Thinkpads Forum

Since the xx30 generation of ThinkPads may very well be the last that resembles the classic-style ThinkPads,

I think that the inclusion of the classic keyboard would alleviate, in my opinion, the most pressing of the problems that exist on the T430/530.
The problem is that according to the ThinkPad wiki (http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Upgrading_T430_Keyboard), most of the benefits gained my replacing the chicklet-style keyboard with a traditional one are negated because the BIOS itself does not recognize the (I presume) different signals transmitted by the Home, Insert, Delete, etc. on the traditional keyboard.

The three solutions that I have thought of are as follows:

Petition Lenovo for a BIOS Update to support older-gen keyboards

• Most ideal
  From a practical standpoint, I don't think Lenovo would ever do something like this; it's outright disapproval of their own business decisions.
  Unlikely

Change the Keyboard to transmit the proper signals

• Soldering
  Schematics?
  Diagrams?
  Flat-out impractical, probably impossible

Modify the BIOS to accept the codes from the traditional Keyboard

• Relatively low risk
  Middleton's BIOS has Ctrl/Fn swap, which means that BIOS modifications of this nature are, in practice, possible
  However, Middleton himself stated that the Ctrl-Fn swap modification was difficult on the notebookreview forums -- http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... ost6487312
  Most likely

To go forwards, we need to:

1. Determine if any of the above solutions are plausible
2. Pick one of the solutions
3. And find a means to go through with that solution

I am personally leaning towards a BIOS hack to change the key definitions in the BIOS. If we go down this path, we would need a BIOS hacker and possibly payment for that hacker.

This is one modification would bring back the classic ThinkPad more than any multitude of others; we need a solution.

Is there a point? Is the T430 so much better than the T420 to worth this effort? If it'd be an eDP based display system, then yeah it would be cos you could fix the biggest problem -- screen -- but it's still the same LVDS. So, what's so great about the T430 vs T420?

The easiest solution would be to buy a T420. Other than a slight performance increase and stronger magnesium frame (T420 frame has more holes, while T430 frame is almost like a solid block).