Thinkpad T60p - ALPS, Chicony, NMB; how similar are these to cherry brown, HHKB Pro?

[usitawi]

Hello,

I've a ThinkPad T60p with Chicony KBD that is on its last leg.

Now that I have to replace it, I would like to opt for something that has mechanical clicky, tactile feel; much like cherry. I prefer cherry brown.

1) Can someone please tell me which one of these ALPS, Chicony, NMB that ships from Lenovo is equivalent or close to cherry keyboards? I was unable to get a clear picture after much review on this and thinkpads.com forum.

2) Of the 3 which one closely relates to the feel of capacitive based HHKB Pro as I plan to buy one sometime down the lane. Note: I have never touched a HHKB Pro.

Thank you for your time.

[ch_123]

Thinkpad keyboards all use scissor switches irrespective of manufacturer. Some are considered to be of slightly better quality than others but they are all essentially the same thing. They should not be confused with the Alps, Chicony or NMB keyboards you read about here that use mechanical switches, and therefore are not comparable with Cherry or Topre (HHKB) switches.

[usitawi]

@ch_123 Correct me if I am wrong; when I looked at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=44310&highlight=keyboard it appears the chicony & ALPS are scissors but the NMB is not.

Is my understanding right, if it is, based on your experience can you tell me if the NMB experience on the type of keyboard listed in the aforementioned link is better than scissors if not anything close to cherry?

Thank you.

[ch_123]

Looks like a scissor to me. Perhaps different design, but basically the same thing nonetheless.

There can be a great variance in scissor switches, and Thinkpad keyboards in particular are considered to be excellent. However, no scissor switch is going to be anything like a full-travel mechanical Cherry switch. This is not necessarily a bad thing - for all my mechanical keyboards, I still use my T61's inbuilt keyboard a lot, and it serves me well, but you're definitely comparing apples and oranges.

[usitawi]

Thanks ch_123 for answering my questions and clear my ambiguity about what to expect in Chicony, ALPS & NMB for a ThinkPad.