NMB Keyboards now made in China?

[hoya]

I just received a replacement NMB keyboard for my 14" T43 and it says "Made in China" on the box as well as the keyboard itself.

The box lists the Part Number as 39T0519, dated 2005-12-09.

The keyboard itself has these numbers:

Parts NO. 13N9988 ID NO. 5AR3CD
FRU NO. 39T0519 Model RM87

MADE IN CHINA

Has any one else had this experience?

[simms]

Good post. I just got mine yesterday. Same specs, made in China.

It is NOT the same as the NMBs. I have one made in Thailand and I can definetely tell a difference. The China one has looser keys and make MUCH more noise when typed.

[fullauto]

Ahhh, this clears up the mystery. My NEW T43p came with a NMB keyboard and the Ctrl key got crunchy within a couple of weeks of use.


Hello Lenovo...

[nirvana0001]

i think it made by 3 different places.

[hoya]

Sure enough, this explains why the NMB keyboard Lenovo sent to replace my ALPS keyboard was defective. the middle trackpoint button, which I use frequently in firefox, did not work properly. When I just removed the keyboard to replace it with the newer Made in China NMB keyboard, I saw that it was ALSO made in CHINA. That's two for two.

the latest Made in China NMB is okay so far, but a far cry from the Thai-made NMB keyboard I had on my T42.

I'm tracking several on eBay and plan to make a purchase soon.

[Troels]

I bought a (Danish) Keyboard for the T42 (15") made by NMB. IBM customer service got back to me and told me that the T40/p,T41/p,T42/p part numer for the 15" keyboard is replaced by the FRU for the T43/p keyboard and will bring me that one instead. It wasn't in stock, but i received it from them three days after. It was indeed the T43/p FRU part no., made by NMB, in Thailand.
This was In the end of October (around the 25th or so).

[illmatic]

I've been lurking here for awhile...but i recently sent in my T43 for service because my wifi card was very irratic...well they replaced the system board and also my KEYBOARD. I had the NMB Thai keyboard, but now I have one that's made in China. It definately clicks alot more and doesn't feel as responsive as the old one. I don't see why my keyboard had to be replaced when there was no problem with it.

[Ragtopgeek]

Is there an easy way to determine where keyboard was made other than taking it out? I got a new T42p 15" UXGA (2373-Q1U) in late December and the parts list FRU indicates I have the NMB keyboard--but it does indeed feel more clicky than I remember when I used one last year, so I am curious where made.
Thanks, Ragtopgeek.

[simms]

Is there an easy way to determine where keyboard was made other than taking it out? I got a new T42p 15" UXGA (2373-Q1U) in late December and the parts list FRU indicates I have the NMB keyboard--but it does indeed feel more clicky than I remember when I used one last year, so I am curious where made.
Thanks, Ragtopgeek.

You can check the FRU number off of lenovo's website by plugging in your system ID and serial.

[skuff]

It would appear that at least for the T42 keyboards, they are all made in China, regardless of the brand. My experience:

My T42 came with a Chinese (Alps) made 93P4840. It was ok, but I had heard so much about the Thai (NMB) 93P4780 models that I had IBM send me one. The model numbers have changed recently and the 93P4780 now maps to 39T0643. You can no longer order the 93Pxxxx FRU's.

I got my NMB keyboard and it had all the characteristics of the NMB models and was branded NMB. Blue rubber domes under the keys instead of black like the China made ones, different perferation pattern on the metal back plate and a stronger metal plate. BUT !! it said made in China, even though everything about it was characteristic of the NMB Thai made ones. It would appear that regardless of the branding or physical characterstics, now they are all manufactured in China.

This thread talks about this at great length, spanning the last 1.5 years. I have also posted near the end of page 3 on this thread.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

[keleko]

I got my NMB keyboard and it had all the characteristics of the NMB models and was branded NMB.

Where exactly on the keyboard did you actually see that it was branded NMB?

[icantux]

My recently replaced keyboard is an NMB and it's made in Thailand - the left SHFT key kept popping out on my old one, hence the replacement (my system specs in my sig).

Keleko, the differences are in the parts numbers provided by lenovo and listed here (mind you, the part numbers have changed somewhat): http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 46503.html


The original parts that shipped with your thinkpad are listed here (based on your machine type and serial number): http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... sLookup.vm