Clevo makes the worst laptop keyboard EVER!

At first, when I was told that Clevo is using the same 15" keyboard from the smaller models in this large 17" laptop, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal, I thought I would get used to it with time...

Man, even after 3 months of using this laptop, I cannot for the life of me type a sentence without making 2-3 mistakes.

There is so much real estate wasted! I mean why for the love of God! They make the most powerful laptop in the world, then they put this piece of garbage tiny keyboard on it and leave us with a lot of wasted plastic.

The keys are too cramped. They have nice tactile feedback but they are too small.

Mind you, I have very small girly kinda hands. Imagine someone with big hands, I imagine it would be a nightmare typing on it.

That is part 1 of this review, how small and cramped it is......

now, let's move on to the quality of this POS keyboard...

First laptop was a Clevo P870DM-G, within 3 days, I pressed the INS key once and booooooom, it went flying in the air....I thought no big deal, let me just place it back... after doing that, it fell right into place...but if I press the key about 10 times, it snaps out again...

So I had HIDevolution send me a new INS Key which I replaced, same thing, seems like the base of the key was flimsy that it doesn't hold it in place....

so they sent me an entire new keyboard under warranty......that worked great...

then that laptop got stolen, long story short. I then bought a Eurocom Sky X9 but this time when ordering it, I asked HIDevolution to include an extra keyboard which I paid $50 USD for. The reason I did that so if the keyboard goes bad again, I don't have to wait for the replacement to arrive, I can just replace it and send the old one back.

Thank God I did that!

1 month after using my Eurocom Sky X9, the keyboard lights just died....I tried disconnecting the cables / reconnecting with no luck.

So I installed my replacement keyboard and the lights came back on immediately so it wasn't any BIOS or Control Center setting.

I have contacted HIDevolution to send me a new keyboard now so I would keep the replacement as a spare.

As much as I love this laptop, this is my only gripe with it. It is the worst keyboard out of the 10s of laptops I have owned in my life. I hope @clevo-extreme could send my feedback to the concerned department and tell them not to compromise on the keyboard to save a few bucks in their next Clevo Model! Give it a sturdy 17" full fledged keyboard please.

Look at the Alienware 18 / 17 laptops, those have the best keyboards in the world! and please improve the quality of the keyboard so the keys don't randomly pop out. I am not the only one who faced this, even @Ethrem had a similar problem with his keyboard. ( Same key, same problem. Sager RMA for keyboard and they didn't replace the keyboard! )

Money is not an issue, I would pay anything for a proper keyboard! Stop fitting these garbage keyboards in the flagship models that you offer! what a shame really!

 

Thanks for pointing that out!

EDIT::: I actually think of ordering two keyboards when ordering from HIDevolution too, so that I would not have to use laptop without one if something is to happen to it.

My biggest fear does not come from using it, but rather, I would be scared if one of the keys were to jump out while the laptop was closed and it to damage the display

 

Perhaps forwarding your concerns to Chicony might be worth it, also; I believe they produce the keyboards on this model (you can double check by examining the back of the keyboard). Tragic to hear about all the turbulence they've given you! Hopefully no more issues come up.

 

I'll check when I go home on the spare keyboard that I removed if it was manufactured by Chicony. Heh, now that you mentioned Chicony, it all makes sense. clumsy name of a company producing clumsy keyboards. I had an ASUS G750JX laptop before that had a crappy Chicony grainy 2MP webcam.

this is like Mercedes making an SL500 or SLR car and using some low quality generic 3rd party company to manufacture the break pads/rotors for that beast.

 

@Phoenix - I think you've been extremely unlucky. From my experience (since 2004) the RMA rate on Clevo keyboards is extremely low indeed, though I do understand why you might not like that specific type of keyboard. It's a long talked about point, some people (like me and maybe you by the sounds of it) prefer the "island" type keys on a W230 and others prefer the P870 type.

We passed on feedback to Clevo about the 15" keyboard in 17" chassis years ago but, like you, we are still waiting!

P.S. the member you tagged to give feedback to the appropriate department at Clevo isn't a representative of Clevo, so they wouldn't be able to pass the information on [mods - I'm just pointing this out to avoid any potential confusion, not a direct comment on another company]

 

Ohh thanks a lot. I thought he was a Clevo Company representative. I hope really anyone who works at Clevo or values its owners' opinions to forward this to someone who cares. Heck when I was about to purchase my $6000 USD machine, had I found another model from another company that offers a desktop CPU/GPU I wouldn't have even considered the Clevo because of their 15" keyboard but I was forced to get it as there were no other options and I hate the idea of having a mechanical keyboard on a laptop like it is the case in the MSI GT80, those things are dirt magnets I don't wanna be cleaning my keyboard day and night as I have 9 persian cats at home so imagine the amount of fur that would get stuck under a mechanical keyboard.

Just give us a keyboard similar to Alienware 18/17 and we'd be happy

 

@Phoenix No problem!

We are in constant communication with Clevo, pretty much more than an hourly basis, so believe me everything you can think of (definitely everything ever discussed on nbr and lots of other things that we come up with ourselves!) has been passed on, discussed, requested etc etc. Some (good) things come to fruition, some don't.

9 persian cats reminds me of a customer who had house rabbits (seem to be giant very hairy rabbits), you'd never guess what caused his laptop to overheat because of 100% blocked cooling system!

 

Speaking of your customer, the other day I checked the bottom of my U3 Cooling Pad and the fans were full of fur, so I removed them easily and cleaned them. But then I was thinking, imagine I didn't have the laptop on the cooling pad, that fur would be in my laptop now. Thank God that cooling pad was like a layer of protection so none of the fur went in the laptop. Talk about extra security layer

This is for you bro, her name is quincy, 6 months old female but acts like a small 1 month kitten still:

 

Nice buffer then, definitely better in the U3 than in the laptop!

Quincy looks to have quite the stately pose for only 6 months old

 

she always looks stunned as if she saw a ghost or spirit

 

Out of curiosity, what is the best way to remove individual keys on any of these clevo keyboards?

I have a 770DM-G and after opening the laptop tonight for a little gaming I noticed the left arrow key was lifting up. It was attached at the bottom edge still but the top seemed like it had disconnected. Pushing the key back down didn't lock it in place. Based off some general videos, I just pulled the top forward and the key popped out. Looks like the bottom side is attached with clips that would snap on, but the top just had a couple nubs of plastic that were loose and fell off. I'm a little gun shy to pry another key off and see how they are attached when everything works as normal.

Contacted my reseller about getting another key. That a pretty common request? Or are there better places I can get odds and ends like individual keys.

Thanks!

 

From my experience with the INS key, no matter what I did, it will not stick in its place. Like I carefully placed it, then slid it a bit to the right to make it clip on to the small hinges, but after a while it juts pops out. Just ask your reseller for a replacement keyboard.

HIDevolution have already sent me the replacement keyboard to keep as a backup. So now I have a perfect keyboard and a backup if anything goes wrong with this one, I sent it back and get another replacement.

From now on, until Clevo improves this keyboard, if I buy another Clevo laptop I will always order an additional keyboard for $50 USD.

I have OCD and everything needs to be perfect.

 

Yeah, Ive got the same kinda OCD tendencies. I totally understand the desire for an extra keyboard. Here's hoping this was a failure of just the key, and not the underlying assembly.

If you actually, purposefully wanted to remove a key, is the general method to pry it up from the top?

 

Yes but very gently, any force will break the hinge that holds it. I recommend pushing the key to the left to disconnect it from the hinge

 

FYI our laptops use the same bloody keyboard

 

Yeah, I've seen a lot of the negative feelings regarding Clevo keyboards and their refusal to upgrade/change the keyboard over the years.

I've been used to typing on a smaller keyboard with my ol 15.6 laptop I had for years, so it's not really the size that bothers me. But a larger keyboard certainly wouldn't hurt.

Had my previous laptop for over 8 years. Never a single keyboard issue. But less than two months out, with hardly any use, and clevo pops a broken key. Hopefully not bad omens, or I'll just end up stockpiling replacement keyboards like you.

Odd thing is this is a key I hardly use. I guess it was the same for you with the INS key. I can't imagine you are hammering away on that thing night and day. =D

 

Yeah my right shift key is still messed up... It hasn't popped off lately but it has a tilt and it ruins the aesthetics. I am glad I don't use that key but it's seriously annoying knowing that Sager didn't replace the keyboard to begin with like they should have and that Clevo uses such junk keyboards in the first place.

 

Hmmm, I'm trying to decide on a way that isn't entirely negative to describe the keyboard... It could be worse? If it was the only keyboard in the world it would be the best? lol Honestly I don't find it to be awful but I do think a high end laptop should have a better keyboard, this one matches up on par with a $499 generic laptop at Costco and that ain't right.

 

Eh, even the W230SS keyboard has crapped out - within about a year and a half of purchase, various keys started failing. They required extra pressure to enter a value, or had to be literally hammered. Within a month the top row (QWERTYUIOP) and the number keys were a goner. Too many, so I had to replace them. Aftershock PC here in Singapore honoured my warranty and replaced the keyboard entirely free of charge. Clevo has got to fix these small niggling issues.

 

I'd be willing to accept a better keyboard as a fix.

 

If I remember right about 4 years ago when I bought my P170EM, there was an option to have a Steelseries Backlit keyboard installed rather than the less than stellar Clevo keyboard. The dealer would do the keymapping for the customer. I haven't seen that option since then and don't know why. Perhaps if enough customers lean on their re-sellers, it might become another option again.

Bobby

 

That would be really really awesome man! I wish it can happen on the latest laptops

 

it's funny that the steelseries keyboard is also made by "Sunrex"

 

Yeah they did have Steelseries keyboards available for the Clevo laptops at that time.

What I read on the Internet roughly two years ago was that MSI entered into a partnership with Steelseries which makes from that onwards SS keyboards to be exclusively available for MSI laptops.

I also read some people trying to modify and customise the SS keyboards so that they fit the Clevo barebones. Not sure if they managed to do it at the end though.

 

I was looking at those on ebay and they seem to be the same size . Only difference was that the Clevo ones seem to use one extra ribbon.

 

Agreed, the SS keyboards would be a cool addition to the Clevo's and yes the current keyboards are junk compared to my M17x R4's keyboard.. That's one thing I really miss from the Alienware!

 

The SS keyboards haven't been an option in a while, as long as I've been at XPC now. Would be a nice option if they were, but I haven't seen a compatible one for any recent models really.

 

I finally got around to looking for it. This was the thread back in 2012 when I got my P170EM.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...et-backlit-keyboard-for-p150em-p170em.670648/

 

You could probably make it work. That extra ribbon might have something to do with the electrical connection for lighting, but I'm not sure because the steel series keyboards light up too but I think they somehow do it with just one cable. At least I think I remember reading that before. You might have to remap some keys, and I'm not sure if the "fn" keys would work.

 

Gotcha, might order one for ****s, giggles and SCIENCE.

 

Yeah.... I feel the same mate. I personally think Clevo's keyboard does not give any space for the user to comfortably use it. For me, I prefer to have keybaord like G750 from ASUS ROG. I think they are the gold standard for the keyboard layout.

 

The G750 systems really do have nice keyboard designs. Many of the Steelseries keyboards on MSI systems are comparable/equally as nice.

 

Thanks!!!!!! I thought I was having a coordination issue or something, I can't write anything on that keyboard, and I'm one of those that can type without looking at the keyboard... it is like the keys are too close or at a not standard distance, I keep pressing two keys at once...

 

nothing like an old IBM "click" sound when typing... and you could use it too as a self defense weapon....they were indestructible...

 

But it's not. Standard 19mm keys.

 

I can have a coordination problem ))))

 

I am pretty sure GT72 does have pretty nice keyboard. However, my old GT70, unfortunately, does not have as nice keyboard as G750 or old Alienware.

 

exactly, I am like you, touch type blind folded, with this keyboard, I feel like I am disabled. I have to look where my hands are placed, I can never get them to set in the home keys easily....

there's something so bad about them I don't know what it is, like an abnormal placement.

I have typed on small keyboards like on the Apple Airbook 13" and on a Dell Vostro also, they are perfect so it's not the size. I think it's the placement....

PS: I had to correct about 20 mistakes while I just typed this post for example....

 

as much as I dislike anything that comes from ASUS, their keyboards along with Alienware are awesome

 

Why do you hate ASUS? Do you have any particular reason?

 

This is a copy/paste that I typed a few months ago when I had an Alienware 18....... thus, you will see the comparison with Alienware not my current Clevo.....but here it is:

after owning 4 ASUS laptops...I would never buy an ASUS laptop again.

Never had an Alienware before because of its high price. I had 3 ASUS Gaming laptops, G73Sw, G75VW, and G750JX

After being frustrated with ASUS's bad driver support, and lack of official drivers for Windows 7, I sold my G750JX and got this Alienware.

Now I know why they cost an arm and a leg

1) much better build quality, it's like you bought a Mercedes as opposed to a honda civic

2) Warranty is much better, if the laptop spoils, they will come to your house and fix it at your home the next business day. When my G750JX stopped booting within 6 months of owning it, I had to drive to the service center which is very far, and it took them 7 days to replace the motherboard

3) I wanted a bigger screen and ASUS only have 17.3' screens. This 18.4' screen is a dream to play and surf on

4) I didn't ask for it, but I got a freebie dual GeForce GTX 770M so my performance has never been better

5) I love the lighting effects of Alienware

6) Their audio and KLIPSCH speakers blow the ASUS G750JX out of the water in terms of loudness and quality although both use a Realtek Chipset, but the speakers are better and the Alienware comes with the Dolby Home Theater which improves the audio quality by a great mile

7) All ASUS laptops has a problem with the left USB 3.0 Ports. You plug in a USB 3.0 HDD to the left top or left bottom ports and it will randomly keep disconnecting. That is for all G750 series, JX,JW,JH,JZ,JavaScript, you name it. don't believe me, just hang around on the ROG forums and see the jokes of problems they have. pathetic for the amount of money you pay. problems with screens,m auto dimming problem, contrast problem.

I wouldn't use an ASUS laptop anymore even if they gave it to me for free! cheap Taiwanese crap!

Did I forget to mention...

their implementation of Optimus is messed up...it is very tricky to force games to use your nVIDIA GPU unless you do a lot of settings and even then users on their forums complain that the freakin' games are using the Intel HD Graphics! LOL! horrible!

with Alienware, there are no such mishaps...you press FN + F5 and the laptop reboots activating the nVIDIA GPUs and it's stuck like that until you press FN + F5. no room for error of a gaming even seeing your Intel HD Graphics!

you want Testimony ? Please take the time to read this:

why ASUS? because people who buy ASUS cannot afford Alienware, no other reason on earth...that's a fact...I am one of them...

First laptop, 2 years ago..

G73Sw:

bought it and ran home like a little child wanting to see my lights in the chiclet keyboards....ooops...no lights...tried all driver updates..BIOS update...nope..

Called ASUS, they told me to bring it to the service center it's an easy fix!! whaaaat?? I buy a 2000 USD laptop and go to the service center next day? oh well..I did and they activated it with their BIOS tweak utility that they don't give to customers! great quality control Taiwanese Engineers! send out laptops for sale that don't work properly as advertised...

after 1 week...the screen started giving me fuzzy images...closing/opening the screen lid fixed the problem....wow!! what did I buy? a 1990 Toyotal Corolla or a brand new gaming laptop??

They said they need to replace my screen! wow!! the laptop can't last a week without being repaired! i fought for a refund and got it after a long hassle...

next laptop...

ASUS G75VW,

ASUS decided to remove their awesome creative sound blaster audio chipset and put some cheap VIA audio chipset which made the subwoofer act like a center speaker rather than a subwoofer..

also..I only had the option to get the matte screen...oh well...people say matte is good...right? NOPE! not on ASUS! the ASUS matte screens look as if someone spilled grease all over them. very grainy image especially if you look at a white screen such as these forums or Google..if you look close..you can see the pixels of colorful rainbows! again shocked in awe for this cheap crap!

So I called ASUS complaining about the quality of the screen, they offered to change it to the 3D screen not coz I want 3D, but only because that is the only screen they have that is Glossy..

took the laptop...2 days..I get a call...sorry sir, we changed your screen, but fried your motherboard....we have no spare motherboards...so if you pay $500 USD we can give you a G750JX instead or you can wait till god knows when till we get a motherboard from Taiwan...

so I got the G750JX...

very bad driver support....ASUS released the win 8.1 drivers after 6 months of win 8.1 was released...anyone who upgraded while having the old drivers either got a non booting laptop after the upgrade due to outdated bluetooth/wifi drivers or had horrible problems....

next comes the 2D performance of their GTX770M....there is something not right about it! 3D was fine and performed as it should...but 2D was glitchy and choppy...imagine even a simple game of solitaire..the motion of the cards wasn't fluid...I used to get jealouse when I see my friends' Intel HD Graphics perform so smoothly in the Windows environment while my brand new gaming laptop cries in 2D...opening tabs in firefox...wow..another plethora of jerkiness / slow motion

next...they put cheap Atheros WLAN chipsets which cannot connect above 72 MBPS!! wow! had to pay 50 USD and get a Bigfoot Wireless N-Killer from the US and pay customs just to have a laptop perform like a normal computer

next.... USB 3.0 problems..

basically, I had to connect my USB drives to the right ports and the left ones were kept for my mouse and printer? why? because ASUS cannot produce a piece of hardware that functions right! they claim all ports are USB 3.0 and they are all in blue color...BIG LIE! it wasn't only me, I posted this on the ROG forums and every single one of the members verified the same!

I can't find my thread that I started, but here are 2 examples I quickly grabbed:

Asus G750 USB 3.0 Ports not working with some things

and

Is it normal that the top left USB port is very slow?

ASUS? HELLL NO!!

Worst case scenario, save some money and wait, then get a real gaming laptop from Alienware and be happy for life! rather than bite your fingers after you buy your ASUS

A quick Google search on the G750JX presents exactly what I experienced! I've probably formatted that laptop over 200 times twice daily just trying to make it work but every time some quirk happens...

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1783800/usb-sooooo-slow-asus-g750.html

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?38918-USB-problems-G750-JX

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...-G750JX-and-with-it-a-whole-suite-of-problems.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?35565-Asus-ROG-G750JX-RB71-Screen-Ghosting.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/727019-big-green-float-g750jx-screen.html

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/a...x-cheap-display-horizontal-lines-4331824.html

http://www.eightforums.com/general-...g750jx-rb71-has-been-crashing-repeatedly.html

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?34676-G750JX-1day-old-Black-Screen-and-not-Booting
=========================================================
Update:

I would never buy a laptop from a company that has these kinds of issues in these new thread I've found.... I know every laptop might have a problem, but these are way too serious and general (as in, not pertaining to just one bad lemon):

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54313-G751-Imbalanced-Sound-Problem-OFFICIAL-SUPPORT-THREAD

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?55207-Gt751-JT-not-booting-up-after-windows-update

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54444-g751jt-backlight-bleed

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...ports-(left-side)-and-external-HD-anyone-else (This USB 3.0 Problem has been there since the G75VW, G750JX, and now on to the new model! insane!)

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?55158-G751-AC-WLAN-only-at-7-MB-per-sec! (This is due to the crappy WLAN cards they use even though it's a premium gaming laptop)

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...3-weeks-frequent-display-not-responding-error

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54360-G751-JY-keyboard-slugghish!-(and-other-issues)

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54982-ASUS-G751-one-of-the-worst-purchases-I-ever-made

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54990-G751JT-bricked-my-Corsair-GS-240GB-SSD

 

Well. I had ASUS G73 like 6 or 7 years ago, I did not had any problem with optimus technology and the build quality. ASUS and Clevo both use tons of plastic, but they are still sturdy and well built, unlike Aorus and GIGABYTE. However, the only problem that I have with ASUS laptop is that they have bad customer service. One day, my laptop stopped working, so I had to send the laptop to the customer service, and it took a month to fix the laptop. The worst part is that after few weeks, the laptop had a same problem. After this incidence, I never used ASUS laptop. Their build quality is solid, however, they really should fix their customer service center.

 

I want the Cherry MX switches the GT80 has... I don't like MSI but man that's one killer keyboard.

 

Easy, just plug in any mechanical keyboard to your laptop.

I know, it's not built in to the laptop, but that's probably the closest thing to experience it.

 

Takes away the portability factor of having a laptop in the first place though. At that point you might as well have a desktop (which I do but I don't have the money to drop on an upgrade for my 780 Ti)

 

That's true. Maybe carrying a smaller keyboard without the numberpad would be easier for it to be carried in backpacks as well.

Lol. Do you even need to upgrade your desktop, when you already have a monster laptop already?

 

I don't know. I've been thinking about selling the laptop and moving back to the desktop. Selling the laptop would give me enough cash to buy the best video card, a sweet monitor, Cherry MX brown keyboard, and a gaming mouse with enough left over to pay off my credit card so its tempting.

 

Trading portability for power, full gaming experience, and financial stability. Sounds like a better deal to me.

Is this something that you want though?

 

If anyone is thinking about getting the MSI Steelseries keyboards, I got news, after using one for almost two years now it is degrading, the shift key is acting up from time to time, sometimes the keys wont register properly but it happens rarely but still enough to annoy you, I use the External Lenovo Compact Keyboard and Goddamnit, it is so nice even though it still does not beat the classic ThinkPad keyboard.
It is still five hundred times better than the Clevo keyboards, now if it only had backlit lightning it would be the greatest.

If anyone knows of some alternative keyboards that may work in Clevo, I see the Lenovo Ideapad keyboards are similar size, would one work in a Clevo maybe??


These be Goddamn great if they worked, specially one with the TrackPoint, imagine that one a Clevo. It be a wetdream come true.

 

The internal connections won't work. But with enough modding effort you might be able to rewire a Lenovo USB keyboard so it looks like a built-in one.