I hate the keyboard in the photo (ThinkPad Aura Edition). It has no gap between F4/F5 keys and F8/F9 keys. It has no Right Ctrl, which I use frequently for keyboard shortcuts, especially because I use Dvorak (e.g. Ctrl+C/V/S/T). It has tiny Up/Down arrow keys. I care a lot about how the keys feel to my fingers without visually looking at the labels.
For reference, I own and use the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 7 for many years, and the ThinkPad X220 for many years before that. The keyboard layout on both of these are more agreeable to me, albeit not perfect (e.g. X1C7 dropped the Context Menu key, which I actually use on computers where it's available; X1C7 doesn't have dedicated volume up/down keys unlike the X220).
I detest the 20-year-long trend of computer manufacturers messing with laptop and desktop keyboard layouts, chasing after sleekness or the latest fashion trends to the detriment of typists. I love laptop keyboards that differ from desktop keyboards as little as possible. I love standard 104-key keyboards on desktop and hate anything that messes this up. These details matter a lot to me as a touch typist, and as some who uses those keys that many manufacturers have implicitly deemed "useless" by their removal (e.g. Home, End, Right Ctrl, Right Windows, Context Menu).
Back to the article though, I used TrackPoint a lot on X220 because it functioned better than the touchpad. The X1C7 has TrackPoint but the motion feels unnatural to me, so I end up using the touchpad instead (which has improved over the X220). I was able to use the center button as middle click on X220 but there is no software to support that feature on the X1C7; maybe this is related to the TrackPoint vendor changing from Synaptics to Elan. Either way, I wish Lenovo made a ThinkPad that has both a good TrackPoint and a good touchpad; they were clearly capable of doing it in the past but have regressed.
For reference, I own and use the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 7 for many years, and the ThinkPad X220 for many years before that. The keyboard layout on both of these are more agreeable to me, albeit not perfect (e.g. X1C7 dropped the Context Menu key, which I actually use on computers where it's available; X1C7 doesn't have dedicated volume up/down keys unlike the X220).
I detest the 20-year-long trend of computer manufacturers messing with laptop and desktop keyboard layouts, chasing after sleekness or the latest fashion trends to the detriment of typists. I love laptop keyboards that differ from desktop keyboards as little as possible. I love standard 104-key keyboards on desktop and hate anything that messes this up. These details matter a lot to me as a touch typist, and as some who uses those keys that many manufacturers have implicitly deemed "useless" by their removal (e.g. Home, End, Right Ctrl, Right Windows, Context Menu).
Back to the article though, I used TrackPoint a lot on X220 because it functioned better than the touchpad. The X1C7 has TrackPoint but the motion feels unnatural to me, so I end up using the touchpad instead (which has improved over the X220). I was able to use the center button as middle click on X220 but there is no software to support that feature on the X1C7; maybe this is related to the TrackPoint vendor changing from Synaptics to Elan. Either way, I wish Lenovo made a ThinkPad that has both a good TrackPoint and a good touchpad; they were clearly capable of doing it in the past but have regressed.