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Laptops with Full-Sized Keys

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  Laptops with Full-Sized Keys John Savard <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2017-06-02 08:14 -0700
    Re: Laptops with Full-Sized Keys not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2017-06-03 00:19 +0000
      Re: Laptops with Full-Sized Keys John Savard <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2017-06-02 20:32 -0700
      Re: Laptops with Full-Sized Keys John Savard <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2017-06-02 20:33 -0700

#2510 — Laptops with Full-Sized Keys

On YouTube, I happened to run across a video about the $9,000 limited edition Acer 
Predator 21 X laptop computer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_GM1JA608Y

One thing kind of surprised me while watching the video. The fellow in it 
commented on how weird it was "to find this kind of keyboard on a laptop"... a 
keyboard with full-height keycaps and full-travel mechanical keyswitches.

I thought... what? Weird? Once upon a time, _all_ laptops were this way! For 
example, the Toshiba T1200, or the IBM PC Convertible.

Of course, that's long, long ago - back before Windows; those were MS-DOS (or, 
in the case of the IBM one, PC-DOS) laptops, after all.

Fortunately for those without $9,000 to spend on a laptop, or who simply missed 
the limited edition of only 300 machines, there apparently is *one other* laptop 
on the market with full-height keys.

Well, actually two. The GT80 Titan from MSI is available at a mere $3,299 - 
well, in comparison, at least - and it had a successor with the newer Skylake 
processor, the GT80S. I don't know if they have a new Kaby Lake one these days 
too.

It's true that slim is very important as a selling point these days, but it's 
also true that a lot of gaming laptops are bigger than a Toshiba T1200. 

Anyways, perhaps I'm mistaken, and their are still some other laptops out there 
with full size keys?

Incidentally, I suppose Toshiba must have re-used that designation for a newer 
laptop as well, since there are sites on the Internet claiming to host disk 
images for Windows 10 recovery disks for a Toshiba T1200. Of course, someone 
constructing a recovery disk site by dumping in a list of every computer ever 
made to an automatic site construction program - I didn't look to see if they 
offered Windows 10 recovery disks for the AN/FSQ-7.

John Savasrd

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#2511

John Savard <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
> On YouTube, I happened to run across a video about the $9,000 limited edition Acer 
> Predator 21 X laptop computer.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_GM1JA608Y
> 
> One thing kind of surprised me while watching the video. The fellow in it 
> commented on how weird it was "to find this kind of keyboard on a laptop"... a 
> keyboard with full-height keycaps and full-travel mechanical keyswitches.
> 
> I thought... what? Weird? Once upon a time, _all_ laptops were this way! For 
> example, the Toshiba T1200, or the IBM PC Convertible.

Most portables back then used the cheaper rubber dome type key mechanisms
(though IBM were making the famous mechanical "Model-M" keyboards, so the
PC Convertible might have been an exception). I was never a fan of the flat
laptop keyboards, but I don't need to do lots of typing where a regular
keyboard can't be used, so it's not really a $9,000 problem.

Laptop key heights sort-of shrank over the years. I have a Toshiba T1910CS
from the early 90s where the keys are more or less half-way. Although
with that keyboard you have to have the feel for the keys and press
them from the right angle, otherwise it's borderline unusable.

> Of course, that's long, long ago - back before Windows; those were MS-DOS (or, 
> in the case of the IBM one, PC-DOS) laptops, after all.
> 
> Fortunately for those without $9,000 to spend on a laptop, or who simply missed 
> the limited edition of only 300 machines, there apparently is *one other* laptop 
> on the market with full-height keys.
> 
> Well, actually two. The GT80 Titan from MSI is available at a mere $3,299 - 
> well, in comparison, at least - and it had a successor with the newer Skylake 
> processor, the GT80S. I don't know if they have a new Kaby Lake one these days 
> too.
> 
> It's true that slim is very important as a selling point these days, but it's 
> also true that a lot of gaming laptops are bigger than a Toshiba T1200. 

I don't understand slim. I'm more likely to have trouble fitting a
laptop's footprint on a newfound work surface than dealing with an extra
few centimeters under my arm (or more likely in a laptop bag, where it
doesn't matter anyway). The footprint of most laptops has swelled incredibly.

> Anyways, perhaps I'm mistaken, and their are still some other laptops out there 
> with full size keys?
> 
> Incidentally, I suppose Toshiba must have re-used that designation for a newer 
> laptop as well, since there are sites on the Internet claiming to host disk 
> images for Windows 10 recovery disks for a Toshiba T1200.

I imagine that nobody would live long enough to insert/remove all the
floppy disks required to use it, so I guess you couldn't prove that it
doesn't work. :)

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#2512

On Friday, June 2, 2017 at 6:19:23 PM UTC-6, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

> I imagine that nobody would live long enough to insert/remove all the
> floppy disks required to use it, so I guess you couldn't prove that it
> doesn't work. :)

This called to mind a mental image of Criswell intoning "Can you prove that it 
doesn't work?" ... hmm, could AT&T's Plan Nine operating system be adapted to the 
Toshiba T1200?

John Savard

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#2513

On Friday, June 2, 2017 at 6:19:23 PM UTC-6, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

> (though IBM were making the famous mechanical "Model-M" keyboards, so the
> PC Convertible might have been an exception).

Yes, it was; it did have a buckling-spring keyboard.

John Savard

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