General Question

Neizvestnaya's avatar

If a laptop keyboard key lifts up and is ruined to where it won't snap down any longer, replace just the one key or is there a kit of some sort for the whole board?

Asked by Neizvestnaya (22552 points ) May 16th, 2012

Our on site IT mgr. suggested an entire board replacement but that seems so wasteful.

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9 Answers

digitalimpression's avatar

You can get a wired keyboard for $10 or less these days.

If the plastic connector beneath the key is damaged I suppose you could look for replacement parts.. but.. all said and done.. it would probably be cheapest and easiest to just get another keyboard.

Neizvestnaya's avatar

@digitalimpression- yeah, the key itself broke some of the grips to the connector and the connector itself is bent. Just seems a shame though the laptop is 5+ yrs old.

digitalimpression's avatar

@Neizvestnaya Well let’s face it.. if the laptop is 5+ years old it is practically archaic nowadays.

Neizvestnaya's avatar

@Neizvestnaya- yeah me too. Off to Best Buy we go.~

digitalimpression's avatar

If you have time to think about things (and depending upon where you are from) they often do things called “computer shows” that most people don’t seem to know about. You will, quite often, find much, much cheaper deals at these shows than at a retail store like Best Buy.

CWOTUS's avatar

Laptop keyboards are very cheap, and there’s not much to them once you get underneath the plastic keys. If the laptop is 5 years old, then it’s wearing out anyway (assuming the laptop is actually used for much of that time).

RocketGuy's avatar

I have a full sized USB keyboard attached to my old laptop. Full sized mouse and 23” monitor too.

Neizvestnaya's avatar

Thanks to you all. I have no idea what it looks like under the keyboard because the keys are set into the folding laptop and I had assumed they’d want to replace the whole bottom hinged unit that hold the battery and all that.

@CWOTUS: this laptop gets used every day for at least 10hr stretches at a time.

CWOTUS's avatar

The laptop keyboard is a thin membrane with the plastic keys mounted on top. It’s completely separate from the rest of the machine, and replaces (with some minor disassembly that would be difficult for you or me, since we don’t do this often, have the tools or the experience, but takes an experienced tech about five minutes or less). It sits on top of the “guts” of the machine, and like I said it’s a pretty inexpensive replacement.

But for a laptop getting that kind of use, I’d also recommend a “port replicator” (a.k.a. “docking station”) and external monitor plus external keyboard. I only use the keyboard on my work laptop a few times a year when I’m on the road or in remote meetings away from my desk setup (where I can use both the external monitor and the laptop screen to make a super-wide virtual screen). The full-size keyboard is also a lot more convenient and comfortable for routine keyboard work.

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