For example, the home, end, page up and page down keys are at the top of the keyboard and the regular cursor controls are at the bottom. I prefer laptops that use the FN key to merge all of the cursor controls into the same four keys. The FN key is in general rather under-used, with only five or six functions, mostly related to controlling the hardware. Of the standard keyboard keys, only SysRq, Scroll Lock and Break require the use of the FN key. The mouse is a two-button touch pad, which can be a critical issue for some users.
Emotions run strong.
People either love them or hate them, and arguments about the most appropriate laptop pointing device have been known to degenerate into fist fights. You should spend a few minutes using a laptop with a touch pad before you make up your mind, but if your thumbs tend to drift around below the space bar, you may find your mouse pointer bouncing around when you least expect it. A minor inconvenience for normal use, but tedious with software that makes extensive use of the third button. There is also a selection of connectors and buttons that aren't used in Linux, such as the single USB connector, the push-button style external volume control and, depending on your kernel version, the Lucent WinModem. Or, if not dropped, mistreated in other ways.