The Lenovo ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II ($85.99) takes the ThinkPad experience back to its Japanese minimalist roots. Inspired by the simple design of Bento lunch boxes, distinctive black ThinkPad laptops have legions of loyalists worldwide. Many of the most ardent fans wish they could incorporate elements of the ThinkPad design into their office setups, and the TrackPoint Keyboard II lets them do it. It’s an exact replica of the excellent ThinkPad typing experience, including the little red TrackPoint, in the form of a wireless keyboard that works with any Windows or Android device.
Scalloped Keys, Iconic TrackPoint
Lenovo, the current keeper of the ThinkPad brand, has long sought to capitalize on the brand’s cachet, offering many ThinkPad-branded docks, wireless speakers, and other accessories. So it’s only natural that the company would want to offer one of the best parts of the ThinkPad experience—the keyboard—as a standalone accessory.
Why is the ThinkPad typing experience so good? It’s a combination of several factors, including supremely stable key switches, generous key travel distance, and a sturdy keyboard deck that minimizes flex. While some other laptops manage to include all of these things, the ThinkPad’s secret weapons are its distinctive, scalloped keys that contour to your fingertips, as well as the iconic red pointing device mounted in the center of the keyboard that eliminates the need for a touchpad or external mouse.
No matter what era or type of ThinkPad you buy, its keyboard will look very similar to any other, whether it’s one of the first models to roll off IBM’s assembly line in Yamato, Japan, in 1992, or the cutting-edge ThinkPad P1 mobile workstation. There have been a few changes throughout the years, such as spacing the keys farther apart, but Lenovo has wisely abstained from complete reinvention.
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This uniformity also extends to the TrackPoint Keyboard II. It’s as if someone took a scalpel to a ThinkPad laptop, sliced out the keyboard, and boxed it up for sale. The resulting product is quite compact for an external keyboard, measuring 0.54 by 12 by 6.5 inches (HWD). The familiar arrow keys in their inverted-T layout are there. So are the dedicated Home, End, Insert, Page Up, and Page Down keys. The TrackPoint is also present, of course, complete with three buttons beneath the space bar for left clicks, right clicks, and scrolling.
Even the function keys are identical to how they look on most ThinkPad laptops. They include controls for screen brightness and audio (volume, mute, and microphone mute). There are also buttons for the Windows Project menu (for extending or duplicating your screen to another monitor), the Notifications center, Windows Settings, Bluetooth settings, and the onscreen keyboard. Finally, there’s a customizable bonus key (F12) that can control nearly any function you wish.
The function keys perform all of these actions by default, but you can also activate the regular F1 to F12 functions by pressing the Fn key first. As ThinkPad custom dictates, the Fn key is located in the lower left corner of the keyboard, to the left of the Ctrl key. People who would rather have the Ctrl key be the left-most one in the bottom row can swap the functions of the Ctrl and Fn keys on some Lenovo laptops, but that isn’t possible on this keyboard.
One thing that it is possible to tweak is the keyboard's angle, by extending the two feet located on the bottom of the device at the left and right corners. During my testing, I found it more comfortable (and more laptop-like) to leave the feet folded, for a shallower angle.
Easy Setup and Connections
If you’re connecting the TrackPoint Keyboard to a PC running Windows 10 version 1803 or later, setup is a cinch using Microsoft Swift Pair, Windows' Bluetooth-specific pairing function. Turn on the keyboard using the slider switch on the right edge, and your Bluetooth-enabled PC should recognize it immediately and ask if you want to connect. You then use the keyboard to enter the passcode displayed on your screen, and you’re done.
While Swift Pair is clearly the most effortless connection option, not all PCs support it. You can also establish a Bluetooth connection the old-fashioned way. First, you slide the wireless-mode switch on the keyboard’s rear edge to Bluetooth mode and hold it there for one second to enter pairing mode. Then, find the keyboard in the list of devices in your PC’s Bluetooth settings, and follow the prompts to connect.
If you slide the wireless-mode switch in the other direction, you can connect using the included 2.4GHz wireless receiver. Remove the receiver from its holder on the rear edge of the keyboard and insert it into an available USB Type-A port on your PC. If you’d like to use the keyboard with two separate devices, you can use both 2.4GHz and Bluetooth, switching the active connection between the two by moving the wireless-mode slider.
The TrackPoint keyboard can connect to Bluetooth-enabled Android devices, as well. Once you’ve established the Bluetooth connection, you can slide the operating-system selector (also located on the rear edge) to Android mode, which will transform some of the Function keys into controls for the Android OS. They include Back (F9), Home (F10), Search (F11), and the App Switcher (F12). Android versions 8 or newer are supported.
While you might be able to connect the TrackPoint keyboard to a Mac or Linux PC via Bluetooth, the keyboard offers no official support for macOS or Linux. Mac users will want to consider the Apple Magic Keyboard instead.
Customizing the ThinkPad TrackPoint
The keyboard and its integrated TrackPoint worked as soon as I connected it to a Samsung laptop using Swift Pair, and I didn’t feel the need to make any settings adjustments. While there is a downloadable driver for the keyboard, the customizations it offers are quite minimal, consistent with the overall ThinkPad ethos.
Once the driver is installed, you can access the settings in Windows Keyboard Properties, where you’ll find a new External TrackPoint Keyboard tab. There are only three settings on this tab. You can change the pointer speed and modify the function of the F12 key. (By default, F12 is set to open Lenovo’s website.) You can also activate ThinkPad Preferred Scrolling mode, which lets you hold down the middle TrackPoint button and then move the TrackPoint to scroll left, right, up, and down. If the Preferred Scrolling mode is turned off, the middle button functions as it would on any other mouse.
Lenovo says the TrackPoint keyboard’s battery will last for up to a year of typical use before it needs to be recharged using the included USB-C-to-USB-A cable. This cable is for recharging only; all data connections are wireless. The company also includes a one-year warranty for the keyboard.
The ThinkPad Typing Experience, Detached
Once you get everything set up, the TrackPoint keyboard performs exactly as you’d expect. I found no differences between typing and using the TrackPoint for cursor movements on the external keyboard and doing the same on my three-year-old Lenovo ThinkPad T470, whose keyboard has among the most comfortable laptop keys I’ve ever touched. Other than a backlight, and perhaps some dedicated keys to start and stop music playback, the TrackPoint keyboard has everything I want in a laptop keyboard.
Of course, typing is subjective and relative. While many people love ThinkPad keyboards, choosing a laptop based on the quality of its keyboard and choosing a standalone keyboard for your home-office setup are two entirely different decisions.
As an external keyboard, the TrackPoint keyboard needs to be compared not only with other laptop keyboards, but also with the wider standalone keyboard market. For around $100, you could also get a much larger keyboard with mechanical switches that offers far greater travel distance and stability. Or you could get an ergonomic keyboard, which, in addition to offering potentially greater comfort, can also help reduce the chance of repetitive stress injuries. Our top picks for wireless keyboards include the Logitech Ergo K860, while if you’re willing to branch out to wired models, the Das Keyboard 4Q could suit you better.
Essentially, by choosing the TrackPoint Keyboard, you’re giving up features like wrist rests and ergonomic designs in exchange for the ThinkPad experience you already know from your laptop, including the unique TrackPoint pointer. Unless you’ve got the budget and the space on your desk for multiple keyboards, the TrackPoint keyboard is not exactly a no-brainer purchase to serve as your everyday, all-day typer, even for die-hard ThinkPad fans. It's probably a better fit as an occasional-use board you can easily stash away when not in use, or as a take-along keyboard for situations where you need a standalone keyboard on the road. It could hold some side appeal as a couch-side keyboard for home theater PC (HTPC) use, if you're one of the fewer and fewer HTPC die-hards out there, seeing as it integrates the keyboard and pointer into one device that you can balance on your lap.
If you don't fall into one of these niches, it’s best to think of the TrackPoint keyboard in the same light as other ThinkPad accessories from Lenovo. If you love ThinkPads and want to bring as much of their experience to other devices as possible, then you’ll probably love this keyboard. Meanwhile, if you’re just in the market for a new keyboard, it’s best to broaden your horizons if you want to get the most for your money.
Lenovo’s pricey-but-comfy ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II offers the excellent ThinkPad typing experience, including the little red TrackPoint, in the form of a wireless keyboard that works with any Windows or Android device.
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