External Keyboard with Thinkpad quality/feel

Does anyone have experience with one of the IBM/Lenovo external keyboards. OR, any experience with another brand that is as high quality and feel as the Thinkpad keyboards? I'd like to set up something nice with my mini dock!

 

No personal experience here but I hear the Lenovo desktop keyboards are nothing special.

 

I use a Z-Merc gaming keyboard. I like it because I can program some of the addl buttons for gaming but also for my other programs as well. It also has a nice feel to the kb and an easy to use interface.

 

You've got some great choices here. I have friends who use the IBM/Lenovo keyboard that actually incorporates a thinkpad keyboard into a full-sized frame. I think it's called an ultranav keyboard. At this point I don't remember if it has a full-size numpad or anything.

However, it's also something like $50-90.

Instead, you may want to look into the Logitech's OEM 'Ultra-X' or 'Ultra-light' keyboard at your discount computer store. It's also made with laptop-level components so it's very thin and low-profile, but is full-sized with standard 104-key arrangement. Keys have more travel than the ultranav keyboard, and are a bit clickier, but the tactile response is great.

It's about $15-20. I picked up a couple of them just cause they were so cheap.

Btw, I've spent about $1k on keyboards over the last 6 years, and have a stash of Omnikey Ultras and IBM Model Ms in my closet (just in case of nuclear war, I guess), so you could say keyboard quality is very important to me.

 

if you look at ebay right now, there is a seller who's selling ultranavs for very cheap, but it has different language printed on the keys itself. If you don't mind the smaller left shift key and a farther enter key, it's a great option because it also has the trackpad and the red eraser thing, eliminating the need of a mouse. I got mine for $10 + $7 s/h, which was a steal.

the quality does feel a little worse than the thinkpad laptop keyboards' though.
my 2cent

 

See this thread for my comments on the Ultranav keyboard...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=150290

 

What are you doing with that stash? Waiting for it to appreciate in value?! Got any black M13 keyboards?

 

I went to clickykeyboards.com It looks like they are sold out of everything. They have clicky and con-clicky. What exactly is a "clicky" keyboard vs non-clicky? What makes it special?

 

I really like this Logitech diNovo Edge keyboard. It's sleek and feels like a laptop keyboard.

 

Just to speak from experience -

diNovo Edge: I had this for a while, and loved it. It had a very smooth feel to the keys and was kind of like the HP keyboards that you often see - very kind of "mushy", but still somewhat firm feeling. The backlit icons as well as the built in Synaptics TouchDisc with scrolling touchpad was definitely a plus. The bluetooth meant that it could get a very long range - and it did. I think when I used it I could get as far as about 6 meters (direct line of sight). The touchpad can also be disabled if you wish. The downsides? Well, once you peel off the protective plastic it becomes a fingerprint magnet. While the included cloth helps remove them, it still is a problem. Also, a few of the shortcut buttons on the left side seemed to have very little feedback - the cursor button (the bottom most shortcut button ht eleft side) is actually a left click button. I could barely feel any kind of feedback upon pressing this button.

Logitech UltraX - There are actually 3 different keyboard versions - I will just refer to them as v1, v2, and v3. v1 is the original model - which is what I have. It is very nice - the keyboard's keys are of laptop style caps - they provide very tactile feedback and if you type really quickly - you will like this a lot as it allows for quick typing easily. There are only a few shortcut buttons along the the top, but most are the "necessary ones" - email, internet, media, volume up/down and mute I think. V2 is essentially the wireless version of this, and also includes a mouse. v3 is slightly different in that the keycaps used are slightly more curved. I have tried all 3, and they are all great, but I guess I am more of a fan of the original - while the differences are subtle I love the v1 the best.

I have been considering the ThinkPad Travel / USB keyboards for some time now as I have become accustomed to typing on my T60 and using the UltraNav at the same time. However, my only concern is that Lenovo probably uses the same NMB/ALPS/Chicony trio, and therefore you have a chance of not getting the "good one", being according to popular belief the NMB model. Also, these keyboards were most likely designed in the days of the T42 - as you can notice by the shared red-stripe and curved edges of the mouse buttons whereas today's T60s and T61s have straight edges. It makes me wonder also if Lenovo will provide an update to these models or simply leave them as it is. I have heard many good things about the Travel keyboard and that it does come in a very nice case

There are only a few threads in these forums relating to these Lenovo keyboards (Model #31P8950 being the USB keyboard - Essentially the Travel keyboard with the addition of a num pad and Model # 31P9490 - the Travel Keyboard which I may end up getting). From the sound of things, it is generally a good product. I just now have to find out if I want to really spend the $100 for it... =[

 

Clicky means they use a "buckling spring" type keyswitch, which provides a very well-defined keystroke and ideal level of travel and key resistance but does make a lot of noise. Every time you press a key and the little spring underneath buckles to operate the switch there's a distinct click. Type at 80 wpm and it sounds like a machine gun.

Advantages: perfect keyboard feel and everyone I know who has one says they can type way faster than on any other keyboard. It's hard to explain why. It just feels so goooood They were also made with a hefty steel backplate and weigh about 6lb so you can club burglers with them.

Disadvantages: noisy and no-one mass produces them any more (the keyswitches are too expensive and too noisy for modern offices). You can buy modern clicky keyboards made by Omnikey but they're just as expensive as vintage (1980s and 1990s) versions.

So now all we get are crappy soft-dome type keyboards that cost $3 to make in China (and feel like you're typing on a piece of poo) or utterly overpriced scissor-switch type keyboards that look cool but don't have enough travel for serious typing.

 

I really, really like the Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000. Low keys like a laptop and it just feels frickin awesome.

 

Yah I have that too. It's great, but the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 (also from MS) is what I use primarily as it promotes the "proper" ergonomic keyboard (raised and curved instead of flat and curved)