there, as you just ejected something that could have been in there. I tried it and got the same thing.

 

[copanewbe]

What image?

I'm referring to the same "clk wehhh wehh rrrrr" sound as cmccarten.

EDIT: After pressing the eject button I just figured out which image you were talking about (duh!).
...But even weirder, it didn't make the noise for me either... but it always has in the past.

Hitting the eject button once when there isn't a disc inserted will trigger the eject mechanism. If you hit the eject button more than once without a disc inserted in a short period of time, it won't try to eject. Instead, it just shows the eject icon on the screen.

 

[kevinwiz]

i do this at least once a day and its annoying as hell

 

[tundotcom]

Must just be you guys because I've never hit my eject button yet.

 

[animenick65]

I do the same thing. I agree that it should have been moved and require the FN key to activate. Heck, most of us either do APPLE-E or drag it to the trash anyway so your really not cutting down on access.

 

[Speedracer04]

Ya, I dont know about you guys, but I never hit it.

What commands are you trying to do that your using th F keys all the time/having your fingers up there? Except for dashboard on F12...but I get to that from my mighty mouse 3rd button...

 

[reflex]

I do this a lot for two reasons:
- it's the same location as the delete key on my previous laptop
- I have it configured as delete key in Windows

Minor hassle for me.

 

[ebouwman]

I do the same thing. I agree that it should have been moved and require the FN key to activate. Heck, most of us either do APPLE-E or drag it to the trash anyway so your really not cutting down on access.

I allways use the eject key, sometimes a little less when I'm using a mouse, I didn't know - E was eject

Ya, I dont know about you guys, but I never hit it.

What commands are you trying to do that your using th F keys all the time/having your fingers up there? Except for dashboard on F12...but I get to that from my mighty mouse 3rd button...

I allways manage to hit it when i'm typing fast and want to delete something fast.

I'm not that good at typing so when i type too fast all my keys get jumbled, and i need to use the delete key more, and that gets jumbled with the eject key

 

[samjane]

Gah, I do this ALL of the time... haha

 

[persianpunisher]

I do this too, it aggravates me, except i RARELY have disks in my Macbook. Christ apple, not EVEYONE has tiny hands...

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I hit that frelling eject button every now and then, yes...

And I also hit the caps lock instead of 'A' ever so often, making nice words like 'MitthrWNURUODO'. And I also hit ',' instead of 'M' sometimes (they're next to each other on a Norwegian keyboard).

But I am getting better, and now I mostly hit the wrong key when I sit in awkward/unusual positions, and nearly never when I sit up straight...

 

[ebouwman]

ya good posture helps, i also notice that i can type faster when my computer is at the right height and everything

 

[bellychris]

on my old powerbook 12 inch the eject key is really close to the delete key as well but I have to hold down the eject key to eject a cd, not just hitting it by accident. I wonder why they didn't do this for the macbooks. Maybe there was too many people complaining that the eject key doesn't work?

 

[72930]

It is one of the worst things in the world to be in a history class with a strict teacher when the eject zip-like sound happens while a boy is being told off.

 

[Grakkle]

Yes, I also do that at least once an hour it seems!

It annoys me how the CD drive still tries to eject, even though there isn't a disc in the drive.

It seems like it would be fairly simple to use some sort of sensor (even a simple physical-displacement switch) that would prevent it from ejecting unless there was actually a disc in the drive.

As for it knowing that there's nothing in the drive when the eject button was recently pushed, I've noticed that too - and I don't know why they didn't take that the next step and have it do the same thing all the time when no disc is present.

 

[jsw]

I hit that frelling eject button every now and then, yes...

And I also hit the caps lock instead of 'A' ever so often, making nice words like 'MitthrWNURUODO'.

I have those same two problems, often.

 

[holamiamigos]

surprisingly as bad a typer as i am, i never seem to hit eject when i hit delete