Rather than put a smaller keyboard on this “compact” notebook computer, IBM decided to develop a special keyboard where the two halves would slide out and lock into place.
Video by SMCH on YouTube, licensed CC BY.
Those were SO cool
I mean when it works that perfectly, why not
I vaguely remember having one of these, or some similar IBM laptop.
It was great not to have to deal with undersized keyboards that were found on other laptops.
That is until the plastic mechanism wore out, thin delicate keyboard edges got caught on something and broken, etc.
And the little red mouse knob got painful to use after a while.
There’s a reason why touchpads dominate on laptops these days.
And the little red mouse knob got painful to use after a while.
my index fingers still ache from several years of playing Freeciv using that knob.
Yeah, considering how dusty and hard-to-clean normal laptops are, this thing looks like hell. If you need a decent keyboard for extended typing, it’s not so hard to carry a USB / Bluetooth one, this just looks like the worst of all worlds.
My dream laptop…
One of the true Thinkpads that doesn’t have shitty Lenovo logo on it. Mine has one and I really really hate it.
Very cool but it looks like it would be uncomfortable to type on without somewhere to rest your wrists level with the keyboard. I’d like to try it though, maybe it’s not so bad
Resting your wrists or bottom of the palms on a surface while typing is poor form and can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis in the hands, among other repetitive stress injuries.
No, the palms should rest, but in a proper straight position, not bend down:
Rest your wrists briefly when not typing, but certainly not while typing.
If you feel the need to rest your wrists while typing, your keyboard is placed too high, or you aren’t sitting high enough to allow your forearms to be at horizontal or sloping down towards the keyboard.
https://ergonomictrends.com/proper-ergonomic-typing-posture-at-computer/
Again what learned.
