Macbook English International Keyboard

I'm a UK expat living in Germany, and very tempted to order a Macbook, but just had 1 question about the "English International" keyboard option.
Would I be right in assuming that it has the " @ # etc. symbols all swapped around relative to UK k/b, and no GBP currency symbol, and is in effect the US k/b? If so how easy is it to adjust keymap within OSX to add the UK specifics back in?

I see that in general, ordering UK spec laptops outside of UK is now nigh on impossible since I bought my Vaio in 2001, but Apple seems to be the only one that actually gives the option of English K/B+OS in the online store.

TIA.

Andy.

 

your best answer will com from Apple itself i believe. it is specific to the country you are ordering in so maybe other German or UK users can help out but, if you are in US, you can get U.S. English or Western Spanish keyboards and OS, in Japan, Japanese standard, English and maybe others, other countries follow suite.

I would just call Apple or if you can go to a local Apple store.

I help you only because your name is also Andy

 

I have looked into this a bit. I am living in the US, but often do German language work. Sort of the opposite problem. Macs seem to be better than PCs for foreign language work. If you work mostly in English, I would probably try to get someone in the UK to buy the Apple for you or order it from a store there. As you presumably already know, the German keyboard reverses the z and y. I find that a real pain to deal with. (Be thankful you are not in France where there are a lot more differences.) You can create an umlaut by typing the option key (if I remember correctly, one of the special keys in any event), a u, and then the letter you want to umlaut. I believe you can create a special key for the ess-zett. Futher, if you want an actual foreign country keyboard (for you the UK one if you buy in Germany), you can convert to that virtually and the Mac will show you a small diagram you can look at while you are typing of what the keys actually will type.

If there is an Apple store near you, they should be able to walk you through the process (especially in Germany where this question must come up fairly often; in the US you have to find the right person, not everyone knows about it).

 

Changing the keyboard layout is not a problem. I use the Irish physical layout but I changed it in OS X to act as a Swedish layout.

The only problem is if you feel the need to look at the keys while typing (which I know some people do, I am not one of them however), then you would obviously have more of an issue but that is something you can't really get around unless you call the Apple Store Online and see if they can fix a UK keyboard for you. I wouldn't say that that is outside the realm of possibility, you can at least check with them.

The only Apple Stores in Europe are a bunch in the UK and one in Rome, so far.

Anyway, returning to the original poster: To be honest, if the physical keyboard means something to you and you are a UK expat, grab a Ryanair (or similar) flight to the UK and buy it there It's not like the flights within Europe cost that much nowadays, and you get the added bonus of visiting family perhaps?

If the physical keyboard doesn't matter to you, go for International English and just change the layout in OS X.

 

Might give 'em a call. Usually the mention of European Competition Minister should make them cave in.
Cheap flights are not so cheap once you include taxes and that fuel surcharge excuse, and the fact that Frankfurt Hahn is closer to Luxembourg than Frankfurt. Could arrange to collect something the next time i'm over, but need guarantee that what I want is in stock.
I can make do with US k/b, but I seriously don't want German K/B. I maybe expat, but all work I do is in English, on an English speaking site (French is 2nd language).
Thanks for all the help/ideas. Just wonder why all the other top brands don't give a different language option as standard on the website?

 

i got my MBP from a store in Germany (I live in Italy)... they ship with the UK keyboard if you prefer it. www.notebook.de