Keyboard - I Need A Laptop With A Good Keyboard - Non Chiclet

[sare^baw's]

I have a Dell Inspiron 5749, it has a chiclet style keyboard and its truly awful for me to use. I do like the feel of the normal spring back keys found on pc keyboards but i know i wont find that on a laptop. The trackpad is rubbish too. I want to find a second hand laptop that meets my requirements, that might mean buying a gaming laptop or a high spec business type laptop, having a good keyboard is the priority here.

The laptop i need should be... I want a good keyboard with a 17" screen and good build quality, i will be installing windows 7 on it. I dont do anything too intensive so it does not need to be really high spec. It needs to be quiet ie no noisy fans when surfing the web. Not too heavy either. I dont mind a model thats a few years old.

what can you guys suggest?

 

[sare^baw's]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, i looked up a few of the models suggested and they are out of my price range second hand, my budget is £500 second hand. The Lenovo Thinkpads look ok, their keyboards seem like raised chiclet style keys but in unable to view them and test them anywhere. I already went into a big surrys/pcworld and all looked at all the laptops and they were all the same crappy chiclet keys. Im reluctant to buy a second hand laptop without having tested it first. I also would love it to be backlit keyboard. I may consider dropping to a 15" screen if i see something suitable.

 

[sare^baw's]

Thanks guys i was looking for something second hand, i dont mind it being a few years old. It looks like im going to have to look hard for this and look at second hand laptops. @tropicola many thanks for posting that list but it looks like they are all chiclet keys also. SOme may be better that others i guess but i want to avoid them.

 

[sare^baw's]

@tropicola Thanks for your reply and suggestion, im afraid i need it to be laptop style so that i can sit back on the sofa with my feet up.

After researching everyone seems to hail the Lenovo thinkpad w520 x220 t520 and older as the best classic keyboards and the newer thinkpads are apparently still not that great compared to them. Some people who have a chiclet Thinkpad have installed the classic keyboard. I could not be bothered with that and so i bought a£240 Lenovo ThinkPad T520 15.5" Intel i5 [email protected] 8GB RAM 500GB SSHD Win 7 display 1600 x 900. I hope i like the classic keyboard and this machine is powerful enough for what i need. If i like it enough i will upgrade the keyboard to a backlit one if i feel the need for a backlit one. There are cheaper ones on ebay but the sellers are very vague regarding the condition of these laptops.


Many thanks to everyone for their input but i had to go back 5 years to get a decent keyboard. I guess its true they dont make them like they used to.

 

[sare^baw's]

@crinkleshoes thanks mate, that is my problem, to buy something modern with a great keyboard i need to spend big money, its pointless when i dont need a high spec laptop. I have a NUC for a htpc and downloading etc so this its mainly for internet with my feet up.

 

[sare^baw's]

It says something when a lot of people are still holding on to there classic thinkpads, maybe one they will become collectable and worth a lot more. I might be stuck with an old thinkpad and windows 7 for the rest of my life, windows 10 is not for me.