Dell to replace wonky keyboards
Posted by Steven Parker on 09 May 2008 - 09:58 · 12 comments & 5854 views
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Full name: Steven Parker
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Contact: via forum PM
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(1 reply)
#1 Posted by +kraized on 09 May 2008 - 10:07
- Keys in the wrong places? I've heard it all now.
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#1.1 Posted by
neufuse on 09 May 2008 - 10:46
- (kraized said @ #1)Keys in the wrong places? I've heard it all now.
Well its not like it wasn't in QWERTY standard order... just one key was too large... I use to have IBM Thinkpads with a smiliar thing where the enter key was larger then normal and shifted the L key to far to the left... not an uncommon problem on laptops when trying to cram keys or make certain keys stand out
Last edited by neufuse on 09 May 2008 - 11:14
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(3 replies)
#2 Posted by Magallanes on 09 May 2008 - 20:54
- Pictures of the mutant keyboard layout.
http://direct2dell.com/images/smallbusines...0Original_2.jpg
and "corrected":
http://direct2dell.com/images/smallbusines...20Revised_2.jpg -
#2.1 Posted by strekship on 09 May 2008 - 22:20
- Maybe I'm blind, but those shift keys look to be the exact same size.
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#2.2 Posted by Deathray on 09 May 2008 - 22:25
- (strekship said @ #2.1)Maybe I'm blind, but those shift keys look to be the exact same size.
There was a key between the Z and shift, it has been moved over, and basically the bios update will update to the new layout. -
#2.3 Posted by ec4912 on 13 May 2008 - 19:35
- (Deathray said @ #2.2)(strekship said @ #2.1)Maybe I'm blind, but those shift keys look to be the exact same size.
There was a key between the Z and shift, it has been moved over, and basically the bios update will update to the new layout.
But the article says it was an oversized shift key.
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(2 replies)
#3 Posted by Dessimat0r on 09 May 2008 - 22:55
- Couldn't people just pry off the key caps and put them in the correct place, then apply the BIOS update?
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#3.1 Posted by neufuse on 10 May 2008 - 17:02
- (Dessimat0r said @ #3)Couldn't people just pry off the key caps and put them in the correct place, then apply the BIOS update?
Not the most fun thing to do on a laptop... easy as heck on desktop keyboards... but on laptops with the structure under the key would be hard for most people -
#3.2 Posted by Harreh on 11 May 2008 - 15:28
- (neufuse said @ #3.1)(Dessimat0r said @ #3)Couldn't people just pry off the key caps and put them in the correct place, then apply the BIOS update?
Not the most fun thing to do on a laptop... easy as heck on desktop keyboards... but on laptops with the structure under the key would be hard for most people
Oh tell me about it.. It was a right task when I took my enter key off. It was sticking down to the material beneath the key so it felt weird on release.. so to clean it I had to take it off. What a pain it was to get it back on!
On my XPS here it looks like they went for a shorter shift key instead of moving the slash key.
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#4 Posted by iascoot on 10 May 2008 - 03:32
- what a stupid place to put the : \ key in the first place
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#5 Posted by Julius Caro on 10 May 2008 - 18:49
- WEll, I dont know which key it is in american keyboards, but between the left shift and the Z I have the "
The problem was flagged by blogger Jake Gordon who pointed out that his Z key had been shifted too far to the right by an enlarged shift key, meaning that instead of appearing beneath A and S it sat beneath S and D instead, causing a fair old headache for the touch typists among us.
"There is no way to say it... we made a mistake and want to apologise to affected customers," Bill Bivin, Dell's laptop liaison admits on the Direct2Dell blog.
"Here's what we're going to do: we plan to contact all affected customers, beginning today. All affected customers will receive an updated keyboard. They will have two options: we can send the keyboard and required BIOS update directly to them, or they can choose to have a field technician replace the keyboard onsite."
The company is also planning to post a video walkthrough for those customers looking to adjust the keyboard themselves.