Thinkpads Forum

Hi - i recently got "upgraded" from an older X1 Carbon to a newer one that has the touch sensitive "soft" F-keys. Not sure what gen this X1C is - sorry I don't know how to figure that out. I searched the forums for an answer on this, but i probably don't know the right search strings.

My question is - is there a way to adjust the sensitivity of the touch F-keys? I can't stand these soft, touch sensitive F-keys because my fingers keep accidentally brushing against them while typing, and i keep bringing up things accidentally. or i'll be casually resting my hand on the keyboard and i'll accidentally turn my volume all the way up. These soft keys are a bad idea, i think, but to make them work a little better for me if i could make it harder to accidentally trigger them, that would help.

I've looked in the places i think i should (Adaptive Keyboard Settings), but can't find a way to adjust the sensitivity. Even better might be a setting to make it so you need to do a two-key press to activate the soft keys, but can't find that. Neither is a good thing to have to do - these keys just don't work for me.

I really feel this X1C is a step backwards - the soft F-keys, and also the lack of real mouse buttons on the trackpad are causing me issues. I assume i'll adjust to the mouse button problem, but the soft F-keys are a problem. I'm guessing my particular X1 Carbon is slightly older, i see from some forum posts that maybe Lenovo went away from soft F-keys, thank goodness.

welcome to the forum..

if you find a way to desensitize the touch strip keys let me know..
on my X1 carbon, gen 2 (which has these touch strip keys), all I need do is get close and a keystroke is registered..

23dex wrote:Not sure what gen this X1C is - sorry I don't know how to figure that out.

If it has a touch strip instead of actual Function key buttons, it's a Gen 2.

Thanks folks. Yes this must be a gen2. My company's IT department is researching more on lowering sensitivity, I'm not real hopeful though if you guys don't know how to do it.

Better news is that my IT department is going to upgrade me to a gen3 in a few days. I got this gen2 laptop because I needed one quickly for various reasons.

This Gen2 is definitely awful. The touch strip F-keys ruin my whole trust in how i work with the laptop - accidentally activating keys when i didn't mean to, then slow to use when i need the function keys. One of the great things about Thinkpads compared to other laptops is their predictability in use - the Gen2 really eroded that predictability.