# Computer Keyboard Layout



## eliefostermacro (Oct 8, 2014)

Hi all, this might sound like a stupid question, but I'm not sure whether to buy a new laptop before leaving England or to get one in Spain. I am a very fast typist and would be totally thrown out if a Spanish keyboard layout was different to the UK. I assume they have a QWERTY layout, however, it ocurred to me there might be additional keys for letters with accents, which as I say would cause me a problem. Any info on Spanish keyboard layouts gratefully received. Thanks Elaine


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

eliefostermacro said:


> Hi all, this might sound like a stupid question, but I'm not sure whether to buy a new laptop before leaving England or to get one in Spain. I am a very fast typist and would be totally thrown out if a Spanish keyboard layout was different to the UK. I assume they have a QWERTY layout, however, it ocurred to me there might be additional keys for letters with accents, which as I say would cause me a problem. Any info on Spanish keyboard layouts gratefully received. Thanks Elaine


Hi Elaine. Here's the Spanish keyboard layout:

Spanish Keyboard layout and special alt characters Spain (Spanish) version

You can use the ASCII code to get these letters from any keyboard, which are all listed here. Use your numeric keypad to access these - not the #'s on the top of your keyboard.

ASCII code Ã± ,eñe, enie, spanish letter enye, lowercase n with tilde, American Standard Code for Information Interchange, The complete ASCII table, characters,letters, vowels with accents, consonants, signs, symbols, numbers enie, spanish, enye, low

You can change the input language for your keyboard and switch back and forth easily. Here are the instructions for Windows:

How to change keyboard language in Windows


I hope that helps you out.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

The layout of the alphabet characters shared between English and Spanish is the same, so you won't notice any difference if you are used to English keyboards. There are aditional keys for accents and letters not in the English alphabet, but they don't interfere with the main QWERTY layout (they are off to the side). However many non-alphabet characters (@, ?, ", brackets, etc) are in different places, so it takes a while to get used to that, but it's only a minor irritation to begin with.

A bigger issue might be the language of the operating system: Spanish laptops tend to be in Spanish and come bundled with software in Spanish, which might be a bigger hurdle.


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## eliefostermacro (Oct 8, 2014)

Hi, thank you very much for your reply, that is very helpful. So am I right in assuming the actual keyboard for a Spanish laptop would look the same as a UK keyboard and I then access the accents etc via the method you are describing? One point, is that on laptops you don't generally have a numeric keypad, so would that cause a problem on accessing the codes you are describing. Thanks Elaine


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## eliefostermacro (Oct 8, 2014)

Chopera said:


> The layout of the alphabet characters shared between English and Spanish is the same, so you won't notice any difference if you are used to English keyboards. There are aditional keys for accents and letters not in the English alphabet, but they don't interfere with the main QWERTY layout (they are off to the side). However many non-alphabet characters (@, ?, ", brackets, etc) are in different places, so it takes a while to get used to that, but it's only a minor irritation to begin with.
> 
> A bigger issue might be the language of the operating system: Spanish laptops tend to be in Spanish and come bundled with software in Spanish, which might be a bigger hurdle.


 Hi there, Thank you very much for this information, that is very useful and I hadn't thought about the Spanish software side of things, so I think until I am proficent in Spanish, I should buy one in the UK before I leave. I was just thinking about warranty issues if I purchased one in the UK. Again thanks for your input.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

eliefostermacro said:


> Hi there, Thank you very much for this information, that is very useful and I hadn't thought about the Spanish software side of things, so I think until I am proficent in Spanish, I should buy one in the UK before I leave. I was just thinking about warranty issues if I purchased one in the UK. Again thanks for your input.


Or wait and buy an Apple, it can be set to the language of your choice, plus warranty is here


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

eliefostermacro said:


> Hi, thank you very much for your reply, that is very helpful. So am I right in assuming the actual keyboard for a Spanish laptop would look the same as a UK keyboard and I then access the accents etc via the method you are describing? One point, is that on laptops you don't generally have a numeric keypad, so would that cause a problem on accessing the codes you are describing. Thanks Elaine


You're welcome.  My laptop keyboard has a numeric pad, bought from the UK. But my Spanish keyboard doesn't. 



eliefostermacro said:


> Hi there, Thank you very much for this information, that is very useful and I hadn't thought about the Spanish software side of things, so I think until I am proficent in Spanish, I should buy one in the UK before I leave. I was just thinking about warranty issues if I purchased one in the UK. Again thanks for your input.


What I did (upon the suggestion of I think it was Chopera) is buy a wireless Spanish keyboard. So when I type in Spanish, I use my Spanish keyboard. It's a lot easier than using the numbers from ASCII. 

I definitely would never have bought a Spanish laptop, due to my limited Spanish, for the reasons of everything being in Spanish. You can change the language of your computer on Windows 8 and 8.1, but not everything would translate, like software.

Re the warranty, I bought from Amazon.UK, so the warranty is in effect. People on the forum helped me find the perfect laptop. Just be sure to buy a really good laptop - good name brand and everything you need. That's what I did and I'm very happy with my purchase. 

I now have four keyboards - American English on my old laptop and on my wireless keyboard, Spanish wireless keyboard and UK laptop keyboard. Confused? Me?


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

Here's the laptop I bought. Perhaps this is something that interests you too? 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-G50-...&keywords=Lenovo+G50-30+Laptop,+Intel+Celeron


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

eliefostermacro said:


> Hi there, Thank you very much for this information, that is very useful and I hadn't thought about the Spanish software side of things, so I think until I am proficent in Spanish, I should buy one in the UK before I leave. I was just thinking about warranty issues if I purchased one in the UK. Again thanks for your input.


You are correct all Spanish laptops come with Spanish operating systems but places like Worten will change to English for a small fee plus you have peace of mind of the guarantee which is 2years.If you bring one from the UK I think I am right in saying that they only do a 12months guarantee which if something goes wrong can be a pain in the butt.Like Hepa said if you buy a Mac. you can set it up yourself but sadly you are paying a premium for a Mac
but it's whatever floats you boat.Another alternative is to buy a laptop in Spain and fetch a small UK USB keyboard or bluetooth then you have got the best of both worlds.


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

this is on Wortens website and for everyday usage it represents good value for money.Works out less than 200pounds also to remember Windows new OS is coming out this year Widows 10.Hope this helps.


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

soulboy said:


> this is on Wortens website and for everyday usage it represents good value for money.Works out less than 200pounds also to remember Windows new OS is coming out this year Widows 10.Hope this helps.


The Windows 10 will be free to upgrade for Windows users. Here's more info about Windows 10.

Windows 10 UK release date, price, features UK - PC Advisor


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

AllHeart said:


> The Windows 10 will be free to upgrade for Windows users. Here's more info about Windows 10.
> 
> Windows 10 UK release date, price, features UK - PC Advisor


Quite correct for 12months.Then you have to pay for it.I have Windows10 Beta edition now.Anybody can download it and try it.I have it as a dual boot and it looks like it's going to be a damn sight better than Windows8.Just hope they get it right.


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## eliefostermacro (Oct 8, 2014)

AllHeart said:


> You're welcome.  My laptop keyboard has a numeric pad, bought from the UK. But my Spanish keyboard doesn't.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hello Confused, thanks for all that input. I think I now realise I need to buy here before I leave. From what you say, I need a laptop (with several keyboards - joke!) with a numeric keypad so I can access the letters with the accents when I need to. That was good input too about Amazon UK extending the warranty to Spain. Thanks Elaine


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

eliefostermacro said:


> Hello Confused, thanks for all that input. I think I now realise I need to buy here before I leave. From what you say, I need a laptop (with several keyboards - joke!) with a numeric keypad so I can access the letters with the accents when I need to. That was good input too about Amazon UK extending the warranty to Spain. Thanks Elaine


A multitude of keyboards is just one source of my confusion! 

I just looked at my Spanish keyboard, and it does have a numeric keypad. On thinking about it, they should all have a numeric keypad, so the ASCII codes can be accessed, but I'm not sure that all keyboards have it. The numeric keypad includes the numbers to the right of your keyboard. Do you see where I mean?

Perhaps you'd like the same set-up as mine... I use my UK and American English keyboards most of the time, and use the ASCII codes if I just want to type in a few Spanish letters. But when I'm typing mainly in Spanish, like when studying Spanish and doing Spanish emails, I plug in my Spanish wireless keyboard.


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

soulboy said:


> Quite correct for 12months.Then you have to pay for it.I have Windows10 Beta edition now.Anybody can download it and try it.I have it as a dual boot and it looks like it's going to be a damn sight better than Windows8.Just hope they get it right.


Microsoft might extend it past the 12 months, but they haven't committed to that yet. I'm happy to hear that you like it so far. :thumb:


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

Buy it from the UK, I was going to grab one at the shops but some last minute googling saved me from the hassle. I think unless the laptop is loaded with Windows Home premium you will most likely get a Spanish software version.
It can be changed at either cost or faff and I'm not convinced it wont cause problems later on so I just ordered from amazon.uk.

As for keyboards I use both azerty and qwerty layouts so am used to both.


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## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

Hola

New laptops come in Spain with Windows 8.1 and you can change the language to English. The software is in English also. I just went to El Corte Ingles and chose the cheapest PC on offer in the sales. 

Davexf


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

I use an English Netbook. I find it impossible to use a Spanish keyboard. 

It is not the letters that cause me a problem but the location of some of the special keys. Nowadays the characters / and @ are used a lot and I just cannot get used to the location of these on a Spanish keyboard.

Most of what I type is in English. On the odd occasion I need a Spanish character I use spanish.typeit.org. I select the Spanish character then copy and paste into my document. Of course if you are typing a lot of Spanish this would not be ideal.

Also if you have a Spanish spell checker on you computer that will usually put accents and special characters like ñ in for you when it corrects a word


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## eliefostermacro (Oct 8, 2014)

Thanks very much to everyone on the input ref Spanish keyboard layout and whether to be in the UK or Spain. Much appreciated, although to be fair, I'm still not sure which way to go LOL!


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

eliefostermacro said:


> Thanks very much to everyone on the input ref Spanish keyboard layout and whether to be in the UK or Spain. Much appreciated, although to be fair, I'm still not sure which way to go LOL!


It's not an easy decision but for me it would be the guarantee.As has been pointed out if you buy in Spain you can get your language changed to English and if you look in Carrefour,Worten,MediaMarkt,Corte Ingles there is really some good offers on.All carry a 2year guarantee and if you have a problem you can walk into the store and get it sorted where if you buy off Amazon you havn't got that luxury.Had a friend who bought off Amazon,a Sony VAIO,6months down the line had a problem with the DVD writer and he had no end of hassle trying to get it fixed.I know in Worten you can walk into their service dept. and they will sort it for you.takes all the frustration and hassle out of it.But hey it's downto personal choice.Hope you get what you are looking for and that it serves you well.Regards.SB.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Guarantees - keyboards cost pence - so why worry.

Recently bought SWMBO (for silver wedding pressy) a brand- new laptop from Amazon UK: 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JIOG5WG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00
it is excellent, it is W7 which is more easily customisable to be similar to XP and has a numeric keypad. It is free delivery in UK and £359 inc VAT. Delivery to Spain cost £8.95 and arrived two days later by courier.

As far as accents are concerned, you can use the Alternate keyboard with the numeric keypad. If you are using MS office programs then use the MS shortcuts (Ctrl+ the accent character, followed by the letter to be accented). If you are using Open-Office, go to 'Insert', 'Special character' and then select what you want from the table.


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