Shinobi Programmable Laptop Style MX Brown Tactile Trackpoint Keyboard

After my second Lenovo USB Trackpoint died due to the common issue with the micro USB connection I was on the lookout for a replacement. Purchasing one of these in the UK is quite a bit more expensive than the US and I wasn't prepared to spend the premium on the Bluetooth version just to avoid the defect of the cabled version.

I came across the Tex Shinobi and after a week of research into it decided to try it out. I've been a Lenovo user since the T60 era. Each iteration of slimmer keyboards yielded less a enjoyable typing experience. The Tex looked to fix that, although being mechanical switch based it wouldn't be a 1:1 replacement.

I ended up with the MX Brown version. It's taking some time to get used to but switching over to my T480 laptop now already feels lacking after some time typing on the Tex.

The size of the key caps are a little small but it's not been an issue. I developed a bad habit of two finger typing and I think with a proper home key method the smaller key caps will be even less of an issue.

Overall I recommend the Tex and the support from Keyboard Co has been excellent. If I ever need another keyboard I'll certainly be purchasing it from them.

I highly recommend the TEX shinobi tactile keyboard - a mechanical switch keyboard with choice of Cherry Mx blue or Cherry Mx brown switches. The keyboardco despatched the keyboard quickly and I received it within only 2 days of ordering which is brilliant since ordering directly from TEX in the US would have taken a long time to receive and extra taxes would have to have been paid on arrival to the UK. The only downside is that TEX offer the keyboard with Cherry MX silent switches as an option which would have been my ultimate preference if keyboardco offered that but the MX brown option that is supplied by keyboardco are absolutely fine if you don't mind a bit of sound coming from the keyboard as you type, in fact, the keyboard is an absolute pleasure to type on.

Keyboardco have been great with aftercare keeping in close touch and making sure I've been happy with the purchase and I therefore highly recommend making purchases through them since they'll be sure to put things right if needs be. In my case everything is been smooth. Many thanks!

This is my second TEX Shinobi, since I wanted one for work too. I'd been using the Lenovo USB keyboards with trackpoint but since they're based on laptop chiclet keyboards they're not great to type on.

The Shinobi is pretty much the only option if you want a trackpoint on a mechanical keyboard. It's also a very pleasant keyboard to type.

Mine was missing some of the accessories (trackpoint cap, extra keys, etc) but The Keyboard Co were very helpful in sorting that out.

The TEX Shinobi keyboard is quite nice though it has a few issues in my experience. Coming from a ThinkPad X220 keyboard, I wasn't quite expecting the key's surface to be as small as they are and that takes a while to get used to. Also, the key lettering in my experience fades way too quickly with a noticeable fade starting at the 7-day mark in my usage of the keyboard. If you're getting this keyboard, try to get blank keycaps as then you won't notice it. TEX did replace the first set of caps though these also exhibit the same issue and the replacements were missing the V key for whatever reason.

In terms of the typing experience coming from a ThinkPad X220, I will say having MX Brown is nice though maybe because maybe how long I've used the X220 for, I still prefer that keyboard over this though that doesn't mean that this is a bad keyboard.