Last week, I bought a new laptop computer. I did my research thoroughly, read all the reviews, set a budget, and eventually choose an Acer V5-571G-6401. Through my research, I was surprised and confused that for all manufacturers, model numbers are different in Canada and the US. This made it especially hard to comparison shop. I have since learned that there is a real difference between Canadian and American models, and that difference lies in the keyboard.
I had glanced at the computer in the store and everything seemed fine, but when I started using it, I was encountering constant typos. The cause was the "Canadian bilingual keyboard."
Through extensive Google searches, I have learned that most computers in Canada now come with this keyboard.
Take a look and note that the left shift key is very small and is one space further to the left than on traditional "American" keyboards, and the return/enter key is one space further to the right. Extra[neous] keys have been inserted.
extra keys adjacent to left shift and return/enter
(click to enlarge)
For people who look at the keys when they type, this is unlikely to be an issue, but I learned to touch type when I was in high school and I generally don't look at the keys.
Fortunately, I found a website called notavailablein.ca with this very helpful blog post entitled "Death to the Canadian Multilingual Keyboard." It directed me to pressshift.ca, where I download a small free program called "Key Tweak" that let me remap the offending keys.
Press Shift also offers two stickers to put on the remapped keys. With my experience developing and marketing stickers for kids, I couldn't bring myself to pay $4.00 for two tiny stickers.
Now, I can touch type without errors, as I am doing now. While I no longer have a backslash key, I'm glad to have found a solution.
If you're thinking of buying a computer in Canada and actually know how to type, consider getting it in the US to avoid frustration and confusion.
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