Thinkpad keyboard wear (shiny, greasy keys)

[naus]

Has Lenovo done anything to reduce the shine that develops on Thinkpad keys after say 6 months of use? I don't understand why the Thinkpad keys aren't coated with some kind of polymer that would slow down the wear, seeing as one of their main selling points is durability. Even the sexiest Thinkpad starts looking like an old POS when the keys get all greasy/shiny looking from minimal wear. It just looks dirty.



I have a 3 year old HP 2710p where the plastic keys still look brand-spanking new with no trace of oily/greasiness (the palmrest on the HP is a different story, but you can peel the stuff over the palmrest off and then you just get stainless steel). HP coats their Elitebook plastic keys with something called DuraKeys. It works. Lenovo should do the same for their Thinkpads. People who say that the shine is inevitable on all plastic keys are frankly just misinformed.

According to HP's marketing: "In independent testing conducted by Trace Laboratories, HP DuraKeys showed no wear after 250,000 cycles. Competitor notebooks showed significant wear after only 5,000 cycles." Personal experience say they are right.

[Harryc]

Your duplicate posts in these threads http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 49#p623749 | http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 20#p625320 were removed. We do not allow cross posting on the forums.

[Roger99]

My experience is different. I have never had significant wear of Thinkpad keys.

[Paul Unger]

My x201 already has 'bald spots' on the home keys and the spacebar. That's after a mere five months. My T61 keys are well and truly bald after three years. My T42s seemed to keep the grip for longer, but after 7 years, their keys are now smooth as well... Nay, I must agree with naus--it's kind of depressing. Love the keyboards; not keen on the keys.

Paul

[RDKirk]

If you habitually clean your hands with an alcohol sanitizer, that will make the keys wear faster.

"Back in the day," you could get keyboards with keys that had the lettering "injection molded." The letters were actually white plastic material (or black, if the keys were white) that extended through the depth of the key surface. I loved my big, five-pound mostly metal Gateway keyboard (no relation to the computer company) that had injection molded key lettering.

Once upon a time, someone sold little squares of clear adhesive plastic to cover the keys and prevent wear.

[Harryc]

My T42s seemed to keep the grip for longer, but after 7 years, their keys are now smooth as well...

On a positive note, most other laptop manufacturer/models don't last long enough for folks to complain about keyboard wear.... 7 years eh?

[Paul Unger]

On a positive note, most other laptop manufacturer/models don't last long enough for folks to complain about keyboard wear.... 7 years eh?

The only thing I've replaced on it (late last year) is a cooling fan. But I've been running NHC on it for six of those seven years, and I swear that's been a significant factor in keeping it alive--undervolted by ~30% and fan set-points tuned to come on ~40*C. I guess that's why my fan died, but that's a small price to pay for a machine that still works! My other T42 has recently developed a line through the screen, but it too is seven years old and running strong. I'm very pleased with the IBMs; here's hoping my Lenovos (T61, X201) do as well.

[laowai]

I'm just gonna bring this back from the dead to say that after I accidentally killed the connector ribbon and ended up getting a new NMB... I do have to say that shiny keys are better. I'm mistyping passwords and typing slower than I was with my shiny shiny keyboard

Shiny keys mean it's a well-used, loved thinkpad

[denisky]

I just got a brand new Chicony keyboard for my R51e. While other people wants to get rid of shiny keys, I want to make mine as shiny/greasy as possible. I find it easier to type on with shiny keys on my old NMB keyboard. But, since my Chicony keyboard is brand new, it still has matte surface that layers the keys, and doesn't seem to wear off quickly.

Does anyone know how to make keyboard shiny and greasy without spending so much time doing heavy typing on it? Any particular oil to speed up the process? Thanks.

[Atreides]

I've found it depends a lot on the individual. I have extremely dry hands, and it takes me a while to wear down a keyboard. On the other hand I know people who've completely worn down every keyboard they use fairly quickly.

[Soul_Est]

I've found it depends a lot on the individual. I have extremely dry hands, and it takes me a while to wear down a keyboard. On the other hand I know people who've completely worn down every keyboard they use fairly quickly.

I think may be one of the latter people you described as I sweat quite a bit depending on what I'm doing. I hope the keyboard wear doesn't happen to the X200s I might be buying next week.

@Everyone
One thing that I've done and am currently doing with my MacBook is to clean the keyboard (and the rest of the case of course) using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. This solution was passed on to me from one of the associates in the Apple Stoer where I purchased the machine. I'm no sure what it'll do to a ThinkPad keyboard yet but If I do get that X200s next week, I'll start testing and let you all know.