Durability of Sony Vaio FW keyboard?

Has anyone here been using their FW notebook's keyboard intensively and could share their experience?

Pretty much every review I've read praises the keyboard - but does the keyboard hold well over time?

I spend most of the work day typing, and would like to know if FW is an option for me. Thanks .

 

Had mine for about 13 months, used daily for at least 4 hours and more on the weekends. General typing, spreadsheets and presentations. Love the keyboard - just wish my actual work computer was this nice. No issues at all with the keyboard, as most reviews claim it is fabulous.

 

Thanks!

When I saw an FW in person, I thought keyboard felt very sturdy and responsive. Good to know it lasts .

 

I was on of the early adopters of the FW, not knowing what to expect and I wrote a few posts on my experiences with the FW in the past year. I use the laptop every day, carry it around to classes and I do a lot of typing (notes, projects, assignments, etc.). The keyboard is still amazing to use after a year and 3 months of use. Barely any flex (only when I really bang on the keys, which is generally not advisable) and my keyboard is white but surprisingly, I don't see any wear. Keys still look white and there's no sign of the lettering wearing off.

I would definitely rate the keyboard on the FW excellent.

 

Thanks - I'll check your posts in a moment.

I have an older Thinkpad T42, which had been great to me. What prevents me from blindly buying another one is a) reports of keyboard flex on current Thinkpads b) dim displays (I know mine has gotten pretty dim over time). Sony FW looks more and more promising .

Thanks!

 

As of this posting, I'm 11 months into nonstop day and night use of my FW290. Among all the stuff I use this machine for (Video NLE, CAD, etc), the most keyboard intensive stuff comes from hand-coding HTML, CSS and interacting with IM and forums like this. To make matters worse, my touch-typing was learned on old-school typewriters, so by habit, I'm especially hard on the keys. Given all that, the FW's chicklet keyboard has been holding up admirably. To date, the white lettering on my keys are intact and surprisingly not a hint of fade on ANY of them. (ie, ASDF keys are equally as opaque as all the lettering at the periphery) My environment is sometimes grittier than your average white-collar office, so if anyone, I would tend to be more abrasive on keys.

The FW keys have proven themselves resillient, but not invincible. Where all the keys on the FW have that moulded micro-texture on it, there's an inch-wide smooth-polished spot on the spacebar where the right thumb wails on it. This only began to show up after repeatedly nailing that spot for the first 4-5 months.

My previous four or five notebooks have all been Toshibas. The last one being a Toshiba Qosmio with a very typical keyboard. I managed to wear smooth the right half spacebar on THAT notebook in a matter of TWO WEEKS! Four years later keeping that Qosmio in service, the spacebar that that point has an undulation in the plastic surface, homekeys show intense fading on the lettering, and the "F" and "J" finger positioning nubs are RIGHT at that threshold where the index fingers can barely detect them.

Based on the rate my FW is (not) wearing, I think the keys will hold up far better in that same four-year span.

 

I know exactly what you mean - my spacebar has a shiny spot in the same place, too .

I'm on my third keyboard on the T42, but only because of accidents - my infant son ripped Enter key off the 1st one, and I spilled hot tea on the second.

I'm very happy to hear only positive opinions on the FW keyboard .