I took delivery of a Lenovo Thinkpad T400 last week. I am very pleased with the system. The size is just perfect for me, it has switchable graphics (ATI Radeon or Intel Integrated), Windows 7 64-bit, Touchpoint, very snappy, and it has a great looking screen. But one thing I did not like is the keyboard. It's buckled in some areas, moves around too much when you type, and a few of the keys are not flat. For example the B button below the TrackPoint was obviously slanted to the right. Thinkpads have always been known for their great keyboards, but this one was far from great.
I did some reasearch on this topic. There are a lot of people talking about keyboard issues on Thinkpads. I'll save you some reasearch and sum things up. It appears that:
- A number of models (like my T400) ship with a keyboard that is not that great. It's lighter, has a plastic coating on the bottom, and is very flexible. This is part number 42T4034.
- If you call Lenovo support about this issue you will likely be sent a replacement keyboard that is a different part number, 42T3209. This is an older keyboard that was originally for the T60 T61 R60 and R61. It is a slightly heavier and firmer keyboard that does not flex nearly as much as the original keyboard. It does not have the plastic coating on the bottom. This seems to be a higher quality (less cheaply made) keyboard.
One thing you may notice (as I did) is that the original keyboard has really great feeling buttons just below the keyboard. The ones you typically use with your thumb if you are a TrackPoint device. Very smooth and quiet and need very little effort to use. Very ergonomic in my opinion. These buttons on the new "older" keyboard aren't as smooth and have a little more of a mechanical feel to them. This probably won't bother most people. It's still better than the trackpad buttons on many other notebooks.
Posted via email from ken5m1th
