Thinkpads Forum

I have never been a fan of the touchpad.

The T20 (I believe) was the last of the T-series to not have one of these built into the palmrest. I am aware that several other models of the Thinkpad from the vintage of the T61 were offered with palmrests that did not have touchpads.

Does anyone know if it would be possible to order one of these palmrests w/out the touchpad and install it in my 14.1", non-widescreen T61? Thanks.

No.

And I don't understand the need. Turn the touchpad off in the BIOS.

Some T30 models came without touchpads, and you could get a T4x palmrest without a touchpad. Nothing in the T line without a touchpad is newer. You can get an R61.

You are correct.
The part number for the T4x palmrest without a touchpad is 91P8399.
The palmrests w/out touchpads are available for the R61 only for the 15.4" screen units. The part number is 42X3941 with an IBM logo. With the Thinkpad logo the number is 42X3940.
It may be possible to swap a 15.4" R61 palmrest into a 15.4" T61. Since mine is a 14.1" standard screen I will not be taking this route.
I also pulled the palmrests off of my T42 and T61 and compared: the castings and fasteners are significantly different.

It looks like this may be a project for black Bondo and a grinder...