EeePC keyboards different on black and white models

Okay, this is pretty much for the crazy keyboard aficionados out there, but the crew over at Laptop says there's a distinct difference between the keyboards on the black and white Eee PC laptops. They compared the 'boards on a white 701, black 4G Surf, and white 900, and while the two white Eees had identical keys, the black unit featured different switches with deeper keypresses and more tactile feedback, smaller spaces between the keys, and rougher plastic. (Of course, if you actually use any keyboard for long enough, the plastic eventually wears smooth, so that's probably not an issue.) We doubt the difference is going to really sway anyone's purchasing decision -- the tiny Eee keyboard isn't exactly ideal for hardcore typists, after all -- but if you're looking for a tiebreaker between the black and white 700s, well, now you have one that will bore the pants off people at parties.

[Bufsabre @ May 15th 2008 11:23PM]

does anyone really care?

[DarkLightConnection Unbanned @ May 15th 2008 11:27PM]

I do..... Yea, I'm a hardcore nerd, so?

[Bufsabre @ May 15th 2008 11:28PM]

well i guess your e-penis is bigger than mine

[Andrew @ May 15th 2008 11:28PM]

I gotta agree here. Come on, is this really news? Haha.

[Keith MacDonald @ May 15th 2008 11:40PM]

Well, I'd say we care just about as much as we care about all those obscure Linux distributions you mentioned the other day, and which you got all huffy over when I said nobody cared in the slightest.

'Member that? I guess this means you got over yourself and realized how foolish it is to care so personally about such unimportant things, yes? :p

[Bufsabre @ May 15th 2008 11:43PM]

ahhh keith, still being an ass i see, nope still not over myself, i love me

give you a heads up on something, alot of people are passionate about linux myself included

[Keith MacDonald @ May 15th 2008 11:47PM]

A now, see, your comment seems to imply I am a Linux hater. After all, I am a hater of a Linux lover, so I must hate Linux right?

The problem with that premise is that I, too, use Linux exclusively. In fact, I advocate passionately for it. More to the point, I'm hosting a 35-person Ubuntu cocktail party this weekend for a bunch of non-techie total novices.

The difference I know how to take a joke and, apparently, you don't. :p It's all good though buddy I understand. :D

[Bufsabre @ May 15th 2008 11:50PM]

i never said you hated it, you just became as ass for no reson, explain something to me, i singles out pclinuxos, linux mint, and opensuse, how do you consider those obscure? i understand linux mint being kinda obscure as its only a derivitive of ubuntu. but SuSE has been one of the biggest players in linux for the past 10 years and pclinuxos was number one on distro watch for almost a year, hardly what id call obscure

[Keith MacDonald @ May 16th 2008 12:11AM]

Suse I'll give you, but I'll wager, outside of Germany and maybe continental Western Europe, the average person hasn't heard of it, and certainly not the other two. I'll wager the average Engadget reader hasn't either. This is a gadget site, not a PC enthusiast's site.

In any case though man, go back and reread what I said. If it's not obvious that I was pulling your leg, well... I don't really know what else I can say.

[Jimbo @ May 16th 2008 1:11AM]

Keith, the only thing obvious in your posts is that you hold grudges over stupid forum posts, and your ego types checks your wit can't cash, which is why you call the whole thing off as a joke when someone points out how idiotic your passive-aggressive stance looks.

That's why you don't have anything to say.

[Keith MacDonald @ May 16th 2008 1:14AM]

If you say so Jimbo. :)

[Atanas Boev @ May 16th 2008 5:00AM]

@bufsabre and @keith: Did you broke-up recently or something? For geek-drama, please move on to Gizmodo.
(if you don't know each other and its simply a flame-war, I suggest slashdot)

[John @ May 15th 2008 11:24PM]

talk about a geek cred booster

[lukas88 @ May 15th 2008 11:28PM]

I believe this, I have a white Eee PC and the keyboard is the only thing I don't like about it. Unexpectedly, it is not the size of the keyboard that sucks, it is how it feels as well as the tendency to do a double key stroke even when it is only hit once. It is solid except for the keyboard, which rattles slightly when I type.

This and the memory door are a great reason to stay away from the white surf.

[acme @ May 15th 2008 11:31PM]

this is rather obvious the fn and shift key are different sizes, good work colombo.

[fraz @ May 16th 2008 6:21AM]

actually I think that's just a perspective issue due to the colour of the button and the lighting, if you look carefully (not that i care but your comment got me curious) they appear to be the same size

[fraz @ May 16th 2008 6:25AM]

hm, clearly going blind, i see it now, it is wider. anyway, that was a complete waste of 2 minutes of my life :s

[giantenemycrab @ May 15th 2008 11:32PM]

I have yet to press "z" on this keyboard, so it's the only key that's isn't smooth. I'm kinda trying not to press "z" at this point, just to see how long I can go.

[WarMouse @ May 15th 2008 11:35PM]

Didn't you just press Z twice?

[lukas88 @ May 15th 2008 11:38PM]

*imagines life without ctrl+z*

[imacmatt09 @ May 15th 2008 11:39PM]

On screen keyboard?

[giantenemycrab @ May 16th 2008 12:54AM]

Yes, WarMouse, I was hoping people would see the irony.

[michas_pi @ May 16th 2008 2:53AM]

Wait, you pressed Z twice?

Shit, you just did a barrel roll.

[kr @ May 17th 2008 12:27AM]

Don't worry, I got the star fox reference.

[letstakeawalk @ May 15th 2008 11:39PM]

... and for the non-geek, rest of the world market... they're still trying to grasp what the Eee is. I've had my black 4G since last November, and when I bring it out in public - nobody cares. I've given up even trying to explain "Linux". My own roomate went a few months before asking why I was always watching DVDs. She thought I had a portable 7" screen player and an unhealthy obsession with watching movies.

Seriously, I really enjoy my Eee. I use it for business and research, and it's small enough that it doesn't weigh me down when I commute on my bike. But here, if it's not silver and doesn't have a light-up apple on the back, it's invisible (not that I mind).

Except when I tell them how cheap it was.

[Corey @ May 15th 2008 11:41PM]

News? Honestly Engadget? C'mon now!

[Johan S @ May 15th 2008 11:44PM]

From the article:

"Perhaps the actual spacing between the bottoms of the keys is the same on both models, but the tops of the white keys definitely seem wider."

LOL.

OK, I don't expect a journal quality scientific article .. but come on .. don't they have a ruler or something?

[Reader @ May 16th 2008 12:07AM]

Real men use obviously superior optical analysis.

[Johan S @ May 16th 2008 4:05AM]

LOL. Fair enough, but then don't act all unsure and use words like "seem".

[LarryLarryLarry @ May 16th 2008 5:43PM]

Exactly. It's something like:

"We should do a web article on the keyboard differences between black and white eee PCs. But that would be a lot of work. We'd have to measure stuff. So... let's go to a local retailer! That will be awesome! We can use their display computers extensively and say it's 'for an article we're writing!'"

[1 hour later]

Nice to be back from the computer store and inside our windowless nerd nest. You know, I've started this article but I'm only on the second paragraph and I'm stuck. Here, let search the web.... OH YES! jkkmobile just did the work! They didn't meansure anything but the removed two keycaps. Man, that must of been a lot of work! My web article is saved!"

[Steffen Jobbs @ May 15th 2008 11:55PM]

This is considered news when all those 3G iPhone and iTablet rumors are out there? This article needs to be relegated to non-news along with Zune updates and Vista Service Packs.

If you have white keys and want them black, just use a magic marker. What the hey? Key color doesn't help you type any faster, so what's the purpose.

[rkls @ May 16th 2008 12:08AM]

are you TRYING to be a fanboy?

[Ignatius @ May 16th 2008 12:15AM]

Don't forget Apple store updates.

[Wiigee @ May 16th 2008 1:36AM]

why do people get mad when Engadet reports stuff like this? saying "this is news?.....", serriuosly! this is not CNN, this is a tech site! if its a slow day for tech, there isnt much they can do. If you want constant news stories of full substance, go to a a normal news site, not a tech site.

[Avram Piltch @ May 16th 2008 12:13AM]

I wrote the article in question and did the research. Is this news? If you are thinking of buying an Eee PC, it might be useful to know.

Many have complained about the uncomfortable keyboard on the Eee PC. While neither the black nor the white keyboard is comfortable for a touch typist, that's all the more reason to take whatever advantage you can find.

To be fair, while I prefer the black keyboard, many of my coworkers prefer the white. They all noticed a pronounced difference in feel between the keyboards when seeing them and touching them next to each other.

[hrt @ May 16th 2008 1:18AM]

I for one found this article VERY interesting, as I would like to pickup a black Eee 900 once it becomes equipped with the Atom cpu. With my large hands better tactile feedback would certainly be nice. Sure, this may not be news, but it IS certainly interesting. I come to this site to find interesting tech info, I'd read the paper or watch/listen to the tv/radio to find out real news, because in the large scope of things, most of this tech "news" is pointless. People, don't make it more then it is.

[ronald.raygun @ May 16th 2008 4:50AM]

you know what i noticed it only takes like .8 seconds to scroll past an article i dont want to read, this isn't one of them.

but it takes about a minute or two to post a comment on a blog about something "not being news" on a non-news site.

makes you think...

[linuxamp @ May 16th 2008 12:58AM]

At least there's not price difference between the colors (*cough*, apple...) is there?

[mcatrage @ May 16th 2008 12:59AM]

How isn't this news? It's a popular little machine and they updated the keyboard so we have a story showing us the differences between the versions.

[kccboy2004 @ May 16th 2008 3:29AM]

this means absolutely nothing. This is just two pc's taken at random. I bought two Dell D600's some time ago. The keyboards were different form one another.

[jon @ May 16th 2008 1:17AM]

Isn't it just easier to not read the article than to bitch about it for the next 3 hours..

[grant @ May 16th 2008 1:19AM]

So the black one is better?

[Valgas @ May 16th 2008 2:10AM]

That's racist.

[retro77 @ May 16th 2008 2:11AM]

Comparing apples to oranges here. A 900 is bigger than a 701, so of course the keyboard will be different.

[GrizzlyAdams @ May 16th 2008 2:41AM]

I'm surprised no one else noticed that the highlighted part looks like its just turned around.

[Donal Maher @ May 16th 2008 3:29AM]

Holy crap this changes everything! Talk about putting me into a spin. What the hell do I do, white looks better, black keyboard is better......

I know, buy one of and swap the switches out! :D

[thequinox @ May 16th 2008 5:46AM]

Many people have complained about the keyboards on the EEE, but I have never had a a problem. Sure it's small, but that is kind of the point. I have the black model so maybe that is why.

[Alex @ May 16th 2008 6:25AM]

Parties?

right...

[kurtas.balczak @ May 16th 2008 7:50AM]

I don't know why people get huge boners of keyboard tactility.. just freakin type and shut up about it.

[striggity @ May 16th 2008 8:14AM]

The coolest thing about this article was seeing exactly how to take off and put back on the lappie keys. Cuz I got's some cleaning to do after an unfortunate sprite spilling. :-(