New, cheaper ThinkPad USB keyboard released

The ThinkPad UltraNav USB keyboard has been available for some time now and it’s a great way to be able to use that renowned keyboard without having to own a ThinkPad or be on a notebook all the time. The UltraNav is a good product, but at $79 ($99 retail) it was always a bit much, especially considering that it’s a relatively no frills product aimed at emulating the laptop-keyboard experience than moving it over to the desktop.
Now there is a new external ThinkPad keyboard which not only dropped the price down to $59, but that took ThinkPad user feedback into consideration. The keyboard is said to be modeled after the one on the T400s. Just like the new T400s it has the double-height Delete and Escape keys, as well as volume controls above the F keys. And like any newer ThinkPad, the keyboard is spill resistant. Differing from the T400s, the trackpad is gone and users will only have a single cursor control mechanism–the only way to properly control a ThinkPad–the trackpoint.
The sales page had this to say about the device:

• Legendary ThinkPad keyboard look and feel
• Low profile, ergonomic design
• Integrated TrackPoint, no external mouse required!
• Spill resistant design
• Function (Fn) key provides access to variety of ThinkPad features
• Red backlit buttons for volume and microphone mute
• Volume up/down keys
• 3 year warranty
• Compatible with Windows XP & Windows Vista

It’s nice to see Lenovo’s copywriting team acknowledge the keyboard’s “legendary” status, though they seem to have left out any mention of Windows 7 compatibility, which we can assume it has.
In case you are curious, the button at the bottom-left of the keyboard does appear to be the Fn key. This is better suited for notebooks, but the keyboard retains all the ThinkPad’s standard Fn commands when using Windows so it probably made sense to stick with this design.