Bondwell B310 Superslim laptop review (Cherry MX Navy / Dark Blue)

Skip to 10:00 for a typing demonstration.
VWestlife's video: • Alarmingly troublesome...
Today we look at not just a vintage keyboard, but a whole computer! A Bondwell B310 Superslim laptop from 1990, to be precise. This model happens to come with a full-travel mechanical keyboard with very rare Cherry MX switches, as it happens. Hope you enjoy the video!
Intro by Kyle Carter
Outro by Facundo Cabanne
My keyboard reviews: bit.ly/1TbOtft
My switch teardowns: bit.ly/2C1QGHz
My TOP X videos: bit.ly/2FmpZfd
My XL typing demos: bit.ly/2OoAW3w
My tutorials and featurettes: bit.ly/2OrkLUh
My unboxing videos: bit.ly/2TSrr0m
I'm Thomas and I do videos and reviews on mechanical keyboards ranging from the most sickening modern RGB gaming keyboards to vintage hardware relics, or sometimes keycaps or keyswitches ranging from Cherry MX to Alps SKCM to IBM buckling springs and anything in between.
Follow me on Twitter for updates on my keyboard videos! / chyrosran22
The practice sentence was: "Hello my name is Thomas and I'm typing on a Bondwell B310 Superslim right now. It's a shame I can't show the typing on the actual monitor, but it's a cool computer anyway!"

[@hellNo116]

classic machine from back when i wasn't even an idea in my parents eyes. that is the content i am here for. hell yeah.

[@Psittacus_erithacus]

Greatly appreciate the research-a real credit to you and to Cherry too. Definitely improves my opinion of the company to learn they (or their employees at least) cared & were interested enough to take the time. It all may have taken awhile, but resulted in a genuinely excellent video.

[@ThrillhouseVanHurtin]

Especially considering how much he rags on their switches too lol.

[@bamdadkhan]

exactly my thoughts lol

[@cjmillsnun]

@@ThrillhouseVanHurtin To be fair, so does Glarses, and they made MX purples for him

[@agrisimfarming]

@@ThrillhouseVanHurtin i think they don't mind too much because cherry are still #1 when it comes to sales volume, (Not that it means their switches are the best, even compared to other MX compatible designs lol) so they are too worried about figuring out what to do with their stacks to worry about chyros lol

[@berendvosmer948]

I live fairly close to Utrecht, which is where I believe you live. I could have a look at the exploded caps on the IBM, which I think might be line filtering caps from Rifa. And see if we can make a project of making the Bondwell usable again.

[@Chyrosran22]

That would be fantastic! :D Thanks!

[@berendvosmer948]

@@Chyrosran22 what’s the best way to get in contact?

[@jasondoe2596]

Super-cool machine and video! And kudos to Cherry for willing to dig in and provide information - it's unusual for most companies to care enough. A very pleasant surprise.

[@SonicBoone56]

Especially unusual for a major parts and OEM company like Cherry.

[@GurtTarctor]

Props to Cherry for being so helpful.

[@brockercheddlie]

I live for vintage Cherry history lessons. I love this type of content.

[@NatalieT505]

I typed this comment on a laptop with a mechanical keyboard (MSI GT80 Titan, MX Browns). It's from 2015 and has the performance/thermal/power efficiency of a coal powered motorcycle with chassis made of lead and square wheels. But I'm not giving it up until it dies: That's the value of a laptop with halfway usable keyboard. Thanks for the wonderful well researched review ! :-)

[@Chyrosran22]

Hahaha niiice xD .

[@user-74652]

Someone other than a tech KZbinr actually owns one of those?

[@NatalieT505]

@@user-74652I got a good deal on one second hand, for relatively little money. Speaking of good deals, do you know what's also a good deal ?: This segue to our sponsor :-)

[@nknguyen2877]

​@@user-74652 I mean I knew some dude would've taken any laptop just for top-tier specs and high-profile keyboard switches so yeah, not too surprise to me at least

[@agrisimfarming]

I laughed out loud for this comment haha

[@JanPospisilArt]

Nice to see a vintage review again.

[@myselph1761]

The top reasons why a battery doesn't work: 1. It's missing 2. It's American 3. *It's Fucked*

[@Pastill-]

Yay a vintage keyboard :D .

[@petermuller608]

Very cool of cherry to provide this information and even measuring a switch!

[@Saintbow]

Seeing this tech brings back a lot of childhood memories!

[@Forest2TS]

If you still want vintage keyboards to review, the Nintendo Famicom BASIC keyboard could be a good find

[@cashewmilkfan]

the 5155 probably just had its power supply rifa caps blow up. they are a type of notoriously unreliable power line filter capacitors whose plastic and paper casing tends to crack and break down over time. they are usually placed accross the mains too so once they go bad they tend to blow up. most of the time you can just desolder them from your power supply and not worry about it since they just do a little mains filtering. but you can also replace them with a same value x or y class cap if you wanna repair it correctly. these caps are designed to be placed accross mains directly and be more reliable and less destructive than rifa caps when/if they fail.

[@greyareaRK1]

A friend of my mine had the PCjr, and I don't recall it working for more than 10 minutes at a time. Even the replacement keyboard ($$$) wasn't compatible with their other computers, I think. The Bondwell reminds me a bit of the dedicated writing machines they still sell with 3-line LCD screens and half-height switches.

[@BenMilford]

This looks so cool!

[@thethriftyfawn]

This looks vaguely familiar... when I was a kid, we had a faily member visit us from out of town, and she brought a laptop computer (my first time ever seeing one!) with a black and white screen similar to this one, but not all messed up lol. No idea if it was the same brand or model as this one, but she let me play Tetris on it, and it was the coolest thing EVER! 😁

[@bewilderbeestie]

I have a PC Convertible! (And it's a cleaner one than in the stock photo here; mine seems to be barely used.) It's got Alps SKCM Brown switches, and it is by far one of the best keyboards I've ever used. Slightly tactile but not at all clicky and super smooth. These days I like linears --- for a while I used a converted proto-model-M from a 1985 IBM typewriter, which felt great but was SO LOUD that it completely soured me on buckling spring switches, sadly --- but I could totally imagine myself switching to Alps Browns. ...not that I'm going to remove the switches from the PC Convertible, of course. I'm not a barbarian.

[@bobweiram6321]

Imagine if Glarses had Cherry recreate these switches!

[@davetech1269]

Haven't checked on your videos in a while and am oddly glad you're still taking the piss out of us Americans. You always get a free paas. And to be fair, we do have a fair share of problems. Maybe even an unfair share

[@Chyrosran22]

Haha, the biggest fans of the Imperial jokes are Americans themselves, I noticed xD .

[@davoid96]

This is so badass! Imagine gutting this thing and stuffing it with modern hardware.

[@rationalityfirst]

This thing has a better keyboard layout than modern laptops that insist on cramming together the arrow keys instead of making the right shift smaller.

[@BrianMcKee]

I think the benefit of cherry switches in a laptop too is that they're pretty resistant to dirt and dust. I wouldn't mind a thicker laptop with a fully mech keyboard or full travel electrocapacitive.

[@Chyrosran22]

Laptops have the advantage of being closed when not in use, so their keyboards are much better protected against dust and dirt than normal keyboards.

[@BrianMcKee]

@@Chyrosran22Doesn't protect it from me eating cheetos on the go though! I feel like generally people aren't very careful when it comes to their laptop keyboards when it comes to dust and dirt during operation, especially if on a job site, so I think it's still a pro.

[@robertfurr4678]

My dad brought home a similar laptop recently, a Hyundai Super LT-3. It has very satisfying clicky Alps switches and it runs, but unfortunately the enter key is dead.

[@Chyrosran22]

If that's all, it's provably very fixable!

[@CaveyMoth]

Millistatues of liberty...so American! This thing sounds like typing on LEGOs. It's almost as chittery as Bloody LK switches.

[@NigelMontezuma]

4:58 BUT YOU CAN SPILL ON AND FUCK UP THE DELL LATITUDE KEYBOARD ALL YOU WANT

[@Chyrosran22]

Yeah fuck that shit xD ..

[@solidstate90]

Damn, I would love to get my hands on a keycap set like this thing has, I have a Chicony board that came from some type of laptop thing that I pulled from my local E-Cycler, very similar from factor but it uses Alps SKCM White

[@zergbong]

there are a bunch of Soviet made clone computers of Apple II from the ex-Eastern Block. My uncle's Pravetz 8M had the funkiest keyboard. Not sure if you can get your hands on one :D

[@besserschreiben9481]

If I had to guess, I would suggest the name "Red Star" for the Soviet computerski.

[@wkg19591]

4:20 'Laptops are beginning to have mechanical keyboards more often....' praise be the makers of keyboards. Are there any in particular you find impressive Tom? Great to see you as always!

[@Chyrosran22]

Eh, I wouldn't know to be honest, I have little experience with laptops, I never use them. I just know they exist :) .

[@ash36230]

Always interesting seeing that period of time when companies would come up with weird stuff. I don't miss the setup of things back then though with how many dip switches, jumper settings, IRQ settings, etc. Have you reviewed the ultra low profile mechanical switches on laptops? Eager to know how they stack up, I get the point of laptops is ultra-portable, hence low profile keys, but there's some jank chiclet/scissor/butterfly switch designs still out there

[@Chyrosran22]

No, I don't have any modern laptops I'm afraid. They're also not easy for me to get hold of xD .

[@pessie83]

It sounds like during the type demonstration that the sound of the Cherry MX Navy switches is a slightly softer version of the Cherry MX Blue switches?

[@Chyrosran22]

Nah, impoissible to say. The chassis and keycaps are a major influence on the sound here.

[@Shikitera]

their specs are identical to vintage mx blues

[@DavidWonn]

That's possibly the longest 1/! key I've ever seen in the upper left.

[@FrontSideBus]

Has a Cardiff Electric Giant vibe to it! :)

[@mikhail6289]

Wow, are you comeback to vintage keyboard rewieves?

[@Chyrosran22]

Mhh, I don't have many vintage keyboards left xD . So not really. But there are still a few left which will come out in the future sometime!

[@v1mja]

You should get an mnt reform - a modern, open hardware, laptop with a mechanical keyboard. The laptop is ARM and designed to run Linux, so maybe it wouldn't be for you... But they do sell a stand-alone USB version of the keyboard.

[@kitrod]

So, what, is the only difference that they're just blues with lighter springs?

[@xard64]

Even though I presume that this variant rattles due to click jacket mechanism like the MX Blue does not sound half bad in this laptop chassis at all. Maybe modern custom keyboard manufacturers should take a note on how to construct cases...

[@IOSam]

Noice!!! Also, good to know I'm not the only freak who carries a mechanical keyboard with my laptop (although the one I carry is not a full-size board naturally ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).

[@Prod_Venny]

space bar pretty good

[@MatthewHill]

This interesting thing would've been almost exactly as fast as the first PC that I owned, a "Legend" clone with an 80286 clocked at 12 MHz and 1 MB of RAM. Mine had a much less interesting keyboard though. It was so uninteresting I don't even remember what it was anymore, other than that it felt vaguely better to type on than my C64 did.

[@DanteHaroun]

I can't believe Cherry is in TALKING TERMS with Chyrosran22 after all he's said abt their shitty ass switches LOL

[@Lachlant1984]

Do you know if this was the same Bondwell company who owned QuickShot? QuickShot made joysticks and toys.

[@Chyrosran22]

From what I know, yes, indirectly. The Quickshot was a Spectravideo product, and Bondwell joined up with Spectravideo at some point.

[@WyvernDotRed]

The checksum error in the boot screen seems like corrupted BIOS settings Which is caused by an an empty BIOS battery (usually CR2032), this is to be expected and should be easy to replace. The rest of the messages look like succeeded self-tests, so the computer itself appears to be working otherwise, assuming the floppy drive works. Depending on how it's connected it might be possible to re-do the screen's wiring or at least push it in a position that works, when taking the laptop and lid apart. This takes some care to avoid damaging the possibly fragile parts and due to age brittle plastics, be careful with who you let work on this if you do. I myself am fairly confident in my ability to de- and reassemble such things without breaking them and am fairly certain that I passed the Dunning Kruger mountain of stupidity. But even still the possible fragility of old cost-saving construction makes me feel uneasy about it. On the blown capacitor of the other machine, this is something I could fix myself if that's all there is to it, it's only a matter of finding a similarly specced replacement and soldering it in. But you're better off finding someone local and more trustworthy than some rando from the internet, one living in Groningen in this case.

[@Chyrosran22]

Thanks for the tips! I looked around in the 5155 case already (it ha a million shields unfortunately) but couldn't find an obviously blown capacitor. Can't think of what else would make such a loud pop sound (and not immediately kill the power on it), though. Maybe I'll have to truly gut it and dig deep into it, shudder. As for the Bondwell, without a proper screen, the rest doesn't really matter, I guess. I might ask someone I know to help me with that. Good to know that the rest might be just a battery issue :) .

[@mynt017]

i believe it’s also in the chicony kb 5581:D

[@Chyrosran22]

Just regular MX blue AFAIK.

[@mynt017]

i remember watching it featured on keyfiender's channel a couple years ago

[@ej_tech]

4:59 That's a Dell Latitude. It's no ThinkPad keyboard but it's far from crap.

[@Chyrosran22]

If you're spoiled with a ZKB-2 as a daily driver, it doesn't measure up very well IMO xD .

[@ragecandy]

Have you done anything on old thinkpads? I've always been curious why people loved those keyboards so much cause I think they were just membrane

[@Chyrosran22]

I do have a Thinkpad, yes. I will be reviewing it at some point in the future!

[@bobweiram6321]

The ThinkPad keyboard is OK, but it's the trackpoint that's the real star of the show. Typists who don't like rehoming their fingers on the keyboard after using the trackpad loved it.

[@pokepokepoke64]

FINALLY AN INTERESTING CHYROS VIDEO

[@Chyrosran22]

Send me something interesting and I'll happily do a video on it :D .

[@wkg19591]

I find all Tom's videos interesting. But then again I may be a bit of a nerd :D

[@pokepokepoke64]

this is the first time where chyros didnt complain about mx blue sound and it's weird

[@gearsgamer7115]

Because it's a laptop keyboard, it's literally one of the best actual laptop keyboards, it's not the shit that is low travel or membrane or something

[@BlissBee]

Surprised cherry responded and didn't spite you for saying their switches are shit

[@obscur_artiste]

My laptop is raised on a stand and I have a Wooting 60HE plugged in. No reason to deal with laptop keyboards unless you're on the road.

[@rotteneffekt4416]

milli-statues of liberty (mSoL)🤣This new unit, shall accompany me.

[@Raiko01]

Petition for american equivalent of a ton to be statues of liberty

[@mr.y.mysterious.video1]

Super slim you say......

[@lucidmoses]

I've seen those vertical lines on old LCDs as well. Can't say why but I can say, that even when they were new and working as intended they where kind of bad displays.

[@wembleyford]

Nice - someone really needs to get you a ZX80 or ZX81 to see really just how bad vintage keyboards could be at the low end back in the day - they wern't always good. Also - while not full travel - Lenovo were still shipping fairly decent keyboards on their (used to be IBM) thinkpad liine right up to the early 2010s.- not Model M or but not bad for a laptop especially at that time.

[@Chyrosran22]

I did a Spectrum ZX keyboard review! :D

[@wembleyford]

@@Chyrosran22 Yeah - the spectrum's bad - the classic dead flesh - but the zx80 and zx81 are bad on an entirely different level - go take a look at a photo and you'll immediately realise why..

[@besserschreiben9481]

I understood: ".. it was missing or it was *American* or it was fucked or a combination of those things", contrary to auto generated subtitles, that skipped "fucked", but left "American". Strange censorship.

[@ClickandThock]

I tried to buy one some months ago! Still very interesting!