Features
Why the OnBoard Travel Keyboard is easier to use than a laptop keyboard
Most people find that their typing productivity (speed and accuracy) is lower on a laptop keyboard than on a desktop keyboard. They have to type more slowly on a laptop keyboard in order to maintain the same accuracy, otherwise they have to spend a lot of time correcting mistakes. Although there is a difference in feel between the “membrane” switch mechanism typically used inside desktop keyboard keys and the “scissor” switch mechanism often used in laptop computer keyboards, this difference does not fully or even substantially account for the difference in typing productivity. Nor does the spacing of the keys. The general impression is that laptop keyboards are cramped, and although it is true that laptop keyboards do not have separate numeric keypads, careful measurement of many laptop keyboards (not including miniature types) shows that the spacing between the centers of adjacent keys (called “pitch”) is the same as or very close to the pitch on a desktop keyboard! And the width of the keycaps is about the same too. So why are laptop keyboards harder to use than desktop keyboards?
The reason a desktop keyboard is easier to use is because of the height and shape of the keycaps and the amount of distance they travel.
OnBoard User’s Manual, Page 8