I got a Lenovo ThinkPad compact USB keyboard last month, as I noticed that I really haven't gotten too much hand pain using my ThinkPad T430 the last three years, and I really do like the TrackPoint. The TrackPoint is much handier and the keyboard much more comfortable than I expected.

Two serious issues with the ThinkPad Compact Keyboard, but it's my daily keyboard in the office now:

  1. No backlighting
  2. Can't swap the Fn and Ctrl keys!

The first was reasonably easy to fix, especially when you're in your office.

insert alt text

Voila. Instant ThinkLight.

The second is more difficult, and a little surprising. Why wouldn't they give you this option, when it's important enough that they have it as an option in every ThinkPad's BIOS?

Regardless, the point of this post is that when I was looking for folks brave enough to mod their MacBooks with TrackPoints (didn't find any), I did find this, simpler, smart solution that also seems to be a big benefit of keeping the compact keyboard, well, so small.

Ijustfarted said:
what I'm really going to miss is the thinkpad keyboard. I love everything else about macbooks but the mac keyboard compared to a thinkpads doesn't compare :(

Realizing I'm zombie threading, check out this guy. That's hilarious. I bagged a ThinkPad USB compact keyboard a month ago to use when I'm in the office with my Mac, and wondered if anyone had modded a MacBook to use a TrackPoint. Not sure if this counts, but it's not a horrible idea...

[​IMG]

I've got a USB cable right out of the back of my keyboard, which would make it cover some of the trackpad, but the Bluetooth version seems like a perfect overlay.

(Fwiw, I use the TrackPoint when I need to move the mouse once -- & just a little -- and don't want to move my hands all the way off of the keyboard... Also like the feel of the keys. Almost enough that I'd break one out at the coffee shop to lay over the MacBook if I had the Bluetooth one!)

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