There are three thinkpad keyboards and their respective parts number:
- Chicony - FRU 39T7178
- ALPS - FRU 39T7118
- NMB - FRU 39T0958
Despite the different brands, they are rated excellent by any laptop standards, This post discusses English (U.S.) language keyboards only. The general view are that NMB keyboards are the best, followed by ALPS and lastly the Chicony
The brand of the keyboard that we get when we order a Thinkpad is based purely on luck. Lately, IBM/Lenovo has been putting NMB part number stickers over the Chicony part number stickers to essentially "re-brand" the keyboards. You can tell if you have one of these keyboards by looking closely at the back of the keyboard. If you see a white sticker over another one, you're a victim.
There is also an easy way to tell which keyboard you have without opening up your Thinkpad. First, here's an overall comparison:
Back side of all three keyboards:
The keyboards look identical from the back side.
Front edge of all three keyboards:
But if you take a paper clip and gently lift up the front edge of the down-arrow or right-arrow at the bottom right of your keyboard, the brand of the keyboard you have can be determined from the orientation of the springs
Chicony - backslash springs - top left to bottom right
ALPS - forwardslash springs - top right to bottom left
NMB - blue pad springs
P/S: If you are thinking of changing your keyboard to NMB, do take note that currently Chicony's are being re-branded as NMB. It may be a challenge to find them without a thorough inspection of the parts
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