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Is numlock key actually useful?

I see no use for the numlock key, I'd rather just have the numpad on the whole time. Are there actually cases where it is useful or people who for some reason prefer their numpad turned off?

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  • I haven't used numlock in years but I remember that for certain games that you played with the arrow keys, I preferred to use the arrows on the numpad instead of the dedicated ones.

    And according to Wikipedia, the reason why numlock exists in the first place is the fact that certain keyboards didn't have dedicated arrow keys, but did have a numpad. I guess numlock on full-sized keyboards is just a relic that keyboard manufacturers are schlepping around because it's cheap enough to produce and doesn't really hurt 🤷

    • You can still get some mechanical keyboards with numpads but not arrow keys, though since these are variations on compact layouts they tend to omit the numlock key as well.

      • Interesting. Most compact keyboards I've seen save space by removing the numpad, not the arrow keys. I assume you can emulate arrow keys by pressing some modifier key on those?

        • Exactly that. Royal Kludge makes one.

          I think it's a good layout. I have a tenkeyless at home and for some tasks I definitely miss the number pad more than I'd miss the arrow keys, especially since the number pad by design doubles as arrow keys and always has. I've seen even smaller keyboards that have numpads but not the number row, which would also be sweet. Reclaim some vertical deskspace as well as horizontal.

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