Thinkpads Forum

Hi there,

I was thinking whether it was possible to replace the original keyboard on T510 with the latest island-style keyboard from T530.
Has anyone tried it?

Cheers.

I believe the connectors are different, so no.

Yes, it's possible (connectors are the same). But the key mappings will be wrong. A modified BIOS will be required to use the new keyboard on the old Thinkpads or the old keyboard on the new Thinkpads.

eric_lhy wrote:Hi there,

I was thinking whether it was possible to replace the original keyboard on T510 with the latest island-style keyboard from T530.
Has anyone tried it?

Cheers.

Why would you want to? I think Lenovo made a big mistake. The ThinkPad keyboard was perfect. Now ThinkPads have the same cheap chiclet keyboard as every crappy laptop on display at Best Buy.

Art Vandelay wrote:Now ThinkPads have the same cheap chiclet keyboard as every crappy laptop on display at Best Buy.

That is simply not true.
Yes, yes, the layout is horrible, they removed keys essential to certain usage scenarios, blah blah blah. I do understand that a fair number of people, many of them ThinkPad loyalists, will find the new keyboard unusable or unacceptable. However the new keyboard is still far superior than every crappy laptop out there. They still have a very deep stroke, a curved top, and solid action. Have you ever touched one?

I have not actually used on of the new ThinkPad keyboards. I have used Apple keyboards and others with the chiclet keys. Not a fan. I am thinking about a new T430s or X1 but am very troubled by the keyboard issue. Like I said, the classic ThinkPad keyboard I am typing on now is perfect; why did they mess with the one thing that didn't need changing?

I think you are both right in your own way. I think Twistero is right that in the sea of chicklet keyboards, this one may be the best (I've used the chicklet keyboard on my brothers E420). Meanwhile, I think Art is right that in the sea of keyboards (not exclusive to chicklets) the various versions of the "classic" Thinkpad keyboard may be the best - and many (including me) deem it superior particularly in layout. So why mess with it?

If they'd have merely made a chicklet version of the old layout I don't think there would be a lot of merit to the chicklet issue. But unfortunately the new layout shot the pooch...

dr_st wrote:Yes, it's possible (connectors are the same). But the key mappings will be wrong. A modified BIOS will be required to use the new keyboard on the old Thinkpads or the old keyboard on the new Thinkpads.

I tried using the X230's keyboard in my T510. The good: it works. Trackpoint works. All the regular keys work. The bad: function keys are mapped differently.

EDIT: Some of the function keys don't even work. And by function keys, I mean F1-F12 as well as the Fn+button keys.

Glad to know that it is exchangeable!! I like the island style keyboard, as it wouldnt get dust into the keyboard easily.

Just get an IdeaPad Z series or Y series. Remapping keys in BIOS and making sure the fit is correct does not seem worth it to me.

I like both style keyboards as long as it is done right. I think the curvature on the Lenovo keyboards is an improvement over the Sony, Asus, or Acer/Gateway's island style (or chiclet) keyboards. I prefer the classic ThinkPad keyboard as well as the keyboard on the Fujitsu Lifebooks. The new Samsung NP700G7C keyboard blew me away when I tried it at the store. I don't think it can get any better than that.

eric_lhy wrote:Hi there,

I was thinking whether it was possible to replace the original keyboard on T510 with the latest island-style keyboard from T530.
Has anyone tried it?

Cheers.

Hi there,

I was thinking whether it was possible to replace the original keyboard on T/W 530 with the previous keyboard from T/W 520.
Has anyone tried it?

Cheers.

eric_lhy wrote:Glad to know that it is exchangeable!! I like the island style keyboard, as it wouldnt get dust into the keyboard easily.

Well, unless you work in a very dusty environment it doesn't seem like it would be an issue for most keyboards. There was a move to narrow the empty space between keys from 0.7 to 0.4mm. It was discussed in one of their blog posts
http://blog.lenovo.com/design/a-tolerance-for-crumbs
Though I guess this is more leaning towards crumbs than dust...

dr_st wrote:Yes, it's possible (connectors are the same). But the key mappings will be wrong. A modified BIOS will be required to use the new keyboard on the old Thinkpads or the old keyboard on the new Thinkpads.

Is anyone working on such BIOSes to allow chicklet keyboard-equipped models to use older keyboards? I would expect there would be a market for such a modded BIOS. I wonder if Middleton has been approached about this already.