Confirmation on NMB Keyboard

[DarkScythe]

Hello,

The T60 I bought from lazyazn finally arrived yesterday, but I didn't have too much time to poke around it. I did some testing today and opened it up.

First off, what a lovely IPS screen - I've missed it so. Anyway, at the moment I'm working on creating my own version of a restore CD - I'm slipstreaming XP SP3 into the Lenovo restore kit so I can get an easy reformat without any of the IBM utilities as I can selectively download them later.

Anyway, I took a look inside and the first thing to look at was the keyboard. I did some research while the deal was pending and found out there are 3 types of keyboards available (correct me if I'm wrong.) There's the Chicony, Alps and NMB, in progressing order of preference it seems. From all the testimony, I was set to look for an NMB on ebay if I ended up with a Chicony, and possibly keeping the Alps if that was what it came with.

For the record, my old T42 had one of the "Chinese" keyboards, there was a thread somewhere on this forum that discussed the 3 different types, and mine was the "better" Chinese one, not "Satan's" Chinese one. I felt that was fine, but my friend's T42 was NMB and he vastly preferred that one. Anyway, I took a look at the T60's keyboard, and I *think* it's an NMB.

The sticker says
Part number 39T0928
FRU number 39T0958

If I'm not mistaken these were the numbers for the original batch of NMBs, before they switched to the 42T numbers (no idea on the differences.) I heard about the double-labelling of the Chicony, but it looks like there's only one sticker, I can't easily peel it, nor can I see any obvious signs of a label over another one, and the label layout is the same as the picture of an NMB I found elsewhere on this forum.

Is this truly an NMB, or am I missing something?
One thing I've noticed with this keyboard at least, is the backspace only seems to half-work. If I press it on the right half of the key, it often won't register a backspace, but pressing it on the left half of the key will work. Is this normal of NMB, or is this just a side effect of the laptop having been used?

Thanks again!

Edit:
I also want to replace the sticker on the front of the laptop with the original IBM one.. Lenovo's just doesn't look quite right to me. Does anyone know where to get these? ebay has these for 50 cents but the shipping is ridiculous for something you can ship in a tiny envelope and a single stamp.

[Estrogen Kid]

The only sure way to find out is to inspect the keyboard yourself. only NMB will have blue pads underneath the keys.

see this thread for pics: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=44310

[DarkScythe]

Yes, there are blue pads underneath the keys. Is this trait unique to all original NMB's?

[Estrogen Kid]

blue pads are a sure indicator of NMB. as for your backspace problem, i have an NMB keyboard also and it works just fine wherever i press it. i have a Alps keyboard on my A31 which i prefer over NMB. my NMB keyboard is relatively mushy compared to the Alps keyboard that i have.

[Dead1nside]

Yay I just checked my T41p's keyboard and it has the blue pads so must be NMB. It's good to know that there's a reason for it's superior tactile feel.