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Most Chromebooks come with an unconventional position for the power button. This button is placed at the right top of the keyboard. It's often a replacement of the delete button. When you press the button, the laptop will turn off.

Keyboard layout of Chromebook

Why would they do this?

please delete me
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  • Google doesn't really care, I think. No one gets a chromebook for the premium build quality - they just want it to be cheap – user383 Jul 11 '16 at 13:29
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    I'm almost certain you have to press AND HOLD the button to make the laptop turn off. MacBook Air has the same thing. – Roger Attrill Jul 11 '16 at 13:40
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    I have always been against Power buttons on the most suspectable place your hand will be if you're carrying your laptop with it being open. If I press it for long, it will shut down and I won't know until it's too late. – Swapnil Borkar Jul 11 '16 at 13:55
  • Google often seems to get a free pass on design. Now, if MS or someone else did it, it would be criticized but with Google, people tend to find the reason behind why it was implemented. I personally think this is one of the decisions that wasn't really thought of. – Swapnil Borkar Jul 11 '16 at 13:56
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    @SwapnilBorkar, Apple did it, there was no big drama – exp Jul 11 '16 at 14:12
  • This isn't a UX question short of someone at Google explaining how it is. The simple answer is that they copied the macbook, assuming the macbook is already a standard keyboard layout. – DA01 Jul 18 '16 at 20:22
  • The question is closed but I haven't seen anyone else with my own conclusion outright so I'll put my answer here: It's cheaper to manufacture a different label on a key that would be there anyway than it is to add an additional button. – Slipp D. Thompson Oct 25 '16 at 22:01

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Actually when working as a tech reporter full-time I asked some Google and Chromebook-manufacturer product designers this question and the answer is pretty straightforward: Chromebooks aren't meant to be powered off.

Think of the product experience. When you get the Chromebook for the first time, every single one (and from the dozen or so that I've had, I can attest to this) turns on out of the box by opening the screen. That means they are already on standby, meaning on, before they're sealed.

They have long battery life, with the shortest of any lasting 6 hours, and some lasting for as long as 14 per charge. With that kind of longevity of unlikely for users to run out of power and need to turn it off to conserve battery life. Furthermore (I love that word) people are more likely to close the lid than to shut it off manually when told to do so, and in the initial setup this is the way users are told to do it.

Lastly, it's also the manufacturer's preference. I've seen some Chromebooks, mostly from Chinese makers, that have power buttons to match to local demographic. I don't know this for sure, but it's safe to assume that most laptop users in that market are on Windows laptops that have power buttons and likely haven't used something without one, let alone a Mac, which got this design started in the first place.

Jamezrp
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    well, all this would make a lot more sense if the button wasn't in a position where many users will click on it by accident – Devin Jul 18 '16 at 19:12
  • I never said it's the write UX decision. I've had the same issue, clicking the button instead of backspace. Most people buying Chromebooks however don't click the delete button, mostly because they tend to be laptop users who either don't have the button on their keyboards or don't use it frequently. Then again, a lot of keyboards feature the delete button in the same location. – Jamezrp Jul 18 '16 at 19:14
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    I agree with @Devin— if they aren't meant to be shut off, then the power button would be less-accessible (e.g. a small button on the side; a 3-key combination that must be held down for a few seconds; a paperclip hole on the bottom) rather than more-accessible (a normal keyboard key).  The answer you got from the product designers sounds like marketing fluff or even intentional doublespeak. – Slipp D. Thompson Oct 25 '16 at 21:58
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It's important to note that the power button has to be held for several seconds for the laptop to turn off or on, so it's unlikely one would accidentally lose one's work using this button.

As for the placement, the Chromebook function key row seems to be heavily inspired by the Macbook function key row, where audio buttons and a power button are also on the very right.

There's also some logic behind it -- the hardware-related function keys (brightness, volume, power) are on the right, whereas the software-related function keys are on the left.

Additionally, from keyboard designs that I know, power buttons generally go on one extreme -- the far left or the far right. Google could have opted for the far left, but that's where "escape" generally tends to be. They could have put the power button above "escape", but that would ruin the elegance of the keyboard design. Given that the keyboard ditches "Delete" altogether and that MacBooks have featured the power button on the far right for years, it makes sense to put it on the far right.

Tin Man
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