Laptop keyboards are garbage. Besides offering a terrible experience, they seem to be made of wet paper and simply stop working. Marcin Plaza on YouTube suffered the tyranny of junk keyboards on his Lenovo laptop, which also lost its power button and has a dent in its chassis. That gave him more than enough reasons to permanently install a mechanical keyboard, designing a new case in the process.
The only laptop left in my house already got a complete case change... and its third keyboard. In fact, the last one was taken from another similar machine (for some reason, they're worth a fortune new), because I know very well it won't last long. A laptop without a keyboard is a very uncomfortable tablet, and without touch support, it falls into the paperweight category.
Marcin Plaza on YouTube has had some issues with his Lenovo laptop's keyboard. Actually, he's already on his second one... and those aren't the only details. His power button vanished into thin air, and a bump (from an accident) bent the case. Other users would have replaced it, but Marcin decided to turn it into a project... and install a mechanical keyboard.
Mechanical Keyboards in Laptops? Yes, Please
The video is... strange, but eye-catching. It has a "YouTube 2007" spirit, with spontaneous edits and low-resolution webcam captures. However, amidst all that chaos, we can extract a new case designed in CAD (the session lasted twelve hours), its construction by PCBWay, the installation of a hub with extra ports to take advantage of the extra space, and a good dose of double-sided tape and glue.
Obviously, the keyboard is too large and has to be reduced to its basic parts (essentially, PCB and switch plate) before installation. The USB connection is direct, with cables soldered to one of the ports on the hub. New brackets for the trackpad and screen, a transparent bottom with ventilation holes, and a keyboard switch as a new power button (which works very well) cover the final details. Personally, I have some doubts about the screen resting so close to the keys when closed, but there don't seem to be any tolerance issues.
Source: Hackaday
