Beware - Lenovo has changed keyboard layout of T400s

[zenit]

Well, not exactly. IBM boldly swapped the Caps-Lock and Control keys with the rollout of the PC/AT, much to the chagrin of touch-typists everywhere.

I don't think the T400s keyboard change will do much harm, but it does illustrate that even the brightest engineers, sometimes, have too much time on their hands, and can overTHINK.

Mix in a few marketing dweebs, a few who don't type but fancy neon, a couple guest bean-counters from GM, a design consultant from Apple and Sony, and the next thing you know... we've got a "StylePad" with flat, mushy keys that change color, accessorized with a cupholder and cigarette lighter, and that "awful trackpoint" will be removed. Corporate will have to bribe consumers with rebates and coupons and 3G contracts and tie-ins with cellphones and car manufacturers and free Fanta; the resulting damage to the balance sheet will enable the aforementioned bean-counters to shut down the Thinkpad line when the company is "rescued" by Acer, HP, or Dell.

(Does anyone else have these nightmares?)

I for one think that something you describing as nightmare, would not be such a bad idea. Take T400s, replace all plastic bits with brushed aluminium, put in a backlit keyboard and a good RGB-LED glossy screen, make touchpad a bit bigger and you have a perfect competitor for 13" Macbook Pro. Probably will not win alot of corporate purchases, but in academic settings it might be hugely popular.

This is just my observation from working in a very big university.... Nowadays 95% of all new computers being bought by faculty and staff are Apple and Sony with an occasional Dell. Most computers I see students using are Macbooks and HP "bestbuy specials". Only people I ever see using thinkpads are engineers, and the ones I know all complain about crappy screens. Lenovo needs to stop being so [censored] conservative, they have some good products and with a bit of refinement they can take a good chunk out of other markets.