Thinkpads Forum

Hello, newbie T410 owner here, but any input would help
For you guys who use type a lot (and use the trackpad as well), how durable have you found the palmrest, the keyboard keys, and the trackpad?
I'm concerned that it would soon show signs of wear (i.e. the surfaces become shiny, polished by friction w/ operator's skin) but there's not many options for "palmrest protector" for Thinkpads out there (which is a good sign because it's very durable?)
This concern is of course caused by my past experience with non-Thinkpads in the past that always showed relatively low durability when it comes to palmrest, trackpad and keys, they became shiny within a few months of daily use.
If you do have palmrest cover/skin, where did you buy it from?
Thank you in advance for your time.

AFAIK there are no shiny ThinkPad palmrests (within reasonable use). Keycaps are a whole different thing, though. They get shiny within months. Touchpad less so, but eventually. Sometimes you can wipe off the oily stain on the touchpad with rubbing alcohol.

I sometimes type with a sheet of microfiber on top of the keyboard to reduce keyboard wear, but it requires more finger coordination than usual. The touchpad also is next to impossible (but not totally) to use through the microfiber.

The palmrests will get a little bit shiny with wear, but it is only noticeable at certain angles, and does not look bad - it lookes more "broken in" than just "broken" or "worn out" - the only thing you may want to do is take off the stickers, since the palmrests will wear around them and it will stand out as it wears.

This is based off my experiences with my T41 and T61

My T410 is about 6 months old at this point, and sees heavy daily use. The right palmrest has a faint hint of wear, but I can honestly say that I never noticed it until just now when I checked, prompted by your question. The left has no visible wear, which makes sense given that I'm right-handed.

The keys have developed the usual level of shine that one would expect. I do not find the T410 any better or worse than previous ThinkPads in this regard.

Thanks for the insightful responses, guys. I'll just take the stickers out per craigmontHunter's advice.

I have them on my system, and now I can see a 1/4" section around them where there is more texture on the palmrest. If you want to keep the stickers on the system somewhere, take them off the palmrest and put them beside the keyboard. This way they will not wear either.

I don't know why, but I like the "polishing" effect that the touchpad, keyboard and palmrest undergo - it is kind of like the texture that antique furniture has .

Regarding the stickers, IMO you should either take them off right away, or never remove them. If you remove them after they've been on for a while, you're liable to end up with faint but visible outlines which will take quite a while to go away (if they ever do.)