Hey guys - I’ve gotten a few questions about this in recent months, so I thought I would make a quick blog about it. People that work on video or 3D applications on a laptop (not ideal, I realize, but it can be done in a pinch) often ask how they can perform important keyboard shortcuts on a laptop, because there are no Home/End/PgUp/PgDn keys, and no numeric keypad on the side. Here’s the trick-
Most laptops out there will have little tiny numbers printed on the keys in addition to the “real” key. So, if you have a fairly recent Mac Book Pro, for example, your “M” key will have a teensy weensy zero (0) on it. This is telling you that this M key lives a double life as the zero on the numeric keypad. You’ll also notice a function key (fn on a Mac, but also usually on a PC laptop, too). The fn key is the catalyst that we use to bring out the alter ego of the keys. Thus, pressing fn+M will be like pressing zero on the numeric keypad on a full size keyboard (which does a RAM Preview in After Effects, etc.). On my MBP, fn+left arrow is Home, etc. So, while it’s not as easy as using a regular keyboard, using pro apps on a laptop is absolutely possible. Hopefully this blog put YOU in on good terms with the FUNCTION key, because that math equation looks like this: (U + fn = FUN!). Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.
Love,
Chad
PS On a Mac - even with a full size keyboard - that little fn key can also allow you to use the F1, F2, etc. keys as F keys AND as the cool little feature (such as volume/brightness control) that is printed on them. Just go to System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse>Keyboard and check the “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys” option. Then if you want to use the volume/brightness/dashboard (etc.) function on the function keys, just press the fn key while you’re pressing the key. On a full size Mac keyboard, you’ll find the fn key to the immediate left of the Home key.
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Sadly, my brand-new, spiffy 17″ MacBook Pro has no tiny numbers and fn-M produces only an M… Apple occasionally takes these retrograde steps. Like the way the Leopard dock changed the old running-program indicator into a tiny, almost invisible bit of gloss highlight. (Don’t they run usability tests?)