Apple Ergonomics and Working from Home

While I worked away this past week in an unexpected working from home situation I was proud of the job my MacBook did providing a Parallel’s Windows XP environment to connect to my office in Dublin. But the Mac did not come away unharmed as shown in the following photo.

This is the result of my use of the keyboard to rest my ham handed fists on it while typing on it. It is not the only damage I have inflicted on my MacBook as there is another crack in an exact mirrored position on the opposite palm rest, a crack I believe I committed by squeezing it too hard while picking it up one time some months ago. But it is apparent that this is a weak area of the MacBook, and the plastic is clearly too thin to support my hands let alone my grip, a definite design issue.

While on that thought, I also determined that while typing, the actual design of the edge of the MacBook is also done poorly as it really does have a sharp edge on the lip of the palm area that cuts into my hand, making me wish for a external keyboard. I have gotten very used to the chicklet keyboard layout on the MacBook, but that edge has to go. That however, engaged my memory, the first iBooks that Job’s and company delivered were much more ‘organic’ rounder things than the current incarnations and it made me long for more of that old style design. Maybe in the new MacBooks soon to be released, probably not, so until then, I’m off to find a laptop stand and keyboard.