Best keyboard style for laptops

[Girffe]

I'm looking into buying a laptop soon. I'll mostly be using it for UNIX work, so power really isn't important, the absolute most important thing to me is that the keyboard is good. I use a Cherry MX brown mechanical keyboard for my desktop, but I know mechanical keyboards don't exist in laptops. So what's the best keyboard style for a laptop? Is there anything specific I should look for in a laptop's keyboard? I've tried just going to a computer store and typing on some of the laptops they have on display, but as far as I can tell, all the chiclet keyboards feel the same, and all the other keyboards feel the same. I've heard scissor-switch is nice, how is it compared to mechanical, and compared to rubberdome?

Any suggestions for specific laptop models with great keyboards would also be nice.

[WhiteFireDragon]

I personally like the chiclet style keyboards over the other ones. Macbook and the samsung series 7 notebooks has a nice quality chiclet keys that feels pretty nice for a notebook. I also have a samsung series 9, but because of how thin the notebook is, they keystrokes are also extremely shallow for my liking, although it does use chiclet style keys.

[Djuzuh]

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Credit to whiskerbox

[czarek]

Yeah must say HHKB works great with laptop, especially Macs as they're based on Unix and HHKB's layout actually makes sense with them.

[davkol]

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[TexasFlood]

Yes, Thinkpad, model T for me please, baaaa...

[Girffe]

ThinkPad.

Yeah, this is what I've been looking into for the past day. I'm not quite sure if I want to get the T420 or the T61. On the one hand, the T420 is a lot more expensive, and gives only a lot of power I wouldn't really use, but I know I'd have to get a refurbished T61, and I'm reluctant to get a refurbished 6-year-old laptop, even if it does have one of the best lifespans of any laptop. I did manage to find a $330 15.4" T61 with a 1680x1050 display on tigerdirect, which is an extremely tempting deal. I probably will go with a thinkpad, I've heard their scissor switches are some of the best in any laptop. The 80GB HDD sort of deters me, but I don't intend to store a lot of stuff on it and I can always upgrade if I need to.

[yearn4]

just get a brown switch kbc poker

[isp]

thinkpads have always had decent keyboards...i don't know how long they'll remain that way though (x230 already moving to chiclet :/)

a hhkb situated over your laptop is always a nice option

[davkol]

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[Djuzuh]

I like 16/10 or 16/9 screens .

[davkol]

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[dorkvader]

I thought it was usually 1680*1050?

My friend was able to get an X61 from ebay for ~$@75 shipped, I believe. You might want to look into that. I've taken it apart twice now, and I still hate some of the design aspects. The keyboard on that and the newer X220 (which I have considerable experience repairing due to high failure rate on the display) are both rather good for a scissor keyboard, though I still prefer my Fujitsu.

In a similar vein as Whiskerbox's HHKB, I use a cherry G84 on my laptop when I travel. It's much cheaper, and I really enjoy the feel.

[davkol]

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[Squelos]

I believe most HP keyboards arent that bad.
But then, if you want a laptop, either your are going to have to use the keyboard on it, or bring a portable keyboard (such as a TKL or compact keyboard)

If you really type a lot, and NEED a real keyboard, just bring your own.

[Findecanor]

Apple Aluminum for great feel!
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?24492-In-Praise-Of-The-Apple-Aluminum-Wireless/page4

Be aware that the keyboards in the Mac laptops have less key travel than the stand-alone keyboards. The MacBook Pro's keyboard may be acceptable to some, but the MacBook Air has ridiculously low key travel - It is not nice to type on.

BTW, if you want a good laptop, there are really only two choices: MacBook Pro or Lenovo ThinkPad. I would go with Thinkpad.
OK, OK... there might be exceptions, good laptops from other manufacturers... but how do you find them among all the crap from the same brands?

[ThinkRob]

I'd second the ThinkPad recommendations.  There is variation within the lines, to be sure, but they're all quite nice as far as laptop keyboards go. [1]

And regarding the chiclet keys on the newest generation: the switches are pretty much the same.  They're not typical chiclets either as they're not flat; the tops of the key caps are sculpted like traditional keys -- that's a tiny change that makes a big difference in terms of feel.

[1] I'm not counting the ThinkPad Edge series in that statement since they're not real ThinkPads.  They're just IdeaPads with a ThinkPad label.  I'm talking about the T series and the X series (not including the X120e/X130e).