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    Clevo P170EM keyboard alternatives

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by jorgehumberto, Mar 8, 2018.

  1. jorgehumberto

    jorgehumberto Notebook Guru

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    Hi all,

    Does anyone know of alternative keyboards to replace the stock one on a Clevo P170EM?

    Never liked the stock keyboard, always found it bad, but now I need to replace it (let's say a large piece of wood fell on it...) as it is becoming unusable.

    I saw HERE that there's an MSI that can be used, but was looking for other alternatives as well. Backlight is optional, although I would still prefer it. And I would prefer a chiclet-type keyboard if possible.

    Cheers
    Jorge
     
  2. jorgehumberto

    jorgehumberto Notebook Guru

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  3. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Not really and with those MSI it was only an initial run that would work.
     
  4. jorgehumberto

    jorgehumberto Notebook Guru

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    Boohoo, not even the P151EM, or similar ones? or maybe one from the W series? basically anything but the stock one...

    Found a few second hand MSi laptops with the steelseries keyboard but all of them in working conditions..
     
  5. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    The later keyboards still fit but all the inputs are mapped differently so it's a gamble. Nothing else fits.
     
  6. jorgehumberto

    jorgehumberto Notebook Guru

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    Hi ,

    Found the keyboard from a MSI GS60 6QE Ghost Pro from Sunrex , with P/N: V143422EK1PO (although with no frame, which I guess I could either find online or attempt to do one myself). You reckon it would work?

    At a first glance, looks like it would fit and the cabling looks fine. Regarding the key mapping, I guess the issues would be with the functions keys, which I rarely use anyway so I could install a key mapper on Windows.

    Thanks for the help! :)

    Cheers,
    Jorge
     
  7. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    The key mapping if wrong impacts every key. They did this deliberately.
     
  8. jorgehumberto

    jorgehumberto Notebook Guru

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    Hi,

    Sorry, what do you mean? that all keys will have to be remapped in the OS? or that the laptop won't be able to detect the keystrokes and thus I will not be able to remap them in the OS?

    Thanks!
    Jorge
     
  9. senso

    senso Notebook Deity

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    if the row/columns are the same, making a pcb to re-arrange the order of the pins in the connector would be simple, a pair of pfc connectors and 1-2cm of flatflex to connect into the laptop, same for the backlight if both support 3 zones of RGB.
     
  10. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    You would need to hardware mod it yes, and remap the inputs that way.
     
  11. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    It was supposed to be an MSI exclusive at the time. When resellers starting buying them and swapping then in they changed the revision and scrambled the mapping to stop it.
     
  12. jorgehumberto

    jorgehumberto Notebook Guru

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    So you mean that if I can get my hands on an older model it should work, whereas the latest ones will need some hardware modding?

    OK, that is interesting to know...

    Thanks! :)