The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    New ThinkPad keyboard no longer as good as T61 ones?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by snk, Oct 31, 2008.

  1. snk

    snk Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    10
    Messages:
    72
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    New ThinkPad keyboard no longer as good as T61 ones?

    1. Very flexy?
     
    snk, Oct 31, 2008
    #1
  2. The Fire Snake

    The Fire Snake Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    426
    Messages:
    2,889
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Differing opinions on this. Many people are complaining of flex though. Check out this thread.
     
    The Fire Snake, Oct 31, 2008
    #2
  3. Lew

    Lew Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    193
    Messages:
    733
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    my t400 keyboard is better than both of the t61's I've seen in microcenter and the campus bookstore. YMMV
     
    Lew, Oct 31, 2008
    #3
  4. abbjr

    abbjr Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    24
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I have a T61 and a T400. IMO, the T400 has the better keyboard -- and it has NO flex in it anywhere. It is as solid as any other ThinkPad keyboard I have owned -- and I have owned 6 of them over the past several years.
     
    abbjr, Oct 31, 2008
    #4
  5. Xseries4ever

    Xseries4ever Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    82
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I've tried the T400 and find the keyboard to be stunning. No flex detected. But I never tried the T61 so I can't compare. It is as lovely as the X61 and X31 keyboard.
     
    Xseries4ever, Oct 31, 2008
    #5
  6. mikec

    mikec Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    28
    Messages:
    575
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I have to concur; I think the "flex" stuff is way overblown. I have T400 and my keyboard is solid; much better than any other vendor.

    I would agree it is better than the T61, but it get's subjective. I think you need to spend a fair amount of time with keyboard to have a good fell for it (i.e. people adapt to the keyboard they use.)
     
    mikec, Oct 31, 2008
    #6
  7. Longwalker

    Longwalker Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    74
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I don't think the Lenovo keyboard saga is just a matter of some people blowing a minor problem out of proportion.

    There is a very hard split between people who make extremely specific keyboard complaints and people who say there's nothing wrong with the new keyboards. Some of the credible negative comments have included such things as the keyboard squeaking, bouncing, rattling, or bending under ordinary typing pressure. It is highly unlikely that these severe problems apply to all keyboards, however, as few Thinkpad customers are likely to have sufficiently low standards that they would consider a rattling keyboard acceptable.

    I am speculating, but it seems likely that some Lenovo notebooks have--due to bad parts, bad QC, manufacturing faults, design faults or some other factor--much worse keyboards than others. Those of you out there who have bad keyboards will be (quite rightly) upset while those of you with good keyboards will be (quite understandably) scratching your heads wondering what the fuss is about.

    Unfortunately this is no help to anyone considering buying a Lenovo notebook because the keyboard installed in any given order comes down to chance.
     
    Longwalker, Oct 31, 2008
    #7