ThinkPad Keyboard - how to distinguish real from fake?

Is there a way? I notice on eBay some sellers say they are selling REPLACEMENT keyboards, not genuine. And I bought a "genuine" KB for my X61s (didn't come with KB), it came in the real Lenovo brown box with the safety seal, but the safety seal was broken and now I'm really paranoid the guy slipped in a fake one.

I don't have a reference so I really don't know. The stickers on the back look exactly like the ones if I google for x61s keyboards, but I'm sure those are easy to fake.. is there a more sure fire way to tell? Wish I knew what the fake ones look like

 

Does it matter if it works the same and feels the same?

 

Nah, you're right. It's perfectly fine to pay a lot of money for something that's made illegally and will most likely start breaking soon after the 7 day return period.

Not to mention, genuine probably feels worse to type on. What was I thinking! I'm so glad I bought a fake now.

Thank you Captain +1 Post Count!

 

You need to ask the seller for the IBM FRU "field replacement unit" part number. If they don't list it, move on. I purchased several (3 in total) from Ebay for a Dell laptop.

All were listed as new for my laptop and were inferior knockoffs and they just didn't last or never felt right. Now i'm not saying you can't buy OEM from Ebay because you can. I found a Genuine Dell keyboard and the seller made mention of the OEM part number and insisted it was Dell Geniune and provided the Dell part number.

I'd give that a try. Look on the Lenovo website and get the keyboard part number so you know what to look for.

 

Rodster, that is indeed one way to go. Most fakes are listed as "replacement part" or "100% OEM compatible".

The listing I bought it from had the FRU and the FRU is also listed on the box I received and on the back of the keyboard. But what I did to fully confirm was take out the trackpoint from the keyboard and look under the cap. It had an "I" under it, which means the trackpoint is genuine, so in all likelyhood the keyboard is as well.

Still odd the safety seal was broken. I asked the seller and he just said "maybe we used it to take a picture for someone?"

 

Is it really that hard to put it in and try it? If it works well for you and feels identical, then my point stands. You should be able to tell about the quality in the first few minutes of typing on it.

Fakes are done well these days. The FRU will match and they can even match a serial number etched on an electronic device. There is no way for you to tell or call HP since they don't track where each serial is supposed to be located on something like a keyboard. If it was a laptop they can tell you which company bought it through Warranty information.

Also if you're that concerned with it, where you resort to being rude online, perhaps you should just return it, buy direct from Lenovo and be done. The price is around $50 for a keyboard from them. After shipping and everything, it can't be much of a discount through ebay, and if it was then if it is a knockoff you can't complain that you paid a lot of money for it.

 

I've never encountered a fake ThinkPad keyboard.

Batteries, yes. Palmrests/bezels? Perhaps. Ultrabay caddies? Yep. But never a fake keyboard.

I'd say that the chances of you encountering a fake keyboard are pretty slim.

 

if they can make fake laptop components, I wonder if there are fake thinkpads on the market?

 

Check this out ... ThinkPad X200 Knockoff Brings Back The Old Skool M.I.C. Gadget

 

That's simply crazy! Amazing rip off! I'll now only buy ThinkPads from the Lenovo store! Oh...that's a bit of a problem too - if you are in China - considering what some of those chaps were doing with the fake Apple stores!

+1 rep for the link!

 

Whoa.

Actually, I'd wonder if that doesn't contain some parts made during ghost shifts.

The lettering is a bit off, and there are a few details that give it away, but the rest is pretty close... It would probably fool anyone who wasn't a ThinkPad aficionado.

Not that surprising though; that's just what happens when there's a large market for an expensive product. Black market goods and knock-offs have been around for millennia, and my bet is that they'll be around for a long, long time to come.

 

why they don't put i7 in it? Should be very interesting

 

Atom is cheap to source, but the i7 CPU are not.