Do you think there would be much interest for a USB IBM Thinkpad keyboard?

[dante]

Basically ...

Lenovo has made several iterations of this - recently they killed off the 55Y9003 in favor of the 0B47190.  They both have flaws though.

They just don't feel as solid as in the original laptop and with the newer revision there isn't much of a wrist rest.

So what if a group buy / crowd fund occured where a kit could be put together for a high quality keyboard shell that a keyboard could be put into which also houses a proprietary > USB adapter?  The case could be made of aluminum.  There are tons of brand new replacement thinkpad keyboards on ebay so the original can still be sourced.

High quality scissor switches are a dying breed.  The only one left that is pretty well made is the Siig Aluminum - but even then I'm sure there are those that would prefer the Thinkpad.

[Belfong]

I have been trying to put mine on sale here in GH and the one I owned is still IBM branded (not Lenovo) and to no avail. I doubt anyone would want to do this. There's not much scissor switch love here, I am guessing.

[kishy]

You know what...

If the keyboard of my W520 existed in standalone form, with the same feeling of rigidity and substance that it has as part of the laptop (read: it has to be heavy, inflexible, and stay put on typical work surfaces), including the complete UltraNav (Trackpoint and textured Synaptics trackpad), that would be a pretty decent board and I would like to have one. It would also need to be supported by the true Ultranav/Synaptics driver package, which I imagine shouldn't be too difficult, just needs the pointing devices to present themselves to the OS as being Ultranav rather than individual mice.

That being said, you'll have a hard time finding agreement between people who have many ideas of what would define the perfect version of this product. Many will say the trackpad absolutely must not be present or it's junk - I say it absolutely must be present because I alternate between them without any thought about it regularly. Then there's the question of WHICH Lenovo or IBM version of the ThinkPad keyboard you'd use - some will want the backlit current Lenovo variant which does get positive reviews. Others will want the late Lenovo version of the classic IBM design. More still will want pure IBM stuff before Lenovo was in the picture.

I like the idea, and I'd be interested in it as I have described it, but I do think it would be challenging to get consensus on the right setup. If the kit proposed was just a case and controller that kind of kills the possibility of a trackpad...depends how the controller is done and all that. It would allow for buying whichever version of the keyboard was desired, except certainly the connector has changed along the way too...

[terran5992]

People only dig mechanical and topre switches.

Scissor switches arent the best to type on

[kishy]

People only dig mechanical and topre switches.

Scissor switches arent the best to type on

If you haven't used a ThinkPad keyboard, yes, that would be an understandable opinion.

[tp4tissue]

People only dig mechanical and topre switches.

Scissor switches arent the best to type on

If you haven't used a ThinkPad keyboard, yes, that would be an understandable opinion.

i have... they're good...  but... they don't give you the worry free accuracy of the mechanical boards with 2mm actuation.

[rsantos97]

Count me in. I love scissor switches even better than mechanical and have been on a quest to find the best one.  My all time favorites were on my  T series thinkpads and on my X31 Thinkpad, and for standalone my logitech Ultra X.  I was just about to purchase the new Microsoft sculpt keyboard because it uses scissor switches and is ergo.  I have a Kinesis Pro, ergodox, choc mini, and had DAS and Filcos and Mac wireless, but nothing compares to the short actuation distance of scissors.

[ideus]

I like my X61 keyboard, but the equivalent stand alone version does not match the feeling of the one assembled in the laptop. I'd prefer a mechanical for an external board by all means. And while I like and I am already very good at using the track-point, a mouse is always better.

[Belfong]

People only dig mechanical and topre switches.

Scissor switches arent the best to type on

If you haven't used a ThinkPad keyboard, yes, that would be an understandable opinion.

ThinkPad keyboards are not built the same. I have used many Thinkpads for the past 17 years and I can tell you the feel and quality is very different in each model. Some of the current ones feel worse than the older models. The best that I have used, if I remembered the model correctly, was the T400. It was around this time, when I love that T400 so much, that I decided to look for a external USB ThinkPads keyboard and I found and bought one (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=49084.msg1174863#msg1174863 )

All those models though, cannot compare to the 20-year old Acer keyboard (Alps switch) that I owned. So it looks like I still like mechanical more than scissor switches.

[laffindude]

Thinkpad keyboards started to suck when the IBM era stuff started to phase out. Even when it just switched over to Lenovo management, the keyboard was costdown-ed.
There are still decent scissor switch boards around if you like that sort of thing. I added something recently to the collection but it is sitting at the office. I'll bring it home next week. Some other decent scissor boards:
Zippy (including the KBTalKing boards obviously).
Enermax Aurora
i-Rocks (their Chiclet isn't horrific as well)

[tgujay]

People only dig mechanical and topre switches.

Scissor switches arent the best to type on

If you haven't used a ThinkPad keyboard, yes, that would be an understandable opinion.

ThinkPad keyboards are not built the same. I have used many Thinkpads for the past 17 years and I can tell you the feel and quality is very different in each model. Some of the current ones feel worse than the older models. The best that I have used, if I remembered the model correctly, was the T400. It was around this time, when I love that T400 so much, that I decided to look for a external USB ThinkPads keyboard and I found and bought one (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=49084.msg1174863#msg1174863 )

All those models though, cannot compare to the 20-year old Acer keyboard (Alps switch) that I owned. So it looks like I still like mechanical more than scissor switches.

I have an Acer 6311-k and it is a freaking great board.  They are ACER brand switches, ALPS like and take ALPS caps but they are not ALPS.  They are also very easily removable since they aren't soldered in.  Definitely one of my favorite boards.

[kyb]

While the older Thinkpad keyboards are retardedly good as far as laptop keyboards go I wouldn't really want to use them on a desktop. MX and Topre are just better than scissors.

(On a side note: I'm thinking about modding an old Toughbook I have lying around. The thing is pretty deep so you could comfortably put a MX 60% like the Poker in it and with some smart mechanism lower the board when you close the lid. Would be the laptop with the best keyboard ever.)

[Mr. C]

I have an X31, great laptop keyboard. I've a couple Lenovo USB thinkpad keyboards.  Pretty flimsy and short lived.  Love the nub. 

[Paspie]

I have a T510 (second-last gen with the old style keyboard). It seemed excellent when I first got it, but it's miles behind any mechanical keyboard. It feels weird typing on it now that I've gotten used to real switches.

Some of the 90s ThinkPad's apparently had pseudo-mechanical keyboards, but many of them are quite rare and of dubious usefulness today. Lenovo has fallen down the trap of so many corporations of caring more for their shareholders than their customers (and being pretentious in the process) so I wouldn't get your hopes up now.

[kishy]

The last of the old-style (e.g. non-island/chiclet) keyboards was the Sandy Bridge generation (W520, T520, etc).

In my opinion, it was/is still just as good a keyboard as the 90s ThinkPads that many have raved about (I haven't used the old ThinkPads extensively, but I've been around enough to know how they feel). Far superior to anything that went into most consumer laptops, for sure. There was a time period when Dell was providing quite competent laptop keyboards with solid feeling and good tactile response (630m/M140) but this was not a long term theme.

I normally use a terminal Model F but that doesn't stop me from using the internal keyboard at times and while it's a different feeling, it's still a good one.

Also in my opinion, far superior to brown, blue or black MX switches. I can't speak for the other varieties.

[davkol]

I liked thinkpad keyboards until I got the TypeMatrix 2030. I have no idea how they managed to make such a good scissor-switch keyboard, but here it is!