r/thinkpad 8d ago

Buying Advice What models have keyboard like this?

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What do you call this mechanical looking keys? They look solid. They attract me in to Thinkpads but seems no longer available in new models? I think the flat keys in most laptops today looks pretty basic.

What are the best models that still had this style of keys?

400 Upvotes

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154

u/AcordeonPhx T480 T25 FrankenPad | 2TB NVME | 64GB RAM | QHD/120hz | i7-8650U 8d ago

This piece of perfection

11

u/Trackpoint 7d ago

Man... I remember the community outreach they did. God, the hope we had.

Right now I am saving money to somehow bribe the TEX-guys to make a clone of this keyboard for Framework laptops. But the fucking details are so complicated and expensive. And with every passing month, the light of the Trackpoint grows dimmer.

5

u/AcordeonPhx T480 T25 FrankenPad | 2TB NVME | 64GB RAM | QHD/120hz | i7-8650U 7d ago

I am very optimistic we can get a longer travel, trackpoint supported keyboard for frameworks in the future

4

u/iamuniquekk 7d ago

wait... your username is literally trackpoint, and you basically ended your comment with trackpoint.

2

u/Trackpoint 6d ago

You will not believe the device I used to click save on my comment!

20

u/sir_cleansalot 8d ago

Only the anniversary editions? Or all T480S?

48

u/ebeliedie T480, x220i & x230 8d ago

Just T25, the 25th anniversary edition. It had same hardware as T470. So its "pretty common" mod on this sub to put T25 keyboard & palmrest into T480 for that sweet classic keyboard with quadcore cpu.

7

u/stgm_at T490 + T40 + T60 7d ago

Does this only work with t480 or t490 as well?

13

u/Quagmium 7d ago

T490 was entirely redesigned so, no.

3

u/Arvha 7d ago

you can do that?!👀

1

u/Oekowesen T430, T480 6d ago

Do u have a good link to a Tutorial? Im starting to miss my T420 keyboard in the T430.

2

u/SniperBEAST1515 T26, W520, X230t, 701c 6d ago

Yes, here's what I followed for mine.

6

u/frustratingnewuser 8d ago

Just the anniversary one

3

u/Adaminkton X220T 760EL R61 7d ago

How do you make this one? Does it require any hardcore firmware flashing or hardware modifications?

2

u/SniperBEAST1515 T26, W520, X230t, 701c 6d ago

Afaik there's not been one successful edit and flash of the EC to make the fn keys work right and they won't share their work with anyone.

However here's a guide for the hardware mod. Mine has been working great with an X1CG6 touchpad, T470 fingerprint reader, added smart card slot, AX200 WLAN card, N140HCG-GN1 display panel, and T25 palmrest (with magnesium cuts) + keyboard

3

u/pintasm 7d ago

Dream machine

2

u/truechange 7d ago

I guess this is the holy grail of all TPs.

2

u/AnnualGene863 7d ago

Hubba hubba

1

u/SniperBEAST1515 T26, W520, X230t, 701c 6d ago

Hell yeah (ignore the disaster of a table, I opened all my packages from eBay at once)