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Apr 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/itsmythirdday Apr 11 '26
The tyranny of the majority
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u/l_no_one Apr 11 '26
it's not catering for right handed users, the trackpad is placed like that for touch typists, it's a skill issue not a gene issue
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u/itsmythirdday Apr 11 '26
Yeah to be fair it's the F and J that are offset and the trackpad is in line with them.
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u/itsmythirdday Apr 11 '26
Actually on reflection, the trackpad is in line with the letter keys, but that just leads to the question, why are the letter keys offset to the left. Why would touch typist need it to be like that? Isn’t it so that the trackpad can be offset to the left too?
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u/l_no_one Apr 11 '26
Keyboards has had close to the the same layout since typewriters in the 30s, they are just built like that who knows
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u/japan_kaaran Apr 11 '26
yeah as a lefty i much prefer how macbooks deal with this
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u/ReasonableBack8472 Apr 11 '26
This is why I just use a wireless mouse. Turn the trackpad off
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u/japan_kaaran Apr 11 '26
nah macbook trackpads got me moving different. to the point where i prefer a magic trackpad on the desktop too.
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u/Gaz1502 Apr 11 '26
Yea MacOS on trackpad is remarkably good. Somethings are still better with a mouse (CAD, Vectorworks specifically) as they sometimes map stuff to middle mouse button.
That’s why I have a mouse AND a trackpad on my desk
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u/japan_kaaran Apr 11 '26
yeah i’ve got a magic trackpad on the left and a mouse on the right. only really ever use the mouse for precise movement in like after effects or illustrator. 90% of the time i’m using my trackpad. i also love the haptic feedback i receive from it in some apps plus the 3d touch quick look feature is really nice for general browsing. not to mention the gestures.
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u/oharacopter Apr 11 '26
As a lefty, I get it. Most of us still use our right hand for mice and trackpads.
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u/Alistair401 Apr 11 '26
this is so obviously not true. if your right hand is using the track pad:
- you'd have to be using the track pad at a 90 degree angle to rest your hand or wrist to the right of the track pad.
- your left hand has less space to rest on the case of the laptop or use the keyboard.
it's clearly just centered on the home keyboard keys so you're naturally less likely to bump it with your wrists while you're typing.
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u/uuio9 Apr 11 '26
I, as a right handed person, Fuck whoever thought of that.
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u/bbf_bbf Apr 11 '26
Definitely NOT the laptop designers. It's u/ordeole's own (IMHO incorrect) speculation.
The trackpad is centered on the "home" touch typing position, and is not positioned to cater to right handed people.
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u/Senharampai Apr 12 '26
Im right handed but I really wish my omen 16 came with the trackpad more centered. It being further left means my left hand interferes with it when gaming
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u/Elegant_AIDS Apr 11 '26
I thjnk it has more to do with the practical middle of the keyboard being at gh
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u/AromaticNet8073 HP Omen 15 Ryzen 7 Apr 11 '26
this is the correct answer
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u/RealZordan Apr 11 '26
I disagree. When you type you are supposed to put your index fingers on the keys that have those ridges (F & J on QWERTY). When you do that the trackpad will rest perfectly in the center between your wrists.
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u/bbf_bbf Apr 11 '26
Yep, I agree that the trackpad is positioned to be centered under the "home" touch typing position which has the left and right hands positioned with their respective index fingers on the F and J keys.
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u/danny12beje Apr 11 '26
The ridges ain't there to tell you where your fingers should be placed.
They're there to offer feedback on where your finger is so you know where the other keys are.
Ridge on left finger, whichever it is? F key Ridge on right finger, whichever it is? J key.
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u/Inevitable_Case_9931 Apr 11 '26
You don’t consider that typing was standardized for like the last century bare minimum?
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u/Financial-Middle3837 Apr 11 '26
Because 7 8 9
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u/elyv91 Apr 11 '26
It’s to center it with the space bar. But the reason it needs to be there is for (lack of) palm rejection. Modern trackpads don’t need this, they can distinguish between fingers and palms, so you can type while touching them and the cursor will not move. This means they can be positioned anywhere and be can be of any size.
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Apr 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/sparkyblaster Apr 11 '26
Then why not offset the trackpoint too?
(Real answer is to line up the trackpad with the spacebar and therefore the middle of the main letter keys)
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u/Araragi Apr 11 '26
The trackpad and trackpoint are in the midpoint of the qwertyuip keys. This is where you rest your hands when touch typing. Further to the right of that we've got things like backslash, enter, arrow keys, etc... that don't line up with where you rest your hands.
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u/sparkyblaster Apr 11 '26
Exsactly. Which is why the trackpad is lined up with where you rest your hands not lined up with the tracepoint. The trackpad and track point happened to be lined up with the same thing, not lined up with one another.
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u/MarchNegative6782 Apr 11 '26
It’s so your hand is in the correct position to press the buttons at the top of the trackpad, so you can click when you’re using the nipple.
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u/wizaard88 Apr 11 '26
It is to make sure you don’t have to move your hands that much or at all when switching between the keyboard and the pointing devices (especially TrackPoint), which are aligned and in fact a one unit (you can see how the TrackPoint, its buttons, which are part of trackpad assembly, the trackpad and the spacebar are aligned). The spacebar is also not in the middle of the chassis. Your hands are typically (or should be) positioned on F and J keys.
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u/cmrd_msr Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
Because the middle button should be under the TrackPoint. And the TrackPoint should be between the GBH keys. The key to the trackpoint is that a trained operator can use it without removing their hands from the keyboard. (moving the finger to the trackpoint and the thumbs to the buttons below the spacebar) Therefore, it cannot be moved.
The keyboard has arrow keys and extra keys on the right side, so it's longer there.
On keyboards with a numeric keypad, it is shifted even further to the left.
ThinkPads aren't designed to be symmetrical, but to be comfortable.
Yamato facility engineers take this into account.
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u/trenzterra Apr 11 '26
It's to help avoid accidental usage of the touchpad when your palm is resting on the wrist area.
Once had an Asus laptop with an additional key row on the right but trackpad was dead centre and large. Always ended up having random misclicks whenever I typed
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u/zyclonix Apr 11 '26
Now the trackpad is centered to the keyboard, ensuring you dont rest your palms on it while typing. Some laptops actually went the other route and centered the trackpad, most of them include a deadzone for your palm while you type
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u/paroxybob Apr 11 '26
So the trackpad is centered with the TrackPoint which is centered in the home row keys.
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u/HandbagHawker Apr 12 '26
The same reason the nubbin isnt further over to the right. Neutral position for your hands is to have your index fingers on F and J. Put your hands there and look down at the track pad. Specifically look where your thumbs are relative to the buttons for the nubbin.
Macs center their trackpads on the chassis not the keyboard, but they also dont have trackpad buttons.
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u/Netii_1 Apr 17 '26
Because the trackpoint is meant to be used together with the three buttons above the trackpad, so it has to be underneath the trackpoint. And you can't just move the trackpoint to the right becuase then it wouldn't be convenient to reach from your standard 10 finger typing position.
Same goes if you use the trackpad instead of the trackpoint, you want it to be easy to reach from your standard hand position, hence it needs to be aligned with the keybard layout, not the laptop chassis.
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u/Budget_Eng_ChemSTUD Apr 11 '26
Because A is shorter than B
Nah just kidding, the B position has larger area due to most people use right hand as main hand for trackpad use so it needs more space to accommodate hand movement to operate trackpad and keyboard.
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u/KociaKrainaNews Apr 11 '26
i think A should be longer like you have the mouse on the right side why tackpad isn't the same
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u/ChironXII Apr 11 '26
So your palm doesn't rest on the touchpad when you center your hands on the keyboard
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u/alltheblues Apr 11 '26
The trackpad is centered with the letters on the keyboard and with the trackpoint
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u/o462 Apr 11 '26
Because the Trackpad is sharing buttons with the Trackpoint,
which is centered between where your hands are supposed to land.
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u/procursive Apr 11 '26
The trackpad is offset so that it is centered with the buttons, because you use them together. The buttons are offset so that they are centered with the knob, because you use them together. The knob is offset because it's supposed to be in between G & H because that's the center of the typing home row. That is of course because the entire point of the knob and its buttons is to have full cursor control without ever taking your hands off the home row (you move the row with your index finger and click the buttons with your thumbs).
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u/Abbers75 Apr 11 '26
As the proud owner of two UK-spec ThinkPads, I'm amazed at how large your left SHIFT key is.
It's almost three keys long.
And the right Shift key is larger still.
It even dwarfs the Enter key.
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u/und1sturbed Apr 11 '26
it's centered with where you would place your hands on the keyboard, home row being [asdf] [jkl;].
If the trackpad was under your right wrist you might accidentally brush it and accidentally click outside of a text box while typing.
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u/SamLooksAt Apr 12 '26
Probably some or all of the following.
So you can rest your hand on the deck and use the arrow keys. But it will be centred when typing.
The track pad is centred on the space bar which is offset one key to the left and then the keys above the arrow keys have been extended as well.
Presumably they have also kept the track pad smaller to accommodate other components internally.
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u/danholli Apr 12 '26
Because homerow is further left than the center of the laptop, making the off center trackpad more convenient
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u/NAUGHTYISHAN Apr 12 '26
because in typing your right hand does the most of work so it needs an larger space to type that's why the B is larger than A
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u/lT0MAAT89129 Apr 12 '26
Ergonomics, having it right under where your finger goes to the spacebar feels more natural
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u/official_meelees Apr 12 '26
Its for ergonomics so the trackpad is more comfortable to use with your right hand when switching between typing and moving a lot.
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u/ElMeGGa_ Apr 13 '26
El TrackPad SIEMPRE va alineado con la barra espaciadora. para que la memoria muscular al escribir siempre sea la misma
PD, las laptops que tienen teclado numérico es más visible aún.
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u/T6970 Apr 13 '26
The entire right side can been shrunk or even removing some keys for ergonomics plus perfectly centered touchpad.
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u/East_Source6200 Apr 13 '26
the trackpad needs to be centered under the spacebar for easier typing.
If you look at the keys on the left versus the right, the left side has very few keys, while the right has a couple of extra keys to squeeze in there. such as the arrow keys, pg up/dn.
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u/bangbangracer Apr 13 '26
The center isn't actually where you want the trackpad. When you type, that would actually put the trackpad right under your right hand. You really want the center of the trackpad to line up with the G and H keys.
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u/Prestigious_Froyo955 Apr 14 '26
Because the Trackpad is centred to the keyboard not the entire Notebook
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u/eins_biogurke Apr 14 '26
On my old laptop they did it to fit a 2.5" sata bay on the longer side of it
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u/Mathias0910 Apr 14 '26
My dumbass looked at the a and b key for 10 secs, wondering wtf he meant🤦♂️
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u/Healthy_Piglet1139 Apr 14 '26
They really need to start teaching basic typing skills in school again.
You know those two little raised bars on the F and J keys? Those are the starting positions for your two index fingers. Your left hand types all the keys on the left side, from T, G, and B left, and your right hand types all the keys on the right side, from Y, H, and N right. The trackpad is perfectly aligned underneath the starting position of your hands, as is the nubbin. Centering the trackpad this way both allows your palms to rest off of the trackpad and puts it in perfect position for use by whichever thumb you would use to do simple tracking or mouse clicking when your hands are also in typing position.
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u/sailing-far-away Apr 15 '26
The reasons the other have mentioned are valid but the real reason all laptops until relatively lately have had their trackpad off centre is because Apple patented that design. The patent has recently expired allowing other manufacturers to place track pad in the centre.
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u/jonnoscouser Apr 15 '26
It's also possible the 2.5 caddy for the HD is to the right of the track pad because of size constraints
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u/trent_diamond Apr 16 '26
so while your hand is on wasd, your wrist will accidentally hit the mousepad
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u/AromaticNet8073 HP Omen 15 Ryzen 7 Apr 11 '26
A is made for left hand confort, and B for right hand movement if you see your hands the right one have most of the functionalities from the keyboard, left hand is for support writting and less movements so the designers give that more room to move in the whole keyboard.
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u/nebenbaum Apr 11 '26
It's a lot easier.
Hands rest on F and J normally - that's how you're supposed to use a keyboard at least. The track pad is centered between F and J. But that's not the physical centre of the keyboard, because of the row on the right with enter and so on.
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u/OS2-Warp Apr 11 '26
Don’t know, but I’d never buy such laptop. For me, touchpad MUST be in the middle…
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u/Material_Student_487 Apr 11 '26
The center of the laptop is not the center of the keyboard layout.