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The new thinkpad keyboards are absolutely shitty. I am happy that more people are complaining about it. The classic thinkpad keyboard had nice ergonomic aspects

by psankar 10y ago

The new thinkpad keyboards are absolutely shitty. I am happy that more people are complaining about it. The classic thinkpad keyboard had nice ergonomic aspects. You can touch-type the function keys without looking down, because they are all grouped in four. The arrow keys are proper sized buttons (even the macbook has it wrong). There is a slight curvature on each key's surface that makes it easy for the finger to feel the borders. All of these are missing in the new keyboards. This chiclet design is the worst thing to happen for the thinkpads.

odiroot 10y ago
Funnily enough the curvature was the reason I didn't like Thinkpad before. Now, after moving to chiclet, I find Thinkpad keyboards (especially T series) to be the best on the market.
- bostand 10y ago
  I have both and can't really say which one i like most, they are both great. There are however a lot of cheap ideapads and lenovo chromebooks with really awful chiclet keyboards. Avoid at all cost!
floatboth 10y ago
Have you actually tried the new keyboards? The X240 chiclet keyboard is excellent, I enjoy every moment of typing on it. The only better keyboards are the mechanical ones, which are way too thick for a laptop. (And function keys ARE grouped in four!!!)
- justinsaccount 10y ago
  > (And function keys ARE grouped in four!!!) Ah, looks like just the 30 series lacked the grouping, they brought it back on the 40 series.
justinsaccount 10y ago
> You can touch-type the function keys without looking down, because they are all grouped in four. This is true. The new Fkeys are not grouped. > The arrow keys are proper sized buttons (even the macbook has it wrong). This is false, look at the linked image[1] and tell me that the arrow keys are different on the new keyboard. > There is a slight curvature on each key's surface that makes it easy for the finger to feel the borders. This is also false. The chicklet keys are slightly concave and the island layout makes it extremely easy to feel the borders of each key. > All of these are missing in the new keyboards. Again, this is false. > This chiclet design is the worst thing to happen for the thinkpads. This is subjective. I have both keyboards, and I like the new style better. I'm a linux user and I use vim. I've probably pressed the Fkeys 10s of times in the years I've owned either laptop. The entire row could be removed and I probably wouldn't even notice. It's fine if you don't like the new keyboard, but the reasons you are giving are simply not true. [1] https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ksPFqBdMikM/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ksPFqBdMikM/maxresdefault.jpg
- inanutshellus 10y ago
  Caveat: I'm entirely going off your image[1]. I have neither laptop. >> The arrow keys are proper sized buttons (even the macbook has it wrong). > This is false, look at the linked image[1] and tell me that the arrow keys are different on the new keyboard. Looks like the old laptop has a different height for Left, Right, and Down compared to Up, PageUp, PageDown. Is that really the case? If so, that'd be a pretty noticeable difference for a user of the original design. >> There is a slight curvature on each key's surface that makes it easy for the finger to feel the borders. > This is also false. The chicklet keys are slightly concave and the island layout makes it extremely easy to feel the borders of each key. Just going off the shadow from your image, there's a marked and well-defined difference between the concavity. If my fingers were used to that concavity, I'd be unhappy with the much, much flatter design. Arguing that he's propagating falsehoods is overshooting. That said, I thought it was pretty bad-ass you had both laptops and took a photo for us. [1] https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ksPFqBdMikM/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ksPFqBdMikM/maxresdefault.jpg
  - 10y ago
SomeHacker44 10y ago
Maybe, but the new MacBook Pro keyboard is so loud I have been banned from the bedroom with my laptop. (TouchBar is also terrible.) What a disaster.
- floatboth 10y ago
  Really? I can understand someone complaining about a keyboard with Cherry MX Blue switches, but a laptop? :D
- inanutshellus 10y ago
  That's funny. I remember my audiophile pals back in the day ooo'ing and ahhh'ing over the old mbp's keyboard being satisfyingly quiet-but-not-silent.
delroth 10y ago
My Thinkpad keyboard still has the function keys grouping (Esc-F1-F2-F3-F4 F5-F6-F7-F8 F9-F10-F11-F12 Home-End-Insert-Delete). I think it's only the first generation of chiclet keyboards (the one used in T430) that didn't have it, and they fixed it later.

by psankar 10y ago

odiroot 10y ago

Funnily enough the curvature was the reason I didn't like Thinkpad before. Now, after moving to chiclet, I find Thinkpad keyboards (especially T series) to be the best on the market.

bostand 10y ago
I have both and can't really say which one i like most, they are both great. There are however a lot of cheap ideapads and lenovo chromebooks with really awful chiclet keyboards. Avoid at all cost!

floatboth 10y ago

Have you actually tried the new keyboards? The X240 chiclet keyboard is excellent, I enjoy every moment of typing on it. The only better keyboards are the mechanical ones, which are way too thick for a laptop. (And function keys ARE grouped in four!!!)

justinsaccount 10y ago
> (And function keys ARE grouped in four!!!) Ah, looks like just the 30 series lacked the grouping, they brought it back on the 40 series.

justinsaccount 10y ago

> You can touch-type the function keys without looking down, because they are all grouped in four. This is true. The new Fkeys are not grouped. > The arrow keys are proper sized buttons (even the macbook has it wrong). This is false, look at the linked image[1] and tell me that the arrow keys are different on the new keyboard. > There is a slight curvature on each key's surface that makes it easy for the finger to feel the borders. This is also false. The chicklet keys are slightly concave and the island layout makes it extremely easy to feel the borders of each key. > All of these are missing in the new keyboards. Again, this is false. > This chiclet design is the worst thing to happen for the thinkpads. This is subjective. I have both keyboards, and I like the new style better. I'm a linux user and I use vim. I've probably pressed the Fkeys 10s of times in the years I've owned either laptop. The entire row could be removed and I probably wouldn't even notice. It's fine if you don't like the new keyboard, but the reasons you are giving are simply not true. [1] https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ksPFqBdMikM/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ksPFqBdMikM/maxresdefault.jpg

inanutshellus 10y ago
Caveat: I'm entirely going off your image[1]. I have neither laptop. >> The arrow keys are proper sized buttons (even the macbook has it wrong). > This is false, look at the linked image[1] and tell me that the arrow keys are different on the new keyboard. Looks like the old laptop has a different height for Left, Right, and Down compared to Up, PageUp, PageDown. Is that really the case? If so, that'd be a pretty noticeable difference for a user of the original design. >> There is a slight curvature on each key's surface that makes it easy for the finger to feel the borders. > This is also false. The chicklet keys are slightly concave and the island layout makes it extremely easy to feel the borders of each key. Just going off the shadow from your image, there's a marked and well-defined difference between the concavity. If my fingers were used to that concavity, I'd be unhappy with the much, much flatter design. Arguing that he's propagating falsehoods is overshooting. That said, I thought it was pretty bad-ass you had both laptops and took a photo for us. [1] https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ksPFqBdMikM/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ksPFqBdMikM/maxresdefault.jpg
- 10y ago

SomeHacker44 10y ago

Maybe, but the new MacBook Pro keyboard is so loud I have been banned from the bedroom with my laptop. (TouchBar is also terrible.) What a disaster.

floatboth 10y ago
Really? I can understand someone complaining about a keyboard with Cherry MX Blue switches, but a laptop? :D
inanutshellus 10y ago
That's funny. I remember my audiophile pals back in the day ooo'ing and ahhh'ing over the old mbp's keyboard being satisfyingly quiet-but-not-silent.

delroth 10y ago

My Thinkpad keyboard still has the function keys grouping (Esc-F1-F2-F3-F4 F5-F6-F7-F8 F9-F10-F11-F12 Home-End-Insert-Delete). I think it's only the first generation of chiclet keyboards (the one used in T430) that didn't have it, and they fixed it later.