Thinkpads Forum

As some of you know, a company I contract for gave me a Lenovo Flex 2 for a work laptop. Yes; I did specifically ask for a ThinkPad, but I ended up with this. In terms of capability, it does everything I need and does it well. No complaints there.

But the keyboard and the touchpad are killing me. I'll focus on the keyboard, though, since that's the topic.

My experience with Lenovo's "acclaimed" AccuType (chiclet) keyboard has left me scratching my head. Every single official review of the "acclaimed" AccuType keyboard claims it's the absolute best thing since sliced bread, bar none. On ThinkPads, it's frequently claimed to be better than the Classic Thinkpad keyboard it replaced. Even around this forum, I hear reports that the AccuType keyboard is very comfortable and at least as good as a Classic ThinkPad keyboard.

And this leaves me befuddled; because my experience so far has been a major increase in errors and an increase in discomfort. My fingers are getting stressed along the sides; I think I must have to reach further to hit the same keys or something (and I don't have small hands). They actually hurt after a normal day of typing.

Also, the keys in the middle of the board sometimes don't register if I hit them, which is something I've never experienced before. And the spacing of the keys leads me to hit the incorrect key more often.

On my 600E and even my T60, I am a fast typist (for someone not trained). I can accurately type words in real time along with a normal conversation, which my friends and family find to be astonishing.

This is not the case on my Flex 2's "acclaimed" AccuType keyboard. My typing is slower, uncomfortable, and more inaccurate. Which is the antithesis of what Lenovo promises when it describes the "acclaimed" AccuType keyboard as "ergonomically designed to make typing more comfortable and reduce errors."

My initial response to the replacement of the Classic ThinkPad keyboard with a chiclet monstrosity was hostile. But people (including David Hill) kept saying "try it first; you'll like it." So, I eased up on my position and decided to wait until I'd tried one.

Well, I have, and this "acclaimed" AccuType keyboard is the most vile thing I've ever used (outside of the keyboard on my Gateway M500b1).

But this still leaves me with a bunch of people, including folks around here, saying that the AccuType keyboard on the ThinkPad is heavenly.

So I've been searching around the internet trying to find out whether there are any significant differences in AccuType keyboard mechanics between different types of Lenovo laptops (in this case the Flex 2 and the ThinkPad).

The little information I can find suggests that the only difference is in layout. But it's only suggestive statements (which leads me to believe it may be suggested to encourage sales and not as an expression of the truth). I haven't been able to find any statement saying "yes, the AccuType keyboard is, but for the layout, the same on the ThinkPad and the Flex 2, or any other Lenovo line of laptops." Or, for that matter, any statement confirming that they are mechanically different.

So, help me out. Has anyone here had the opportunity to use the AccuType keyboard on both a ThinkPad and a non-Thinkpad Lenovo? And if so, can you please confirm any differences (or lack thereof) between the two? To be clear, I'm not talking about TrackPoints, or key layout; I'm talking about how the keyboard itself performs for typing.

Just to put out some extra information, I just took an online typing test with my T60 and my Flex 2.

On my T60, I scored 58 WPM with one error.

On my Flex 2, I scored 38 WPM with six errors (on a keyboard that claims to improve accuracy).

I've searched around the internet a little more. You'd think it would be an easy question to find an answer to. And yet I have not.

Anyone have a ThinkPad with this keyboard that I can borrow for a week? I'll give it back, I just need to know.

I just can't believe that people would rave over such a bad keyboard, so I have to hope that it's different somehow on the ThinkPad even though they're both AccuTypes.

Maybe I should hit Lenovo up. They're the ones who said "try it, you might like it" about the new keyboard. I wonder if they'd send me a beater to test.

Maybe if you search for "chiclet" instead of "AccuType" you'd find more results.
Or be more specific and look for "T430" typing experiences.

RealBlackStuff wrote:Maybe if you search for "chiclet" instead of "AccuType" you'd find more results.
Or be more specific and look for "T430" typing experiences.

Well, I haven't had much more luck yet. But I did find this review:

The AccuType keyboard looks completely similar to the keyboard of the IdeaPad Flex, the Yoga 2 13 or the Yoga 2 Pro. It is also very close to these models in terms of typing experience: The stroke is pretty soft and there is hardly any resistance. The travel is pretty limited and the overall feedback a bit weak. However, based on our experience, you can work with the keyboard very well, especially since the nicely designed keys are pretty high and wide with 14 millimeters. The layout is intuitive and the special functions on the keys F1 to F12 are numerous and useful.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Ide ... 901.0.html

So I guess a better question is, how does the Ideapad or Yoga AccuType keyboard feel compared to a ThinkPad's? (Because I'm pretty sure some of you have used one of those.)

Hello,
all i can say is, that Lenovo doesn't call the keyboards on recent ThinkPads AccuType. AccuType keyboards can be found in Lenovo's Essential line of notebooks and in IdeaPads. I suppose the reason why Lenovo doesn't call the ThinkPad keyboards AccuType, is that current ThinkPad keyboards probably are basically different from AccuType keyboards. So even if you find the AccuType keyboard to be bothersome, there is some chance that you would be happy with the island-style keyboard of a current ThinkPad.

TTY wrote:Hello,
all i can say is, that Lenovo doesn't call the keyboards on recent ThinkPads AccuType.

Part of the problem is the lack of current literature on this keyboard. All I've been able to find is that according to this article from 2012:

For the next generation of ThinkPad laptops, however, Lenovo appears to be replacing the classic keyboards with AccuType keyboards featuring chicklet or island-style keys.

Lenovo describes the new style of keyboard this way: "An AccuType keyboard features a modern look and feel. Its flatter keys with a slight inward slope create a comfortable crevice for your fingertips; this design allows a more fluid, spacious and comfortable typing experience when compared to standard keyset designs." Many of the company's laptops already use the AccuType keyboard.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/254197/n ... board.html

If the ThinkPad no longer uses the AccuType keyboard, do you know when it was changed?

Nigellus wrote:If the ThinkPad no longer uses the AccuType keyboard, do you know when it was changed?

I don't think that Lenovo ever put AccuType keyboards in ThinkPads. I suppose the confusion was caused by the editor of the PC World article, Ms. Pinola, who seems to have thought that Lenovo was going to use AccuType keyboards in ThinkPads. But she was wrong.

I went to a computer shop few months ago, and tested the keyboards of laptops on display, some lenovo yoga / ideapad / essential series.

Almost every keyboard feels different. .... the lenovo yoga was too springy and generally didn't like it, the ideapad and essential where much better and required less force.

There wasn't any thinkpad to test at the time.

Lenovo uses keyboard from different manufacturers even for the same laptop model, that is according to the FRU pdf files.

you experience with the flex maybe different than what you would experience on thinkpads .. and maybe it is not .. there isn't much consistency.