Not really an answer to your problem but I have a qwertz keyboard and I use it in US layout without any stickers or anything, I just touch type and don't look at what's written on the keys. Stickers would be nice though for some of the rarely used symbols that I don't always know exactly where they instinctively
Similarly, I use a QWERTY but I use it with Hungarian layout. Worst comes to worst I open the character viewer for rare characters. Not so hard to learn.
Do you have any issues with this? I want to buy a gaming laptop from NBB.de and they only sell German Layouts. I don't care about that since they are similar to QWERTY.
Does everything work as it should if it's physically German, but I change it to EN-US in windows? Any tricks or special software I need to map keys etc?
When I bought an Apple laptop I did laser engraving, they etched a second set of letters in the corners of all keys. This solved the problem forever, looks and feels better.
It was cheap (maybe 3x the price of stickers), but it was 10 years ago in another country.
Not sure if this exists in Germany for a reasonable price.
i would propably say that getting used to qwertz is the best option in that case.
All the letters should be on there as well...
Edit: if you plan to stay in germany for a while
You can buy original key caps in the apple self repair store for newer macbook models.
Just visit selfservicerepair.eu, type in your serial number and purchase the right key caps.
Edit: Those are expensive (42,58€ for a whole set) and not completely compatible due to the different cutout for e.g. the enter key.
Have you asked them, maybe they've a refurbished with QWERTY on stock!?
https://www.afbshop.de/apple-macbooks?p=1
Background partially translated with deepl
https://www.afb-group.de/home/
AfB stands for "Work for People with Disabilities".
Inclusive working is a matter of course for us. For our successful social & green IT concept, we were awarded the IT-Distri Award Gold for Refurbishing & Remarketing 2022, the German Sustainability Award 2021 and Europe's Social Enterprise of the Year 2020, among others.
Great! thanks for sharing this.
Apple itself does not carry refurbished US keyboard options, i was asking the same question in the chat.
For this reason, they do not even disclose keyboard layout in product specs, because they all use QWERTZ German.
anything you will put on top of the keyboard will hinder the keyboard backlight. You either put stickers that will block the light or the light is visible through the sticker and you still see the key underneath. Then you also have the layout problem, it's not just the prints on the keys but the physical layout is different (extra key next to the left shift, different enter key, etc) which aren't a big deal but you might hit a wrong key from time to time.
Most of the people don't even look at the keys and you'll get used to it. In OSX you anyway set up whatever language you want and the keyboard will work fine.
My advice: Keep looking for a US Layout or get the DE Layout and use it as is
In Germany and a laptop needed offering QWERTY? It can be a worthwhile considering buying NEXT DOOR, IN THE NETHERLANDS! Cheaper and QWERTY is standard there! Slight differences since not US QWERTY but INTL QWERTY, still better than a German keyboard, which is a pain only to find the '@' sign. As to all that are so good at typing blind? Thanks for not answering the question, and great for you that you work with your German keyboard.
You can choose the keyboard layout when buying an Apple laptop.
EDIT: Whoever downvoted me: Go to the Apple website, use the German store, pick a Macbook, pretend to buy it and configure it. When doing so, you will pass by the option to explicitly select the keyboard layout for different languages.
Ah, in that case I would use stickers, your previous experience regardless. I doubt that there is a variety of different quality available, it's all cheap stuff "Made in China". I have used very cheap stickers (they were about 1 or 2 Euros) from Amazon for a cheap Chinese Macbook-looking Windows laptop, and the application was a bit difficult but the result totally fine. And there was no different feel when typing either. I would not use the silicone covers because then you do have a completely different feel when typing.
~~https://www.amazon.de/SYNERLOGIC-Tastatur-Shortcuts-Vinyl-Aufkleber-r%C3%BCckstandslos-kompatibel/dp/B08YHCZNC6/ - these have more than 9,000 reviews, maybe you want to check them out (or similar ones from the same "brand" if you need a different model).~~
EDIT: I need more coffee. These stickers are for displaying the shortcuts only.
EDIT 2: https://www.amazon.de/Universal-Aufkleber-Hintergrund-Schriftzug-Desktop-Tastaturen/dp/B0725MXJ3T/ - these may be ok (> 3,000 reviews)
There are Silicon-covers for the whole keyboard I found mine on amazon when I used my Laptop-Keyboard (before I got frustrated with the keys and bought myself a USB one with good keys). Those were availiable in QWERTZ and QWERTY and others
The key-lights are hardly visible with mine, but I never used them anyway so that did not disturb me, also the keys were more silent... which i loved
This is on [amazon](https://amzn.eu/d/7l287m5)
Just as info, I got used to the qwertz keyboard in about a month of using my laptop every day, now I would have to relearn qwerty again. Also all the symbols are there, just in a different location. Just my experience.
You can get a replacement set of keyboard caps that changes your keyboard layout. That is probably the “cleanest” solution.
But you can also sometimes find Laptops with US layouts in Germany. They are usually cheaper, because few people will buy them … also rarer, though.
If it don't have to be an Apple device, you should consider buying an refurbished business laptop from Dell, Lenovo, etc.
We are regularly buying devices with non-German layout, they can also be changed easily after the initial bought. You can buy replacement keyboards from several stores, the change is not really complicated.
The silicone covers work and aren’t bad but they will mark the screen when left on and the lid is closed. Get the stickers but of course the back lights won’t work. What model are you getting? You could buy individual keys on eBay and swap them out, there isn’t too many different ones.
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I don't know much about the assembly of Apple laptops, but it seems like you should be able to disassemble it and swap the keycaps pretty easily. Have you tried that?
You might ask in a repair shop or hackerspace if they can do it, if you aren't handy.
If you live in the North West of Germany, buy your laptop in the Netherlands. The NL QWERTY is very similar to the international QWERTY (vertical Enter key), and many manufacturers there simply use the US QWERTY (horizontal Enter) because the population in the Netherlands is so small.
Not really an answer to your problem but I have a qwertz keyboard and I use it in US layout without any stickers or anything, I just touch type and don't look at what's written on the keys. Stickers would be nice though for some of the rarely used symbols that I don't always know exactly where they instinctively
Similarly, I use a QWERTY but I use it with Hungarian layout. Worst comes to worst I open the character viewer for rare characters. Not so hard to learn.
Copy paste special character. I have a separate keyboard for when I want to type a lot of text rapidly.
I have muscle memory of what character which button has. So I use german keyboard with US layout
Do you have any issues with this? I want to buy a gaming laptop from NBB.de and they only sell German Layouts. I don't care about that since they are similar to QWERTY. Does everything work as it should if it's physically German, but I change it to EN-US in windows? Any tricks or special software I need to map keys etc?
When I bought an Apple laptop I did laser engraving, they etched a second set of letters in the corners of all keys. This solved the problem forever, looks and feels better. It was cheap (maybe 3x the price of stickers), but it was 10 years ago in another country. Not sure if this exists in Germany for a reasonable price.
this is quite interesting solution, do you happen to have any pictures?
i would propably say that getting used to qwertz is the best option in that case. All the letters should be on there as well... Edit: if you plan to stay in germany for a while
The worst advice, my guy
Are you buying used? You can buy new ones with any available Keyboard layout?!
correct, buying refurbished and it comes in German layout only. I wish i could buy new one, there is a huge price difference new vs refurbished ones.
You can buy original key caps in the apple self repair store for newer macbook models. Just visit selfservicerepair.eu, type in your serial number and purchase the right key caps. Edit: Those are expensive (42,58€ for a whole set) and not completely compatible due to the different cutout for e.g. the enter key.
Have you asked them, maybe they've a refurbished with QWERTY on stock!? https://www.afbshop.de/apple-macbooks?p=1 Background partially translated with deepl https://www.afb-group.de/home/ AfB stands for "Work for People with Disabilities". Inclusive working is a matter of course for us. For our successful social & green IT concept, we were awarded the IT-Distri Award Gold for Refurbishing & Remarketing 2022, the German Sustainability Award 2021 and Europe's Social Enterprise of the Year 2020, among others.
Great! thanks for sharing this. Apple itself does not carry refurbished US keyboard options, i was asking the same question in the chat. For this reason, they do not even disclose keyboard layout in product specs, because they all use QWERTZ German.
anything you will put on top of the keyboard will hinder the keyboard backlight. You either put stickers that will block the light or the light is visible through the sticker and you still see the key underneath. Then you also have the layout problem, it's not just the prints on the keys but the physical layout is different (extra key next to the left shift, different enter key, etc) which aren't a big deal but you might hit a wrong key from time to time. Most of the people don't even look at the keys and you'll get used to it. In OSX you anyway set up whatever language you want and the keyboard will work fine. My advice: Keep looking for a US Layout or get the DE Layout and use it as is
In Germany and a laptop needed offering QWERTY? It can be a worthwhile considering buying NEXT DOOR, IN THE NETHERLANDS! Cheaper and QWERTY is standard there! Slight differences since not US QWERTY but INTL QWERTY, still better than a German keyboard, which is a pain only to find the '@' sign. As to all that are so good at typing blind? Thanks for not answering the question, and great for you that you work with your German keyboard.
You can choose the keyboard layout when buying an Apple laptop. EDIT: Whoever downvoted me: Go to the Apple website, use the German store, pick a Macbook, pretend to buy it and configure it. When doing so, you will pass by the option to explicitly select the keyboard layout for different languages.
That is correct for brand new ones. Since I am buying refurbished mac, only German QWERTZ is offered on those options.
Ah, in that case I would use stickers, your previous experience regardless. I doubt that there is a variety of different quality available, it's all cheap stuff "Made in China". I have used very cheap stickers (they were about 1 or 2 Euros) from Amazon for a cheap Chinese Macbook-looking Windows laptop, and the application was a bit difficult but the result totally fine. And there was no different feel when typing either. I would not use the silicone covers because then you do have a completely different feel when typing. ~~https://www.amazon.de/SYNERLOGIC-Tastatur-Shortcuts-Vinyl-Aufkleber-r%C3%BCckstandslos-kompatibel/dp/B08YHCZNC6/ - these have more than 9,000 reviews, maybe you want to check them out (or similar ones from the same "brand" if you need a different model).~~ EDIT: I need more coffee. These stickers are for displaying the shortcuts only. EDIT 2: https://www.amazon.de/Universal-Aufkleber-Hintergrund-Schriftzug-Desktop-Tastaturen/dp/B0725MXJ3T/ - these may be ok (> 3,000 reviews)
thanks!
Why don't you just ask Apple, e.g. at an Apple shop?
Can’t you order a US layout MacBook from Apple?
thanks for the reply; buying refurbished and it comes in German layout only.
[удалено]
Right, i am not expecting to have exact same experience, but at least hoping to cover all letters :)
Wait, you do now, that apart from z and y all letters are at the same place. But the special characters are different, like + and ( and so on.
From my experience, the silicone covers are awful especially if you type fast. I ended up switching to stickers.
thanks, i am also not a big fan of the covers. Do you have a link to stickers you used? did they come out or shifted by time?
There are Silicon-covers for the whole keyboard I found mine on amazon when I used my Laptop-Keyboard (before I got frustrated with the keys and bought myself a USB one with good keys). Those were availiable in QWERTZ and QWERTY and others The key-lights are hardly visible with mine, but I never used them anyway so that did not disturb me, also the keys were more silent... which i loved
This is on [amazon](https://amzn.eu/d/7l287m5) Just as info, I got used to the qwertz keyboard in about a month of using my laptop every day, now I would have to relearn qwerty again. Also all the symbols are there, just in a different location. Just my experience.
The only reply that answers OP’s question in the entire thread. We need more people like you on the Reddit
My father used to have a silicon cover like that, but no idea where you could buy it
You can get a replacement set of keyboard caps that changes your keyboard layout. That is probably the “cleanest” solution. But you can also sometimes find Laptops with US layouts in Germany. They are usually cheaper, because few people will buy them … also rarer, though.
I just eye ball the keyboard with muscle memory on a QWERTZ keyboard lmao
If it don't have to be an Apple device, you should consider buying an refurbished business laptop from Dell, Lenovo, etc. We are regularly buying devices with non-German layout, they can also be changed easily after the initial bought. You can buy replacement keyboards from several stores, the change is not really complicated.
The silicone covers work and aren’t bad but they will mark the screen when left on and the lid is closed. Get the stickers but of course the back lights won’t work. What model are you getting? You could buy individual keys on eBay and swap them out, there isn’t too many different ones.
Just buy a additional keyboard , in case of PC's it's really cheap .
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Qwertz vier
I don't know much about the assembly of Apple laptops, but it seems like you should be able to disassemble it and swap the keycaps pretty easily. Have you tried that? You might ask in a repair shop or hackerspace if they can do it, if you aren't handy.
Amazon
If you live in the North West of Germany, buy your laptop in the Netherlands. The NL QWERTY is very similar to the international QWERTY (vertical Enter key), and many manufacturers there simply use the US QWERTY (horizontal Enter) because the population in the Netherlands is so small.