Keyboard Quality
Does it matter? A lot of people think it doesn't, and are perfectly happy with $10 OEM sets, but I have to disagree. I type faster and less problematically with my old IBM Model M. I love it so much that I actually own three now, and have them all hooked up to different computers. best thing is, I haven't even spent over $10 on all of them combined.
I can't even type on my grandma's PC now, since she has a really bad HP keyboard, it's almost like a typing on a laptop.
So anyway, what does everyone think?
I can't even type on my grandma's PC now, since she has a really bad HP keyboard, it's almost like a typing on a laptop.
So anyway, what does everyone think?
Comments
I don't mind the flat-keyed keyboard on my Lenovo IdeaPad Z575 but it's not as fun to type on as the I5000...
I just recently replaced my wireless one with the identical USB version ($15), mostly because the wireless one is over three years old and really, really beat off. That said I've only ever had to change the batteries on it twice, and that says a lot considering how much I use my PC.
I won't spend a ton of money on a keyboard because my keyboards tend to act as collectors for dust, ash, hair and food crumbs.
My Model M will never be replaced though. There's something about that *clickCLACK*, and the sheer size of it that just feels great. Plenty of room between keys, and it looks nice on a desk imo. Plus, if you get pissed off at someone, it's certainly good for bashing heads.
Jk, hitting people with IBM stuff isn't a good idea. Murder isn't a fun thing.
They make mechanical keyboards also. Guy I know at work has one and you can hear that thing loudly.
As for keyboards, I've always wanted to try a Model M or one of the modern equivalents from Unicomp.
The keyboard I use now is some no name brand. It's ok, but it's wearing out after years of use. I'd like to get a new one, but I'm not sure what I'd get. The Unicomp keyboards are a bit more than I'd like to spend on a keyboard.
As for laptop keyboards, you can't go wrong with a Thinkpad keyboard. Easily the best keyboard I've ever used.
However, I'd still rather type shit on my thinkpad. Those keyboards are just...
Yeah. I recently used a Compaq/HP laptop, and I honestly don't know how people can use those things. Thinkpads are the only laptops with good keyboards. Powerbooks USED to have good keyboards, like the Powerbook 1400, but recently Macs have seemed to have the worst keyboards that are made.
It would be nice if PC laptops had a standard layout that more closely matched the desktop. That was something I liked about my Thinkpad T40, the layout was similar to a desktop. Although, the lack of a windows key annoyed me.
Speaking of chiclets, the new Thinkpad T430 is supposed to come with a chiclet keyboard.
Although it's not a chiclet style in the Mac or HP sense of the word, it's not really even an island style. It's more like the Acer style ones, except not as flat.
Personally I think this is blasphemous and that Lenovo's R&D team should be burned on the stake for this heresy, but maybe I'm a little bit of an extremist. Stuff is going to get under that thing, people are going to complain, and Lenovo is going to lose a lot of customers. Let's hope they do a Martin Guitar style thing, and after experimenting with all of these ridiculous contraptions, go back to the traditional Thinkpad keyboard.
Because there's NO WAY anyone is going to take an Ultrabook T series seriously. It's not even in the same market.. Ultrabooks are for home users, as are those crappy chiclet keyboards.. Thinkpads are business laptops. Let's see how long it takes this T series drop drop in business sales.
But I haven't tried Lenovo's take on chiclet keys. Maybe it's not too bad?
Maybe if Lenovo uses a scissor switch, and fixes the whole flatness thing, they'll be decent, but I'll still prefer my old fashioned Thinkpad keyboard. Nothing beats typing on a T2x series, except a 600 series. :P
I think my next Thinkpad is going to be an X series.
The only somewhat recent ThinkPad I've owned is the R40, which was my main laptop until it's motherboard decided to go take a shit. I stripped the parts out of it, pretty sure the carcass is sitting downstairs in a box.
If I was buying a laptop, and money wasn't an issue, I'd almost definitely go with an X series tablet paired with a high-resolution IPS screen - Lenovo is one of the few to actually offer that as an option.
Enough of this 1366x768 bullshit, especially on 15.4" laptops. One can only hope the race towards better quality displays (both resolution and technology wise) in mobiles eventually starts to reverse the continous downward trend to make monitors as cheap as possible using the worst TN panels.
It's getting a bit better, you can get find 23-24" 1080p MVA / IPS monitors for under $300 now. I wish 1920x1200 displays didn't disappear from the market, I like those extra vertical pixels.
My dream: Dual 24" 1200p SAMOLED+ monitors.
The R40 was actually an Acer though, it wasn't an IBM, and it suffered from the same issues most ATI Radeon 7000 series laptops had at the time.
Even so, I loved it for the time I had it, and even if it wasn't a true IBM ThinkPad, it made me love them just the same.
I just dug up an old picture from 2005, I took it not long after I was given the R40 as a 'gift'...
I'm also looking at some of these old pictures from my gallery...I can't believe these were taken almost 7 years ago...
Back then I was taking pictures of pretty much everything every few months, so I have pictures of pretty much every computer I ever owned. That one there was my first custom built PC, not built by me, but custom built nonetheless.
Did you put a piece of cardboard in-between the graphics chip heatsink and the keyboard? That usually gets another 3 months out of a dying motherboard. :P
It's a Thinkpad. They all look alike. Not to say that's a bad thing, though.
They actually had different screen sizes, which had different cases. x3