So, update time.

[Fel]

Yeah, I'm gonna be looking for a 13" with a compact keyboard that feels nice under my fingers, so at least I got that part right.

The specs don't need to be cutting edge, what matters most is that I like the keyboard.

[cdhaag]

Lenovo ThinkPad's have really nice keyboards but they are a bit on the pricey side.

[Grommley]

I have seen a couple Lenovo recommendations in here so far. On the low end systems, they are not good. The expensive ones are fine and tend to be reliable, but the cheap ones tend to be just that, cheap. I fix them, so I see it all the time.
For low cost, but reliable, MSI have been reasonably good, but I don't know if they have anything good with the smaller keyboards. The Surface Books from MS are good, but again a bit pricey. Asus has some good products and they do have some small form factor systems, or at least the used to. Acer tend to be low end and not as reliable. They are fine if you want cheap and plan to replace every few years. Same with the cheap HP's.
No matter what you choose, you will find they all have good and bad points. Even within the same manufacturer, you will find some good models and some bad. As a tech working on them all the time, I have an MSI gaming laptop for myself. The keyboard would be a bit big though compared to what you are looking for. Dell has some nice small models I would say are probably decent. I don't have to fix a lot of those unless they are badly treated (smashed screens and busted power ports).

I am sure everyone here has an opinion, but if you are looking, send us all some links here at what you are looking at and I am sure you will get several different opinions.
My recommendation is to check reviews. If there are only a few, maybe don't trust them. If there are several thousand, the average is probably fairly accurate.

Just my 2 cents...

[kabalman2000]

Before saving in DOCX or some updated format, may I suggest using RTF (rich text format) as being the most compatible with different systems. Of course, if you get the old version of Word working, old DOC will be fine. Just please no PDF or related formats, they're almost impossible to get back to a decent document format that will allow formatting to something legible and easy on the eyes.

[Wolfee]

Yeah, I'm gonna be looking for a 13" with a compact keyboard that feels nice under my fingers, so at least I got that part right.

The specs don't need to be cutting edge, what matters most is that I like the keyboard.

Don't be afraid to plug in an external keyboard - if I had to use a laptop keyboard all the time I'd break something!

[Exskie]

Hi

Was just reading this

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3630106 ... riday.html

MSI Prestige 14 Evo with an Intel Tiger Lake Core i5 for $599