The T43 keyboard is phenomenal

[Placeholder]

Hey champs.

For context, I have a pretty rough case of essential tremors. I have not been able to write on a keyboard for the past few years (Well I can but it's just very tedious and annoying). Trying to type would cause me to press the same key multiple times in one stroke, accidentally press in between the keys and adding unwanted letters, taping the backspace was always perilous. Sometimes one finger has a mind of itself and will press another key randomly. My worst enemy was the caps lock key. I kept accidentally activating it whenever I tried to hit A. One time I found a way to deactivate the key by writing a script on Windows 10, but it got patched like two weeks later (My hatred for Microsoft knows no bounds). I ended up giving away my laptop and desktop and I moved on to other things because it was having a pretty bad effect on my mood.

Well I've been craving playing an old shovelware game from the early 2000's called Hot Wheels Mechanix, which I still have my original CD of. I ended up having the opportunity to purchase a 15'' T43 for pretty cheap, I think the highest specs for a standard T43 which is pretty neat. And I didn't notice at first, but as you can see I'm currently enjoying typing this wall of text.

The actuation force required for each key is strong, so no multiple presses over a shaky finger anymore, and no traitor fingers either. The keys are bevelled so if my fingy is drunk well chances are I'm not going to be eating a burgfer for dinner. And the caps lock key, my behated, has a small dip on the edge facing the A key. I still haven't had aN ACCIDENT yet. And somehow the palm rest is the perfect distance to keep my wrists stable (I type by tilting my right wrist on the palm rest so I don't have to move my arm).

It's still not perfect, but it's been such a humongous improvement - no modern keyboard matches it, and I've tried plenty. I managed to make it my daily now. Linux Lite on it, pretty slow but it works for essentials. I got so excited I actually ordered a 14'' T43p off eBay for the FireGL. I'd love to get my mittens on a top specs 15'' T43p eventually, or frankenstein it who knows.

I wrote a short story yesterday, haven't wrote anything in about 10 years now.

Glad to see this little place thriving, those are nice machines.

[BillMorrow]

thanks for the report and thumbs-up..
this kind of makes me keeping this place alive for so many years worth the effort and server rental..

[dr_st]

Thank you for sharing the story!

Among Thinkpads I have had personal experience with, the T4x keyboard has the firmest response and most solid feel when typing.
Second to it is the Thinkpad 25 keyboard. It's such a pity Lenovo threw all that research and development down the toilet, and put it on just a single, limited-supply model.

[TPFanatic]

Well done!!

My feeling is T40 and R50-series, developed just before IBM threw in the towel, and the last series before the magnesium-rollcage design took over, wound up as the last corporate-fleet office-workhorse ThinkPad with a superbly solid keyboard feel. I love T60 and T500 but they never felt as solidly stiff as the unibody T40-series. Keyboards exceeding the T40's IBM-feel became a rarity rather than a given.

A model where I think the stars aligned with the T420 model, which somehow got a perfectly-sized and pleasantly beveled palmrest inside a stiff CFRP body, on top of a magnesium frame. More solid than its squishy predecessor T410 and rattly T400, and time has proven it more durable than its successor T430 which is prone to snapping its hinge-rails.

I recommend the T420 as the modern substitute for fans of the T40-series. Mods exist to even give the T420 a greater screen than any T40-series, an IPS 2560x1440. It can sport three SATA drives, 16GB RAM, fast dual cores or throttled quad cores faster than any ThinkPad before it. My need for speed has forced me to make my last stand with the Ivy Bridge-generation, 7-row and IPS modded X330 and T430, but for those who just want something that works: I bid you to look at the T420. I bow to the T420.

[Placeholder]

thanks for the report and thumbs-up..
this kind of makes me keeping this place alive for so many years worth the effort and server rental..

Among Thinkpads I have had personal experience with, the T4x keyboard has the firmest response and most solid feel when typing.
Second to it is the Thinkpad 25 keyboard. It's such a pity Lenovo threw all that research and development down the toilet, and put it on just a single, limited-supply model.

Yea when I heard about it I tried to find one for sale somewhere but it seems they produced 6 and a half units and shipped them all in the UK. It's such a shame that they are seeing what I consider better build quality as outdated. All laptops nowadays are like really slim which is confusing to me because you open the lid funny and the hinge snaps. Looks like it had a nice keyboard tho.

I love T60 and T500 but they never felt as solidly stiff as the unibody T40-series. Keyboards exceeding the T40's IBM-feel became a rarity rather than a given.

I bid you to look at the T420. I bow to the T420.

I was looking at the T60 series as an upgrade, thanks for the feedback I appreciate it.

I will definitely look into the T420 eventually. I checked on eBay and there's so many of them at affordable prices, it's wild. Looks like corporate got rid of a ton of them. Honestly I'm really enjoying the slow browsing experience for now, reminds me of my early years on the family computer. It's such a nice break from all this fast-paced, in your face and always at the back of your head technology culture right now. If I end up doing further studies I'll pick one up.

[dr_st]

I was looking at the T60 series as an upgrade, thanks for the feedback I appreciate it.

I have a T60 and I love it, but, keyboard aside, it is too small an upgrade over a T43 nowadays. Sure, you get a dual core CPU, but it is a decade and a half out of date.

I will definitely look into the T420 eventually. I checked on eBay and there's so many of them at affordable prices, it's wild. Looks like corporate got rid of a ton of them.

That's exactly what happened, probably years ago.

Honestly I'm really enjoying the slow browsing experience for now, reminds me of my early years on the family computer. It's such a nice break from all this fast-paced, in your face and always at the back of your head technology culture right now. If I end up doing further studies I'll pick one up.

It's never too late.

[astral]

I'm curious which keyboard you ended up with on your T43 - IBM shipped those with keyboards from three different vendors, and each has a different feel. The three manufacturers were NMB, Chicony, and ALPS. On these, most agree the ALPS is the best. I've personally used the NMB and ALPS boards and I definitely think the ALPS board is the clear winner - solid, extremely crisp key feel. You can check via the FRU number on the back of the keyboard, but the fact it works for you is all that really matters.
The T420 keyboard is also excellent. As with the T43 boards there were the same three vendors and for the T420 boards NMB is generally considered the best, though I've heard some prefer Chicony. I've got my T430 modded with an NMB board and it's excellent - different feel than T43 ALPS but still great. You'd have to try one to really see if it would work for you or not.

[dr_st]

Strange, in the time of T43, I recall most were considering NMB to be superior. Then with T60 some preferred ALPS. I only ever had NMB on all these systems, nothing to compare to...

[TPFanatic]

The NMBs (blue domes) I'm familiar with from the T42-era had what felt like wobbly keycaps, along with the NMBs used in *60-61. NMB changed their scissor design for the *00 era onward to be less wobbly.

I recall encountering a clear-white/gray-dome T42 keyboard and hating how resistant the keys felt, not sure if it was ALPs or a dried out Chicony though. Sounds like that resistance is what works out better for OP. I personally prefer less resistance which makes a healthy Chicony my favorite, the hard-bottoming-out (like hitting a pothole on the highway) can get annoying though.

[Bionicman]

Having typed on all kinds of keyboards from mechanical, cheap, expensive, ultranavs, to T61, X230, T420, 4-5gen laptops, fujitsus or HPs -> several things remain constant: you can get used to a certain keyboard, but after initial learn or "ergonomic getting used to" period there is a level of typing that can't be improved. Meaning it will never get any better or faster after let''s say one or two months - different period of time for every person. And I hate to admit, no modern keyboard has ever come close to a T61 (never tried a T43 one). I always get between 10 and 15% better speed and accuracy on the type test with it. t420 is close, but worse. Anything afterwards is even slower to type on with many more mistakes, but at the same time the keyboards across different manufacturers feel the same somehow, so currently nothing stands out too much and possibly nothing is too bad at the same time. So it is kind a sad how you know you can get used to typing on anything, but it really is just worse and you have to just get used to inferior typing forever.

[Placeholder]

I'm curious which keyboard you ended up with on your T43 - IBM shipped those with keyboards from three different vendors, and each has a different feel. The three manufacturers were NMB, Chicony, and ALPS. On these, most agree the ALPS is the best. I've personally used the NMB and ALPS boards and I definitely think the ALPS board is the clear winner - solid, extremely crisp key feel. You can check via the FRU number on the back of the keyboard, but the fact it works for you is all that really matters.
The T420 keyboard is also excellent. As with the T43 boards there were the same three vendors and for the T420 boards NMB is generally considered the best, though I've heard some prefer Chicony. I've got my T430 modded with an NMB board and it's excellent - different feel than T43 ALPS but still great. You'd have to try one to really see if it would work for you or not.

Hey that's funky, thanks for letting me know. I ordered a 14'' T43p and I'm picking it up on Sunday, I'll check out both to see what I'm typing on. I'll definitely get my hands on a T420 in the near future, I think if the keyboard feels similar I could run it. I just don't think it's a loss to get one of those modded, I hear so many good things about it all over the forums and outside too. I'll get a nice main machine, and keep the old T43p for old games and typing

Having typed on all kinds of keyboards from mechanical, cheap, expensive, ultranavs, to T61, X230, T420, 4-5gen laptops, fujitsus or HPs -> several things remain constant: you can get used to a certain keyboard, but after initial learn or "ergonomic getting used to" period there is a level of typing that can't be improved. Meaning it will never get any better or faster after let''s say one or two months - different period of time for every person. And I hate to admit, no modern keyboard has ever come close to a T61 (never tried a T43 one). I always get between 10 and 15% better speed and accuracy on the type test with it. t420 is close, but worse. Anything afterwards is even slower to type on with many more mistakes, but at the same time the keyboards across different manufacturers feel the same somehow, so currently nothing stands out too much and possibly nothing is too bad at the same time. So it is kind a sad how you know you can get used to typing on anything, but it really is just worse and you have to just get used to inferior typing forever.

What I've found from dabbling around keyboards a bit (and losing hope), the whole keyboard craze feels like a set of passing fads. First you had the gamer keyboard with the clickety clack and gamer lights, then it moved on to the silent, small ''ergonomic'' keyboard. And it just feels like through all this trying to fit subjective criterias, you just can't find quality. Keyboards moved from a tool to becoming an experience. And then newer laptops get those flat skittles with half a millimetre of travel. It just feels so weird to have to deal with this honestly.

You got me curious about the wpm test thing, seems like I'm getting 45 wpm with a few mistakes here and there, which is honestly wild. I'll try on a modern keyboard whenever I have the chance.

[Bionicman]

You got me curious about the wpm test thing, seems like I'm getting 45 wpm with a few mistakes here and there, which is honestly wild. I'll try on a modern keyboard whenever I have the chance.

I got 50wpm+ on some chiclets and strangely on some X200s, while on T61 / W500 keyboard type I can easily reach 60 with fewer mistakes. It's like you feel you are going to press the right button and it doesn't have that left/right mushy feel. At the same time hitting it at the edge doesn't lead to an error -> most new keyboards do not tolerate small finger position offsets. A little bit of pushing the wrong edge and its 100% error. Somehow the older tolerated more energetic typing and movement where I don't need to pay attention and it just works.

[Placeholder]

I got 50wpm+ on some chiclets and strangely on some X200s, while on T61 / W500 keyboard type I can easily reach 60 with fewer mistakes. It's like you feel you are going to press the right button and it doesn't have that left/right mushy feel. At the same time hitting it at the edge doesn't lead to an error -> most new keyboards do not tolerate small finger position offsets. A little bit of pushing the wrong edge and its 100% error. Somehow the older tolerated more energetic typing and movement where I don't need to pay attention and it just works.

Yea that's true, I can press on the very edge of a keycap and it won't trigger its neighbour. Groundbreaking design if you ask me. I tested a wpm thing on my roommate's gaming keyboard the other night. Best I could do was 28 wpm with a lot of mistakes. The 45 wpm I can push on the T43 keyboard is nearly flawless in comparison.

I hope the T43p I get has a different keyboard so I can test the difference in feel. We'll see tomorrow.

[TPFanatic]

Iirc My historical wpm was fastest (>100wpm) on chicony 7-row, followed by chicony 6 row, slower (<100wpm) on liteon 6 row. In practice my casual typing is nowhere near that insane, probably just average.

I can slam out essays on a thinkpad. I grew up on keyboards and am on the spectrum though so that’s where my ability comes from.

[Placeholder]

Looks like I've got the NMB keyboard on my T43.

And small update on the T43p I ordered - it's a paperweight. The left hinge is broken and the hard drive does sad noises. However I assume the motherboard can be swapped into the T43 shell so I'll be looking at doing just that.

[keithsketchley]

The old x41 had a Caps Lock key with cutdown beside A key.

T480 does not.
(It does have a bit of depression on each key but key feel is poor.)

Lenovo is not consistent.