Macbook air 2020 keyboard keys change.

[Kardoosh]

Dear mac experts!!
I’m buying a new macbook air In Hungary, the thing is that the keyboard is in Hungarian.. but the shop( official apple reseller) gave me an option to change my keyboard keys with english ones. They do it by removing the hungarian keys and placing english ones instead. Do yiu think it’s safe to do it and did anyone do it before ?
thanks

 

[krs]

I assume they would just replace the key caps.

I have done that on older MacBook Airs - no problem if you are careful.

Don't know where you are located, but if for some reason one or more keys don't work, how feasible is it to return the MacBook.

You should probably check which English keyboard you want and make sure the number of keys and their size match.

How to identify your Apple keyboard layout by country or region - Apple Support

Use the letters and symbols on your keyboard to determine your keyboard layout.

support.apple.com

or are they changing the whole keyboard?

 

[Slydude]

I deleted the other thread on the same topic to avoid confusion.

 

[chscag]

I assume they would just replace the key caps.

On a brand new MacBook Air? Not sure I would even trust an official Apple reseller to do that. I suppose if he is based in Hungary, he can always return the MacBook Air.

Also, it would seem to me that they would have to replace the entire keyboard not just the keys. Placing English caps on keys that were designed to give Hungarian characters is not going to work.

 

[krs]

Placing English caps on keys that were designed to give Hungarian characters is not going to work.

Why do you think so?
As long as the button layout and the button sizes are the same between the Hungarian an English keyboards I don't see a basic problem.
That's what I suggested the OP should check.

I missed the point in the original post that this was a "new" MacBook Air.
Maybe the OP can comment why not just get a MBa with the correct keyboard.

 

[chscag]

As long as the button layout and the button sizes are the same between the Hungarian an English keyboards I don't see a basic problem.

What makes you think that they are the same? If they are, changing the keytops will work. However, you know as well as I do that key layouts are seldom the same between foreign keyboards and that which are made for the English language. Even some English language keyboard layouts are different.

 

[krs]

What makes you think that they are the same?

Nothing.
That's why I made the comment in my original post (post #2) and provided a link to Apple laptop keyboards in the various languages.
All the information is there to check if changing key caps would work.

I agree with you, it doesn't make much sense to do this on a brand new MBa unless there are some overriding reasons why the OP doesn't want to or can't get one with the right keyboard - thus my post #5

 

[MacInWin]

But can't you change the keyboard key assignments by changing the default language? I remember changing my keyboard to Greek when I needed to enter some Greek words into a paper, then changing it back to English once I was done with Greek.

 

[chscag]

But can't you change the keyboard key assignments by changing the default language? I remember changing my keyboard to Greek when I needed to enter some Greek words into a paper, then changing it back to English once I was done with Greek.

I don't think you're actually changing the default language.

What you're doing is selecting an input source for a foreign language from System Preferences, Keyboard, Input Sources. We used that method for writing with Asian languages. (Specifically Korean or Japanese.)

You can actually switch back and forth when writing by using a modifier key. I haven't done that in quite some time though and forgot exactly how it's done.

By the way, writing with a language that uses characters other than Roman requires that the correct fonts be available.

 

[Kardoosh]

Why do you think so?
As long as the button layout and the button sizes are the same between the Hungarian an English keyboards I don't see a basic problem.
That's what I suggested the OP should check.

I missed the point in the original post that this was a "new" MacBook Air.
Maybe the OP can comment why not just get a MBa with the correct keyboard.

Thanks for the reply. Yes i’m getting a new macbook but i can’t get it with the english keyboard since all models in Hungary are with Hungarian language keyboards!


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[Kardoosh]

I assume they would just replace the key caps.

I have done that on older MacBook Airs - no problem if you are careful.

Don't know where you are located, but if for some reason one or more keys don't work, how feasible is it to return the MacBook.

You should probably check which English keyboard you want and make sure the number of keys and their size match.

How to identify your Apple keyboard layout by country or region - Apple Support

Use the letters and symbols on your keyboard to determine your keyboard layout.

support.apple.com

or are they changing the whole keyboard?

The guy said they will change some keys not the whole keyboard, they are official apple reseller but i’m not sure if i should trust them for my new mac to remove the original keys and put on others.


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[Kardoosh]

On a brand new MacBook Air? Not sure I would even trust an official Apple reseller to do that. I suppose if he is based in Hungary, he can always return the MacBook Air.

Also, it would seem to me that they would have to replace the entire keyboard not just the keys. Placing English caps on keys that were designed to give Hungarian characters is not going to work.

I asked that question, he said if u put your macbook in english your keyboard automatically changes to english, so the only think left os to change the caps(keys) , i’m not sure if i should trust them to remove the original caps of my brand new macbook. Also i can’t return the macbook since all macbooks in hungary have hungarian keyboards!
Thanks for the reply


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[Kardoosh]

But can't you change the keyboard key assignments by changing the default language? I remember changing my keyboard to Greek when I needed to enter some Greek words into a paper, then changing it back to English once I was done with Greek.

Yes, but the key caps on the keyboard are so much different than the english, for example the @ sign is found typed on the Q cap, so if i change my laptop language to english, the @sign will go to the place where it is supposed to be on an english keyboard and here it will be so hard for me to know where the exact caps for each sign is! I hope u understood what i mean


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[MacInWin]

I don't think you're actually changing the default language.

What you're doing is selecting an input source for a foreign language from System Preferences, Keyboard, Input Sources. We used that method for writing with Asian languages. (Specifically Korean or Japanese.)

You can actually switch back and forth when writing by using a modifier key. I haven't done that in quite some time though and forgot exactly how it's done.

By the way, writing with a language that uses characters other than Roman requires that the correct fonts be available.

Charlie, if you use System Preferences, Language and Region, and change the Region and Country I think the key mapping is completely converted to that language. I didn't mess with the Keyboard input, I changed the Language of the entire Mac. That changed EVERYTHING. So I presume if you buy a machine in Hungary, change the Region to the US, that the keyboard will map to QWERTY instead of the Hungarian layout. Then a keycap change will be just fine. Otherwise, Apple has to have hundreds, maybe thousands, of different keyboards hard wired for each language.

 

[krs]

I asked that question, he said if u put your macbook in english your keyboard automatically changes to english, so the only think left os to change the caps(keys) , i’m not sure if i should trust them to remove the original caps of my brand new macbook. Also i can’t return the macbook since all macbooks in hungary have hungarian keyboards!
Thanks for the reply


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If the Apple dealer is local I would have them change the key caps that need changing.
Just try each key before you accept the Mba to make sure none of the key mechanisms were broken.
And I would ask for the key caps they take off so that you can revert back to the Hungarian keyboard if needed, say you want to sell this MBa in a few years.

Have you looked at the layout of the Hungarian keyboard and English keyboard (post #2) to see if they match so replacing just the key caps is feasible?

If you don't do the key cap replacement, what other option do you have?
Can the dealer not order a MBa with an English keyboard?

 

[krs]

Charlie, if you use System Preferences, Language and Region, and change the Region and Country I think the key mapping is completely converted to that language. I didn't mess with the Keyboard input, I changed the Language of the entire Mac. That changed EVERYTHING. So I presume if you buy a machine in Hungary, change the Region to the US, that the keyboard will map to QWERTY instead of the Hungarian layout. Then a keycap change will be just fine.

I just took a quick look at the Hungarian keyboard and how it compares to the English one I actually have on a MacBook.
Most of the letter keys are the same, a few are interchanged. So that is not too bad.
Most symbol keys need to have the key caps replaced.
However, on the second to last row, the one above the space bar row, the Hungarian keyboard has one extra key (the left shift key is a bit shorter to accommodate it), question is how does mapping to an English keyboard accommodate this.
Does that just become a non-functional key?

Basic question to the Apple dealer - have they done that before, changing to an English keyboard by just replacing some of the keycaps.

 

[Kardoosh]

If the Apple dealer is local I would have them change the key caps that need changing.
Just try each key before you accept the Mba to make sure none of the key mechanisms were broken.
And I would ask for the key caps they take off so that you can revert back to the Hungarian keyboard if needed, say you want to sell this MBa in a few years.

Have you looked at the layout of the Hungarian keyboard and English keyboard (post #2) to see if they match so replacing just the key caps is feasible?

If you don't do the key cap replacement, what other option do you have?
Can the dealer not order a MBa with an English keyboard?

I asked the apple dealer, he said they do it all the time and it is feasible. The only other option i have is keyboard stickers or keyboard silicon cover.
The dealer said he can’t order any macbook with english keyboard since all macbooks in Hungary have hungarian keyboards and if he wants to order one from the US i have tk pay Taxes which is not a good option i think!
Thanks for the reply!!


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[Kardoosh]

I just took a quick look at the Hungarian keyboard and how it compares to the English one I actually have on a MacBook.
Most of the letter keys are the same, a few are interchanged. So that is not too bad.
Most symbol keys need to have the key caps replaced.
However, on the second to last row, the one above the space bar row, the Hungarian keyboard has one extra key (the left shift key is a bit shorter to accommodate it), question is how does mapping to an English keyboard accommodate this.
Does that just become a non-functional key?

Basic question to the Apple dealer - have they done that before, changing to an English keyboard by just replacing some of the keycaps.

Thanks for the reply! The dealer said they do it all the time, i’m not sure about the extra key what do they do with it tbh, do u recommend changing the caps or just use stickers ?



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[Kardoosh]

Thanks for the reply! The dealer said they do it all the time, i’m not sure about the extra key what do they do with it tbh, do u recommend changing the caps or just use stickers ?



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Here’s the link from the store’s website about how they do it!

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Fedezd fel az Apple termékek világát az iSTYLE üzleteiben és vásárolj online iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch és Mac modelljeink, plusz kiegészítőink széles választékából.

istyle.hu

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[krs]

I just looked at the English keyboards on the Apple link in post #2 an it seems people in the US and Canada are being short-changed
There are three English versions:
1. English (Great Britain)
2. English (International)
3. English
Only the third one, which is what North-America ends up with, has 10 letter/symbol keys in the second to last row - both the British and International ones have 11 keys in that row, same as the Hungarian one.
So if you get the English (International) version, you should be good to go. All keys are accounted for I think - I would suggest you double-check (since I didn't)