acer aspire keyboard 5733z

I purchased an Acer aspire 5733z 4406 p6200 about 18 months ago and I've had nothing but trouble with the keyboard. The keys are "floating" above the keyboard (the design flaw that allows all dust and debri to settle UNDER the keys and become nearly impossible to remove.) This has made typing a nightmare, then they keys started to pop off around the one year mark (just past the warranty period.) I've NEVER had this happen on a laptop and I've had an Acer before, a little netbook, but always with the chicklet keyboard. I bought this computer online from a major store (and saw photos but I could not tell how badly designed the keyboard was from the photos, I also did not see complaints online of the issues that this keyboard design has.) I have tried to search for a replacement keyboard for this laptop so I can replace it with a keyboard that functions properly and will last but all I find being advertised are the same defective keyboards (really, who made up this design??? I've never seen it on another laptop so I had no idea that there were keyboards so drastically different from the usual, and functional, chicklet type.) Is there a replacement keyboard that I can get that will work in this laptop that is a normal/chicklet design? The current keyboard makes this laptop, essentially, a giant paperweight (or I have to plug in an external keyboard, which is ridiculous for a laptop.) Thanks.

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Leho

Just

At first I really didn't understand your problem. Then I looked up a picture of the 5733Z on line and the penny dropped.

I have the same design of keyboard (external) on my ZS600 and even on my 5720 - ie separate keys with gaps between. I suspect that you will find that the vast majority of keyboards are of a similar design. By chicklet design do you mean that the whole thing is covered by a layer of rubber/plastic and the key pads are pressure sensitive? In my opinion, such chicklet keyboard are inexpensive toys meant for children who carelessly drop stuff on the keyboard. But everyone to their own taste.

Perchance time to exercise some debris control? Smiley Indifferent

Leho

justahumanoid

thanks for the response Leho. No, a chicklet keyboard is not covered in plastic or "pressure sensitive", the chicklet keyboard is the standard keyboard that comes with laptop computers (and external keyboards as well.)

I live in a basement apartment so it is dusty sometimes. There is nothing that I can do about it other than dusting, which I do on a regular basis. I wipe the keyboard free of dust regularly but the keys are not just spaced apart, they have a huge gap underneath the keys. When I wipe the keyboard, the dust (and any other particles) always wind up between and underneath the keys (and the dust does not wait for me to attempt to wipe it off before this happens.) I have NEVER had this happen on another computer before, I have had many laptop computers and this is the very first time that I have had an issue with things getting underneath the keys (it is unavoidable, unless you live in a sterile and hermetically sealed lab.) The photos of the Acer Aspire 5733z do not fully demonstrate how flawed the keyboard design is, and how different it is from the usual chicklet design, otherwise I would *not* have bought it in the first place (even the Acer laptops in the stores rarely have this type of keyboard; I think I've seen it once in a store and that was after I bought the one that I have now.)

Then the issue of the keys popping off (completely falling off) and they will not snap back on (I have tried, I have also watched videos on how to reattatch the keys but a small piece of plastic needed to reattatch the key is broken.) I hardly even use the keyboard because of the many issues yet keys that are barely ever touched are falling off. The usual keyboad, the kind that I see 99.9% of the time and the kind that used to be the only type available, does not have a huge gap underneath the key. The Acer Aspire 5733z keyboard has keys that are flat (not a cube but a flat square) and elevated above the base of the keyboard, the worst design I have ever seen and I have been typing for 29 years (started with old fashioned typewriters, then electric typewriters, then word processors, desktop computers, and on to laptop computers... I have NEVER seen a keyboard on a computer designed this way before the one that I ordered arrived in the mail.) I also have a Lenovo B570 and it has the best keyboard that I have seen in a long time, there is almost no space for anything to slip underneath the keys (I can wipe it with a cloth and when the keys compress, there is no gap at all.) I've had other laptops including a Dell Inspiron, an Acer One netbook, a Toshiba Satellite, and some that I don't remember the kind (years ago) and they did not have the issues that this Acer Aspire has.

I really just need the standard, chicklet keyboard that comes with almost every other computer. I realize that Acer must have been trying to save money by building such a cheap keyboard for the Acer Aspire 5733z (and some others, as I have recently and disappointingly seen) but this just makes the laptop useless.

Leho

Just

My ZS600 keyboard has the same large gaps and flat tops as your 5733. Frankly it is the worst keyboard to type on that I have ever encountered. I am heartened by your experience that it fails within 18 months. Now I know when I can expect to get a proper keyboard. I'm pleased that mine is an external keyboard - much easier to replace.