Another major change in the ThinkPad formula which has roiled the community is the jarring transition from the traditional ThinkPad keyboard—widely proclaimed to be amongst the very best on any notebook available—to a trendier, more modernized Chiclet-style keyboard that the company calls “AccuType”. The details are pretty straightforward: the AccuType keys are flatter but still feature a small dip in the center to help guide your fingers, and their surface is also roughly 30% larger than that of the keys on the traditional keyboard. This supposedly provides for a more accurate typing experience, and in fact, we find the AccuType keyboard to be very good in its own right. However, as anyone who’s grown accustomed to using the classic ThinkPad keyboard will tell you, a choice for either would be ideal—though it doesn’t look like we’ll ever get it.
While there is no option for backlighting on the Twist’s AccuType keyboard, it is inherently spill-resistant. The keyboard strangely seems markedly better than its IdeaPad counterpart, with a better sense of feedback with each keypress. Still, it also feels softer than the best iterations of the traditional ThinkPad keyboard, and as a result, a bit more energy is required to type decisively. Ultimately, while the classic keyboard will be missed, much worse could have occurred here. The AccuType keyboard is hardly a catastrophe, and, quite to the contrary, still easily stands among the best notebook keyboards available.
Touchpad
Of comparable importance to business notebooks is the quality of the pointing devices. The ThinkPad Twist’s Synaptics touchpad, while generally accurate and thankfully customizable using the Ultranav software, unfortunately disappoints thanks to an uneven surface and substandard integrated buttons. Clicks are quiet but also unconvincing, and right-clicks sometimes don’t register as intended even with the latest version of the driver. The uneven surface we’re referring to may in fact be a manufacturing error on our particular review model, as the upper-right hand corner of the touchpad also lacks the finish that completely covers the rest of the pad.
As an alternative to the touchpad, many ThinkPad purists are fond of the TrackPoint, and fortunately it remains unchanged and excellent—with the same buttons and all—on the Twist’s AccuType keyboard. But there is, of course, yet another alternative to these input devices on the ThinkPad Twist…
Touchscreen
Fortunately, the ThinkPad Twist’s capacitive touchscreen immediately impresses, with the sort of responsiveness you’d expect from the highest-end tablets and smartphones. Its operation is consistent and seamless, with finger-presses nearly always registering where intended and results instantly produced. Gestures are also quickly and accurately interpreted; the panel supports 5-point multi-touch.
Fingers generally glide rather effortlessly across the Gorilla Glass surface of the screen, though (as with any glossy-screened tablet) any sort of humidity can make things a bit more difficult. Unlike some other high-end convertibles, the Twist also lacks a digitizer pen—but with the low resolution of the screen, accuracy generally isn’t much of an issue. What this all boils down to is that the Twist features a touchscreen as capable as the best of today’s tablets—an important victory seeing as that’s all that separates it from a traditional notebook.
The gyro sensor is also quite good. While at first we experienced some wonky and unpredictable operation, a driver update (automatically suggested and installed by the Lenovo Solution Center software) quickly resolved the issues. In short, the notebook’s display remains in the standard landscape orientation while the screen is rotated parallel to the keyboard but allows the gyro sensor to dictate the orientation when operating in tablet mode. A small “lock” button along the edge of the display is used in either mode for different purposes: in notebook mode, it flips the display upside down so that the machine can be positioned in “tent” form, which essentially functions like a tablet on a stand; in tablet mode, it locks the display to the current orientation until pressed again.
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