Business Class Laptops with 10-Key?

I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of some business grade laptops that have a 10-key on the keyboard. I've been searching this forum as well as several other places and have really only found the Dell e6520. But I'd like to know if there's any other options for me. I've had a 10-key on my laptops since 2003 so going without one would be a big adjustment for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and if you feel like you might be able to talk me out of needing a 10-key, I'm definitely open to hearing your thoughts...in fact, if someone could convince me I don't need one, then that would open up a lot more options to me.

 

Bigger laptops usually have "a" 10 key, but all the ones I have had are slightly compressed so I cant use them properly like I can a full sized desktop keyboard.

I can type on the top numbers fine, but like a 10 key and arrows if doing spreadsheets.

I think maybe the best solution though honestly is instead of picking your laptop based on its keyboard thus limiting your options greatly, just get an external keyboard.

If you cant pack a full keyboard they make just 10 key that are easy to pack as well.

Amazon.com: Targus PAUK10U Ultra Mini USB Keypad: Electronics

Amazon.com: Connectland CL-USB-NUMSPC USB Numeric keypad with 19 keys + Space Bar: Electronics

 

What the heck do you use the 10 key for?
I didn't even know there ever was a 10 key. hehheh

If you use in it office; word, excel, you can use a macro so that when you hit say shift+0 it types 10. Just a though.

 

In excel having one hand on the arrows and another on the 10 key lets you work a lot faster for data entry with multiple points, also if your doing a lot of math its like using a calculator.

When doing say addresses that combine few numbers with many letters then its best to stick with regular typing on the keyboard and use the numbers above.

Secretaries and data entry people make good use of 10 key, the cpm (characters per minute) can be much higher if its used in the right circumstance.

I personally type about 90wpm average and can use the numbers above without effort and I still would use a 10 key any day for those situations I mentioned.

 

I assume "10" key doesn't mean having a key numbered "10" but numpad instead?

 

well I found this customizable usb keypad for $130.
I'll keep my eyes out for anything better / cheaper.
New X-keys XK-24 Programmable Keyboard

 

Oh what the hell.
I've been looking for keyboards with an actual number 10 key. hehheh. All he wants is a keyboard with the numbers all on the right?

I use a usb keypad with my Thinkpad when I've got some heavy numbe crunchin to do.
Amazon.com: usb keypad: Electronics

 

Beat you by a mile, had 2 product links in the 2nd post.

 

The problem with these external numpads is that they are detected as usual external keyboards. This means to type numbers (instead of PgUp, PgDown etc.) you have to activate NumLock.
This in turn means that on laptops without dedicated numpads integrated into the keyboard the numpad configuration on the internal keyboard will be activated. So you can't type normal text anymore because I, O and P create 7, 8 and 9 instead of the characters and so on. If you're fine with that (because you either type text or numbers) an external numpad might be a good choice. But if you want to type both mixed then it won't help you.

 

I do not think that is normally true, these should function as numbers right out of the gate without number lock enabled.

If you do run into that worst case scenario, there is an easy fix with software like autohotkey.

 

about talking you out of needing a 10key, well, what do you use it for? i don't care about 10keys but use them when available. but it depends massively on your needs and (even more so) on your habits.

 

I've seen a couple of threads dealing with that problem in another notebook forum. From the viewpoint of the OS these pads are simply external keyboards. You can check what I described with any external keyboard.

 

Yep I know, and a good external pad will be designed to work without number lock as it can assume function of the number keys above the letters.

Again it can be solved with autohotkey if it had to be.

Also thats sort of a poor laptop setup, alt functions for keys should be based on the function key not the number lock key and it should have normal numbers above the letter area like all other keyboards.

 

Thanks for pointing that out! It's logical but I didn't think of this.
In the vast majority of situations this solution should be sufficient because the situations where one has to distinguish numpad numbers from typewriter numbers is very rare.

 

Ahhh, I forgot about this problem. I plugged my Lenovo usb keypad into my Thinkpad x40 and it behaved as described above. It only typed numbers with numlock turned on. This is with windows XP, I wonder if Win7 behaves any differently or if there are any usb keypads that don't have this problem.

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EDIT:

Ah, I now understand autohotkey is a 3rd party program, and not a feature of the usb keypad. http://www.autohotkey.com/
Apparently you have to remap the keys on the usb keypad to the number keys on the keyboard, so that you don't have to hit numlock to type in numbers on the usb keypad (hope that made sense).
I'll have to try it someday and see if it works.

 

HP's larger ProBooks and EliteBooks have 10key, as do the larger Pavilions.

 

Thanks for the suggestions...I'll check out the HP's. I used to work in a bank and pretty much used the 10 key all day long. I got very used to having one on my laptops as well. The external 10-key is definitely an option I'll have to look into if I decide not to go with a laptop that has one built in.

I'm a numbers guy by nature and always find myself doing some sort of spreadsheet in excel so I frequently get annoyed when I'm using a laptop without a 10-key.

I guess maybe I need to get a docking station and that whole setup so when I need to use a 10-key I can just go use that. It's definitely a nuisance to have to buy the biggest of laptops just to get a 10-key.

 

Dell precision m4600/m6600

 

This may be an idea too?

See:
Canon Makes a Mouse With a Built-In Calculator

 

Practically all current 15.6" and larger business class laptops have numpads.

Smaller laptops do not have the width to accommodate the numpad.
But you can grab a cheap external one for like $5 at a Microcênter or $25+ at an office store.