The cheapest upgrade to my laptop was replacing the worn keyboard
I've spent two years vaguely wanting to replace my ThinkPad T480. The processor was "getting old," the whole thing felt tired, etc.
Turns out a lot of that feeling was a shiny keyboard with a mushy spacebar.
I paid $38 for a replacement keyboard from a parts seller, followed the service manual, and kept the original until I'd tested every key. First attempt left the TrackPoint buttons dead because I hadn't seated one ribbon cable properly. Reopening it and fixing that took longer than the initial swap.
Now it feels like a computer I chose rather than one I'm putting up with. It still takes exactly as long to export a PDF. The screen is still mediocre. But the part I touch for six hours a day isn't unpleasant anymore.
Not every laptop makes this repair sensible. On my previous machine, getting to the keyboard meant dismantling almost everything. Check the service manual before buying a $38 part and accidentally adopting a weekend project.
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The cheapest upgrade to my laptop was replacing the worn keyboard
I've spent two years vaguely wanting to replace my ThinkPad T480. The processor was "getting old," the whole thing felt tired, etc.
Turns out a lot of that feeling was a shiny keyboard with a mushy spacebar.
I paid $38 for a replacement keyboard from a parts seller, followed the service manual, and kept the original until I'd tested every key. First attempt left the TrackPoint buttons dead because I hadn't seated one ribbon cable properly. Reopening it and fixing that took longer than the initial swap.
Now it feels like a computer I chose rather than one I'm putting up with. It still takes exactly as long to export a PDF. The screen is still mediocre. But the part I touch for six hours a day isn't unpleasant anymore.
Not every laptop makes this repair sensible. On my previous machine, getting to the keyboard meant dismantling almost everything. Check the service manual before buying a $38 part and accidentally adopting a weekend project.