It's a bit like the vi/emacs debate, it'll run and run :)
I prefer mechanical keyboards - my old IBM Model M that is wearing better than I am, or on new keyboards, Cherry MX Blues. I've no doubt that colours my laptop preferences. TP keyboards tried to duplicate that feel. Lenovo have slowly backed down the IBM "clicky" feel of the keyboard so a t22 or t43p feels quite a bit more clicky than a W520.
@masseyset says the new keyboard has better spacing. What he means is the key spacing is precisely identical (I saw many reviews claimed larger spacing, or that the keyboard was bigger, it's objectively untrue) but the key tops, being flat rather than sculpted, are larger so feel like a different spacing.
Being chicklet, the key travel is a fraction 1/2, 1/3? of the old TP keyboard. This is the bit I hate with chicklet keyboards along with their actuation point. 6 or 8 years of Macbook as main machine and I never got past that dislike. Devoid of feel and travel. I ended up with a Matias Tactile Pro for any time I wanted to do anything significant, so only needed to use the dead calculator keyboard when travelling.
The Thinkpad chicklet keyboard is way ahead of a Mac or anyone else's chicklet keyboard, and they brought back a fair bit of the clicky feel they'd slowly been losing (at least on my friend's W540). As chicklets go, it's very good. It'll never have the travel of the old 7 row TP keyboard, so I will never like it.
I could probably live with the new TP chicklet as the weighting is back to good. The lack of travel and scattering the pgup/home block randomly around the whole keyboard to save 50c and the extra 1/2 row is unforgivable.
I think that covers my biases. Oh, I lean towards vi. :)
I prefer mechanical keyboards - my old IBM Model M that is wearing better than I am, or on new keyboards, Cherry MX Blues. I've no doubt that colours my laptop preferences. TP keyboards tried to duplicate that feel. Lenovo have slowly backed down the IBM "clicky" feel of the keyboard so a t22 or t43p feels quite a bit more clicky than a W520.
@masseyset says the new keyboard has better spacing. What he means is the key spacing is precisely identical (I saw many reviews claimed larger spacing, or that the keyboard was bigger, it's objectively untrue) but the key tops, being flat rather than sculpted, are larger so feel like a different spacing.
Being chicklet, the key travel is a fraction 1/2, 1/3? of the old TP keyboard. This is the bit I hate with chicklet keyboards along with their actuation point. 6 or 8 years of Macbook as main machine and I never got past that dislike. Devoid of feel and travel. I ended up with a Matias Tactile Pro for any time I wanted to do anything significant, so only needed to use the dead calculator keyboard when travelling.
The Thinkpad chicklet keyboard is way ahead of a Mac or anyone else's chicklet keyboard, and they brought back a fair bit of the clicky feel they'd slowly been losing (at least on my friend's W540). As chicklets go, it's very good. It'll never have the travel of the old 7 row TP keyboard, so I will never like it.
I could probably live with the new TP chicklet as the weighting is back to good. The lack of travel and scattering the pgup/home block randomly around the whole keyboard to save 50c and the extra 1/2 row is unforgivable.
I think that covers my biases. Oh, I lean towards vi. :)