By request, here's some more detail about why ThinkPads are uniquely qualified as tools for typing, which is what coders mostly do. I started ThinkPads with a 765, went through a couple of A30s and T2x and T4x models, today I use a T61p, and I am drooling over the T510, so I am walking this walk.
First, there is nothing better than the TrackPoint (a.k.a. nipplemouse among other things). I can't abide trackpads; I always disable them on UltraNav keyboards. Trackpads are too easy to touch by accident, especially when using your palms to stabilize the computer that is both topheavy and highly valuable. Trackpads also take your fingers away from the home row. I do see why some people dislike nipplemice - the right index finger can get overworked, and making big, fast, precision movement such as for artwork is harder. But I'm no artist.
As nice as TrackPoints are, the real killer feature of ThinkPad keyboards is their key travel and resistance profile. ThinkPad keyboards have long key travel compared to other laptops (this is Apple's major sin), nice key shapes, nice arrangement, and a nice resistance profile - keys start a little hard to push down, but finish easy. Tastes vary, I grant you, but if you've only ever used short-travel keys you don't know what you're missing.
Even within the ThinkPad brand, quality varies by keyboard OEM. NMB, Chicony, and Alps all make keyboards for the T6x series, for example. Google those names and discover a subcommunity of keyboard fanatics. Note that you have to buy by FRU, not part number. I will follow up with the FRU I use; I don't want to mislead readers by trusting my somewhat confused notes, so I have to take my laptop apart to be sure.
If your coding task absolutely requires a Mac, the plastic Macbook is less bad than the others. Something about the shape of the case in front of the keyboard makes the keys' short travel less annoying, and the plastic is much better at grabbing the heel of the hand than brushed aluminum (shudder). It is still definitely out of ThinkPad's class, though.
I should also mention that Toshiba makes/made a black shiny keyboard for some of its models (e.g. Satellite A300) that has very nice travel and resistance qualities as well. But then you're stuck with a trackbad. (That's a typo, but it was so appropriate I left it in.)
PS: Beware early T4xx and T5xx models. Lenovo experimented with replacing the strong aluminum keyboard baseplate with a glued aluminum and plastic base that was shot full of holes to save weight. It didn't work well. The corner keys suffered really annoying flexing.
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April 15, 2011
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100% spot on for me as well. When I started my current job, I had a choice between a MacBook Pro and a ThinkPad, and upon seeing all my co-workers using the mac, I went with it. BIG MISTAKE.
This MBP laptop has a lot going for it, but the keyboard is *not* among its highlights. I hadn't had much need to use my old ThinkPad R61 for a while but I recently fired it up and was blown away by how much better it was with the keyboard and trackpoint. I felt... home. I actually *wanted* to keep hacking - my wrists weren't beginning to feel sore after a few hours...
Apple gets a lot of things right with its hardware so this particular failure stands out big time. Solid chassis, quiet fans and disks, gorgeous screen, excellent speakers, terrific battery life, just enough ports (OK, one more USB would be nice, but I can get a hub if I need it) and the trackpad has a great feel and multi-touch scrolling/zooming/etc really is nice... and then there's the keyboard with its flat, wobbly, chicklet-style keys with flimsy rubber dome contacts underneath. I love the backlighting, but would gladly give that up for a decent keyboard. For god's sake, it's the part of the computer I *physically* interface with. It *needs* to be *good.*
Posted by: Account Deleted | April 15, 2011 at 09:18 PM
"Flat, wobbly, chicklet-style keys with flimsy rubber dome contacts" ... thank you for giving our pain a name. That's exactly how it breaks down. So to speak.
Posted by: Chip Salzenberg | April 22, 2011 at 10:51 AM
I should also mention that Toshiba makes/made a black shiny keyboard for some of its models (e.g. Satellite A300) that has very nice travel and resistance qualities as well. But then you're stuck with a trackbad
Posted by: Dating sites reviews | June 03, 2011 at 10:12 AM