Alike the T410s or the T420, the tested T420s has the same combination of keyboard, touchpad and trackpoint. We will briefly summarize the most important qualities here.

Keyboard

The ThinkPad's keyboard bids high typing comfort, even for longer texts, with its firm and clear pressure point, its generous key drop for a laptop and the agreeably shaped keys. Yielding doesn't become evident even under high pressure at all; however the noise level could be a bit lower. The user is sufficiently compensated for this by an impression of an accurate, mechanical quality with every pressed key. The swapped position of FN and the left CRTL key may irritate the user at the beginning - a peculiarity that ThinkPads have had for years.

Trackpoint

Also unusual for a few, but a welcome tradition for the series, is the red trackpoint in the keyboard's lower center. After some getting used to, the user won't want to live without it because it allows just as a precise as fast control of the mouse cursor. Lenovo has given the trackpoint two dedicated mouse keys and a mouse wheel replacement located directly beneath the space bar. Thus, the user doesn't have to stretch his fingers up to the touchpad's keys beneath it. The click noise is very pleasant and quiet without lacking precision.

Touchpad

The touchpad's surface has a rough and distinctly different feel than the rest of the surrounding case. The finger glides pleasantly and smoothly over it and can control the mouse cursor with great accuracy. Multitouch gestures are supported, but it lessens the space on the already small touchpad gets even more. The corresponding buttons do their job quietly and reliably. However, they couldn't quite keep up with the quality of the other input devices and make a somewhat flimsy impression.

It's possible to switch between the trackpoint and the touchpad via the key combination FN+F8. Both inputs can also be used simultaneously.