Coke on the Keyboard

[JonathanGennick]

I finally did it. Thirteen years of Thinkpad use, and the other day came the moment of truth: I was working late on something important and tipped over a can of Coke onto my keyboard. It was a bad spill.

I've been thinking of jumping ship to a Macbook Retina Pro, or maybe one of the uber-thin X1-Carbon series machines, but what happened next has caused me to step back and rethink.

The right-side of my keyboard was inundated -- completely full. Coke puddled between the keys. It drained out the drain holes. More Coke ran over the right-hand side onto my iPhone, and then spilled over the end table and onto the carpet.

I had just begin reading a journal paper, needed to get through it that night, and wasn't in the mood to interrupt my work with a Coke-induced crisis.

Here's where it gets good. I never even turned off the machine! I picked it up and tilted it to the side to let the rest of Coke run out, that hadn't already gone through the drain holes. Then I dried the key tops using a paper towel, wiped down my iPhone, and the table and carpet.

Then I went back to work on that paper I needed to finish reading, because my mind was still focused on it, and I needed to get it read. (Picture me paging down with the plastic beneath the keys still wet with a sheen of Coke). Afterwards I fired off some crucial emails in response to the paper. (I knew I had a spare keyboard in my office for morning, so was not worried).

Next morning the Coke had dried and gotten sticky. It was a ten-minute job to swap in the spare keyboard I had in my office. I threw the sticky keyboard into some hot water to soak. It is fine now, and is my new spare.

All told I lost maybe five minutes in wiping up the initial mess, and another ten or so in swapping the keyboard the next morning and rinsing the old one. As far as my work was concerned, I never missed a beat.

Where would I have been with something non-serviceable machine like a Macbook Pro or the X1-Carbon? The nearest Apple store is hundreds of miles away. Had I spilled Coke onto a Macbook Pro, I would not have been able to be so cavalier about continuing with my work.

Frankly, I hope I go at least another 13 years before another bad spill like that.

I'll also end by noting that a small amount of Coke did make its way around the edge of the keyboard tray. It wasn't enough to matter, but was enough to notice when I pulled and replaced the keyboard.

This is not the only time that having a Thinkpad with field-replaceable parts has been a win. It's certainly one of the more dramatic examples though.

[RealBlackStuff]

You lucky sod!

[Radioguy]

If it were a Kahlua and Coke, I would have tipped it back into a glass.

Seriously, I actually had that happen with a spill-proof desktop keyboard, but it was too dusty to recover the drink...and no, I don't have a problem.

[JonathanGennick]

If it were a Kahlua and Coke, I would have tipped it back into a glass.

LOL! (Making a mental note for the next time).

[mpcook]

I dropped a T23 from waist level onto rough-hewn stone steps some years ago. It bounced a bit. Booted up when I got to the office, and still ran fine for years, until replaced by a T40. Good design features are worth paying for. Try that with a MacBook Pro. (Or even an iPhone vs. a Blackberry).

[JonathanGennick]

Good design features are worth paying for.

Yes. You've just said in seven words what took me several paragraphs.