Product Details
- Product Dimensions: 13 x 9 x 1 inches ; 1.3 pounds
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
- ASIN: B002ONCC6G
- Item model number: 55Y9003
List Price :
Price : $56.52
You Save : $29.10 (34%)
Product Description
The ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint is an external keyboard that has an ultra-slim design. It has the same keys with the keyboard of your ThinkPad computer. Your option package includes the following: ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint, Setup and warranty poster and Software and User Guide CD.
Technical Details
- USB wired Keyboard with TrackPoint
- Same low profile keys found on the keyboard of ThinkPad laptops.
- 3 year warranty
Customer Reviews
This keyboard is wonderful - nearly everything that I would want in a keyboard, and nothing more. The quote that comes to mind is "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
BUT -- I can confirm that, as the previous poster noted, this keyboard is broken and unusable for a speedy typist. It has two problems: First, INitial CAps; the shift key does not immediately release in software when you physically release it, so a fast typist ends up with TWo CApitals at the beginning of almost every sentence. Titles are particularly bad; you end up with "THe PResident of the UNited STates." It's particularly infuriating in that it happens so reliably that when you backspace and re-type, you get the exact same problem.
The second issue is that, often, double-clicking a character will give only ONE copy of that character. So "Three little puppies hopped over the puddle" becomes "Thre litle pupies hoped over the pudle." It does this almost every time, if you are a fast typist.
All of this occurs with both the default drivers and the latest (11/5/2009) drivers on the website. I tested using Windows 7.
It's too bad, because this would otherwise be a wonderful keyboard. I've never seen a keyboard before that couldn't keep up with my typing. I guess that if you are not a touch typist, this keyboard would be perfectly fine for you.
I've used a whole bunch of external Trackpoint keyboards since the Trackpoint was first invented (when I worked at IBM Almaden Research, where Ted Selker, whose lab it came from, also worked).
I pronounce this keyboard in my "Top 10%" Trackpoint keyboards. The key action is firm, crisp, and quiet. The large delete key is a welcome improvement, the volume and mute buttons are very well designed, and the lack of an annoying track pad is a gift.
As for the other reviewer's comments about it being "slow" -- I'm about a 40wpm touch typist (I've never improved my speed past my 9th grade typing class), but I've been typing all my working life, and I just don't think your average typist who is similar to myself is going to run into any double character issues (I just typed issues twice, without issue, BTW).
As to the "flimsy construction" I can't agree. All external keyboards are made of similar grade plastic, and I think what the reviewers here might be objecting to is weight, not quality. This keyboard is very very light. But it only "flimsy" if you equate "light" with "flimsy." By that metric, the Boeing 787 is also "flimsy" because it's made of composites and not heavier aluminum. Cameras, watches, and cellphones, yes, the heft of metal in your hand is something I prefer as well. But a keyboard that primarily sits, unmoving, on your desk? Oy.
My only negative is the lack of a separate numeric pad. It's rare I have to do data entry, but when I do, it was nice to have that numeric pad waiting for me at the side. If they came out with a version with the numeric pad, I'd rank this at the top of my list of external Trackpoint keyboards I've used over the last 15 years.
Final note, as always, you should toss the wasteful CD with the out-of-date driver and get the new one from the Lenovo web site (1.02 as of this writing). The driver allows you to separately set the knobs for your external and laptop keyboards, which is key (no pun intended). I'm on Win 7 64 bit, and had no problems just plugging the keyboard in. It worked with the auto installed drivers just fine, and then I used it to pull down the Lenovo driver, adjusted my Trackpoint pressure and auto-scroll options, and now I'm happily typing away, double letters and all.
Highly recommended, especially remembering the prices that IBM used to charge for these things. Remember when the color black set you back an extra $90? :)
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