TrackPoint Keyboards

Posted on July 22, 2021July 23, 2021 by Laptop Retrospective

If you are looking for a greater, in-depth article, please consider checking out this fantastic summary of several of the keyboards below here.

PS/2 Era or Earlier

IBM

Model M13

A classic with Buckling springs. Very rare with no active listings on eBay. For more information on this beauty, check out LGR’s episode where he covers it in detail. An even rarer version of this keyboard was made for the IBM PS/55E computer in Japan called the IBM 5576-C01.

KPD8923

Often found in black, but also can be acquired in white, these IBM-bred keyboards feature a full Number pad as well as the classic TrackPoint. On eBay listings will range around the $150-200USD mark for one in good condition.

SpaceSaver II (RT3200)

This PS/2 based keyboard is pretty rare with no current eBay listings. Users have modified them to have a USB-C connection and even built custom boards based on this layout. The red accents on the left and right-click buttons are very desirable. Claimed as the “World’s Best Computer Keyboard” in this article. There was a USB variant with a similar setup called the KPH0035, which is equally rare with no active listings.

IBM Trackpoint 84 Key AKA “SpaceSaver I” or “M4-1” (84H8503)

Another uncommon PS/2 beast. No known listings but some surplus sites price it at $100 USD. It also came in black.

IBM TrackPoiont 84 Key (Photo by Memory4less.com)

IBM ThinkPad USB Keyboard (SK-8840)

PS/2 variant of the SK-8845 listed below. Somewhat rare and fetch prices of $150USD and up.

USB Era

Lenovo

ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II (4Y40X49493)

Bluetooth, USB-C and wireless, oh my. A modern keyboard for the modern world. $120 CDN if you get it on sale. If you are looking to get one of these, consider checking out my Affiliate page and placing an order through that link.

ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II (Photo by Lenovo)

ThinkPad Wired USB Keyboard with TrackPoint (0B47190)

Sporting the newer key layout, this keyboard can be had directly from Lenovo with many sales for as little as $75 CDN. If you are looking to get one of these, consider checking out my Affiliate page and placing an order through that link.

ThinkPad Wired USB Keyboard with TrackPoint (Photo by Lenovo)

ThinkPad USB Keyboard (SK-8855)

This unit does not feature the combined UltraNav setup of the original IBM variant listed below. These can be found on eBay for around $90USD. For a comprehensive comparison between the IBM and Lenovo variants, check out this great article.

Lenovo ThinkPad USB Keyboard (Photo by notebookreview.com)

IBM

IBM ThinkPad USB Keyboard (SK-8845 and SK-8845CR)

Often what people find when they search eBay is this gem. An IBM Branded USB-based keyboard. A PS/2 variant of this keyboard is also available (SK8840). The CR variant omits the TrackPad. In good shape, they can be found for about $100USD.

IBM ThinkPad USB Keyboard SK-8845 (Photo by notebookreview.com)

The SK-8845CR model (Photo by Tasurinchi)

IBM SK-8835

Not as common as the other IBM branded keyboards, this sports the UltraNav configuration of the TrackPoint and a full Numpad. Prices for these on eBay are usually around $200USD.

Unicomp

Unicomp which has a history in making excellent Buckling Spring keyboards has the EnduraPro that features a TrackPoint. Modestly priced as $129USD.

Website

Tex Keyboards

These are third-party, high-quality keyboards that include the TrackPoint. Their Yoda II version looks very similar to a keyboard that was a Japanese exclusive anniversary keyboard. They are in the premium price bracket ranging from $185 USD up to $399 USD. A Shinobi DIY kit starts at $109 USD. Stock on these units fluctuates so check back often.

Kodachi

Yoda II

Shinobi

Website

There is some speculation that Tex was behind the Anniversary Edition Mechanical Keyboard that Lenovo produced, but the images below found on Twitter do not match up with the branding of the one found here. The boxes are different as well as the logo colouring in the bottom right-hand corner.

Tex yoda 2 thinkpad 25th anniversary Edition pic.twitter.com/d3lTZ9uDWi

— Dannis Liu (@Dannis0727) December 8, 2017

ZGGA?

Disguised at one point as the “ThinkPad 25th Anniversary Edition” keyboard, this appears to have been made by ZGGA and out of circulation. It looks very similar to the Yoda II as stated earlier. The company appeared to sell this keyboard for a limited time on AliExpress.

It isn’t all about Key Travel

Posted on July 13, 2021 by Laptop Retrospective

This article was made possible by the excellent and very interesting study linked below.

Coppola, Sarah M., Philippe C. Dixon, Boyi Hu, Michael Y.C. Lin, and Jack T. Dennerlein. 2019. “Going Short: The Effects of Short-Travel Key Switches on Typing Performance, Typing Force, Forearm Muscle Activity, and User Experience.” Journal of Applied Biomechanics 35 (2): 149–56.

https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jab/35/2/article-p149.xml

One of the longest-running metrics for keyboard quality, especially on laptops has been key travel. While key travel plays an incredibly important part, I’ve had a hard time believing it was the only one. I know for example that there are many fans of what is considered the classic IBM/ThinkPad 7-row keyboard before it was changed to the design we have today. When that design changed occurred, strong opinions emerged and that didn’t result in any significant change to key travel. If you want an in-depth look at the differences between these two keyboards, I strongly recommend this article from Laptopmag.com: https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/thinkpad-type-off-is-lenovos-new-island-style-keyboard-better-or-worse

Lenovo at the time also published a 5-pager which you can read here: Lenovo-Keyboard_Change-Is-Hard-Why-You-Should-Give-In-to-the-New-ThinkPad-Keyboard They outline the work that went into the redesign of the keyboard if you have never read it.

In the article above they examined several different metrics and came to the conclusion that the newer keyboard was not a step backward. In fact, the key travel between the two keyboards is identical, but the strong opinions remain for some, thus another factor must be at work. Now, getting back to our article from the Journal of Applied Biomechanics.

The present results suggest that key travel alone does not predict biomechanical outcomes and that key mechanism and activation force are also important factors in key switch design.

The results from the study were very interesting considering the common trend among reviewers and I suspect the industry as a whole is to discuss key travel as the main metric to measure the quality of the keyboard. Many companies like Dell have come up with some interesting ideas such as the use of magnets on their keyboards to maintain a good tactile feel while reducing travel. Others like Apple have ended up being in the news over their butterfly switches and their failure rate.

Specifically, the 2 devices with the same short travel (0.55 mm) had the largest differences across most muscles, though this difference was relatively small (<1.0% MVC). These 2 devices differed in activation force and mechanism: Tablet S had a dome switch mechanism and a higher activation force than Notebook S, which had a butterfly switch mechanism. Similarly, this study found that key travel distance was not strictly associated with typing force, typing performance, or perceived experience, as Tablet S was associated with the worst results across these measures compared with the other 3 devices.

In short, other factors such as the switch mechanism and how it relates to activation force potentially play a larger role than just key travel alone. Some might wish to equate a longer key travel with a greater activation force but that isn’t how spring mechanisms work.

Let us consider the classic example of a keyboard with an actual spring in the switch for sake of simplicity. If we look at Hooke’s Law which is used to calculate spring constants, F = -kΔx where F= force in Newtons, -k= Spring Constant and Δx= the change in spring length, we can see from this relationship that depending on the spring, we can change how much force is required for a specific change in distance. Now for further math-related content regarding keyboards and force, I strongly suggest you spend some time looking at the work done by Javier De Leon at the University of Alaska.

http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/webproj/211_fall_2018/Javi_De_Leon/javier_deleon/Title_Page.html

If seeing classic keyboard switches gutted are your thing, you might want to check out this article that shows the switch designs of several classic ThinkPad keyboards including the 701C

https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?t=15457

Turning out attention to the ThinkPad X1 Nano, which has key travel of 1.35mm, the mechanism gives it a positive typing experience. One of the “key” criticisms of the newer ThinkPads is the reduced key travel on the thinner models. While thinning a laptop down objectively leaves less room for key travel and some traditional activation mechanisms, we shouldn’t count out innovation to find solutions to these problems.

Wireless Panels coming from Lenovo

Posted on July 3, 2021 by Laptop Retrospective

Lenovo, who has partnered with Energysquare has started announcing wireless charging products for your existing laptops. I’ve talked about this technology in an earlier post that I will link below.

Jan

One announcement at CES 2021 that in my opinion, didn’t get the discussion it deserves, comes from Energysquare which is a small start-up that wants to make wireless charging in laptops mainstream. Wireless charging is growing more and more common with smaller electronics but in terms of larger ones, the pros and cons are still […]

Just announced is the kit to make just about any 13-14″ laptop be able to charge wirelessly. It will just cost you a USB-C port and only work with laptops that need up to 65W (maximum output of 20V, 3.25A, and 65W to be exact) power delivery. It is a simple accessory that rides on a rail, presumably for fast removal if needed. It comes into contact with the charging panel and makes the connection. This setup adds 3.2mm of thickness to your laptop, which might be a steep trade-off for some.

The kit, part of Lenovo’s new Go line is scheduled to launch in October with a cost of $139.99 USD.

Customers, Brands and Reviewers

Posted on July 3, 2021 by Laptop Retrospective

This article was inspired by the Tweet and the article linked below.

The power of customer advocacy and reviews https://t.co/iH7THmxBSi via @thedrum

— Yuszela (@yuszela) July 1, 2021

One of the stretch goals I had for this channel is to one day use my growing experience and accumulating knowledge about laptops is of course to review newer ones. This is a stretch goal though and not the purpose for Laptop Retrospective to exist. I’m happy with the direction of the channel overall and the exciting opportunities it has given me, especially in the last year. Those have been something really special. So special in fact, that even my original stretch goal is something I could let go of because I’m having too much fun. I consider myself very fortunate to have the freedom to explore so many different avenues.

Long-term viewers will know that I have a full-time job and do not intend for YouTube and content creation to support me in any way shape or form. The channel supports itself.

Now, getting to the article and how that relates with what I’ve said above are some of the interesting statistics it includes. Entering into the world of reviewing is a sticky one that can be difficult to navigate.

“92% of buyers state they are more likely to purchase a product or service after reading a trusted review.”

“How many reviews are people reading before buying: 5, 20, 50?

112.”

“…a whopping 95% of us believe reviews are fake if the feedback is only positive.”

There are more statistics included in the article but these three jumped out to me and allow me to outline why.

Trusted reviews are really important. I am not confident there are enough of these out there. With varying disclosure laws about partnerships with ad companies, content creators and influencers, I feel that this is a murky area that can be very challenging for the consumer to navigate. I’m fortunate that I do not require funding from any company to create content but I understand others do it as a source of income to sustain their livelihood. That isn’t a bad thing by itself, but it is something that the viewer should know about to help evaluate your relationship with a brand or company. I’ve tried my best to be upfront and transparent about my relationships with any company I’ve worked with and have avoided and even stopped projects where I wasn’t allowed to be critical or the company demanded a specific outcome. It is for this reason that I have never accept financial compensation for my work as I feel that would impact my content and I know that is not something everyone can do, nor would I expect it. Our goals are simply different.

There is a difference between an ad and a review. This should be obvious, especially to the consumer, but sometimes it is challenging to spot. Most companies know the difference when it comes to working with content creators and influencers but a lot of them do not, especially the ones that work with smaller creators such as myself. They do not have robust or dedicated marketing teams that actually understand these subtle differences and feel that any constructive criticism will harm them. In reality, it will probably do more good than harm as we can see from the third statistic.

One of the reasons I wanted to get into this sort of work was to see what the industry was really like as a content creator. I also feel that if something is too polished or professional-looking, it starts to look more like an ad and less like a review. There is a fine line and some creators do a fantastic job of balancing these audience expectations whereas others seem to go “all in” to the ad side of things. That is perfectly fine, so long as that clear and spelt-out relationship is made clear to the viewer.

Anyway, I just wanted to bash out a couple of thoughts here on this since I do not feel I get the chance to talk about this sort of thing very often. Honestly, reviews are less and less of a focus and as I mentioned earlier, that is really okay with me. I want to have fun and learn, those are the two major objectives.

I hope you have found it entertaining and/or informative.