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Dell's new Vostro, crippled by monumental keyboard screw up

flickr.com — Truly unbelievable ***** up by Dell. Brand, spanking new Vostro 1310, almost completely unusable due to keyboard mis-alignment. Did I get a faulty unit or are they all like this?!

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  • jakegordon, on 05/02/2008, -26/+11it should look like this: http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/32661.jpg or as it is with the | but then with a smaller left shift key
    • CYR1X, on 05/02/2008, -6/+56Or you could just use the keyboard your typing on as a reference. For all of those without a keyboard, you can't even respond so HA.
      • merripen, on 05/02/2008, -0/+35*shakes fist*
        • bitcloud, on 05/02/2008, -8/+4"Wrong", he said. eye can Still... Copy/Paste™
          • LoveAndSeagulls, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1that might've made a witty joke, but your delivery just disgustingly horrible...
      • s0nicfreak, on 05/02/2008, -9/+4Ever heard of an on screen keyboard?
        • LoveAndSeagulls, on 05/02/2008, -4/+6no...
          • cyrix, on 05/02/2008, -0/+10Really? My one friend had to use one because he spilled beer all over his keyboard. It was honestly painful watching him have to click all the letters out with his mouse. I can't even begin to imagine having to do that for more than 10 seconds without wanting to hang myself with my socks.
        • GliTCH82, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4You mean like the one found in most accessibility controls on new operating systems, that still has the rows of keys in some kind of decent alignment?
        • tapeworm77, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1That's eceb nore ibxobciebt thab typibg ob this keyvoard.
      • headzoo, on 05/02/2008, -6/+2I'm using a Kinesis Advantage, which has the keys in all different places than normal. So no, I can't check my own keyboard for reference.
      • GregFD3S, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1http://www.gregsabia.com/images/ext/fanboy.gif
    • rpgmaker, on 05/02/2008, -20/+1A bad designed keyboard, BIG ***** DEAL. The new Vostro model isn't ruined, Dell just have to include other model of keyboard.
      • CarzorStelatis, on 05/02/2008, -0/+6I don;t know about you, but a computer with a keyboard that's near-impossible to type on is pretty "crippled" in my book
    • MixMasterK, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2thank you for that. I wouldn't have understood the article had it not been for that insightful remark.
    • acceleration, on 05/02/2008, -0/+6No, as it is meant to be the UK keyboard layout, it should like this: http://digitalconsumption.com/userfiles/1_img_4346 ... . The | key is *supposed* to be between left shift and Z, but because the left shift key is too long (it is of the US keyboard size and not the UK size), the | is put where the Z key should be, and shifting the entire row one key to the right.
  • narlzac85, on 05/02/2008, -18/+6If the bottom row is shifted one, then the last key on the right is probably gone, if it is and it is above the enter key, then that's a US keyboard with the keys in the wrong spots. Switch to a US keyboard layout and typing should be OK, but then again, some of the symbol keys will be wrong. Its not a total failure, but I'd certainly return it.
    • dacheetah, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4I'd say it's already set to US, and it's been wired differently.
      But that won't stop you from physically swapping the keys then using keytweak (if you're using windows) to set the keys better.
      • Section1, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Makes sense to me, but I wonder why Dell wouldn't do that, or maybe they are, and that will be a delay, not a total fail.
  • Lephtovermeet, on 05/02/2008, -29/+62Are you sure the key cap is not in the wrong place? They are interchangeable.
    • teh_techie, on 05/02/2008, -3/+41You didn't look at the picture, did you? The massive return key prohibits the interchangability of the pipebackslash key...
      • Evolve, on 05/02/2008, -10/+3Maybe you didn't, because the keys
        'backslash' z x c v b n m
        can all be interchanged because they are the same size.
        Just pull off the keys and place them back down in a better position
        z x c v b n m 'backslash'
        Which would make it easier to type.
        • scuvball, on 05/02/2008, -1/+3Evolve: That's an English keyboard. The shift key is supposed to be the size of the normal letter keys. The keyboard is supposed to be... shift, /, z, x, c, v, b, n, m
    • chrisinsocalif, on 05/02/2008, -7/+17Keys maybe interchangeable but most keyboards you cant reprogram the key locations.
      • nyx210, on 05/02/2008, -2/+16That's why you have keymaps in the operating system. You can type in a different layout that way. The problem here is that even if he changes to a US layout, the | key will be missing because the Shift key is too big(and takes up the space where | should be).
        • dacheetah, on 05/02/2008, -1/+5I'm pretty sure it would be set to US already. But you can change the maps in windows either directly in the registry, or much more easily using a freeware program called keytweak.
          (There are similar options in *nix also.)
          I use this to turn the caps lock key into play/pause. Since Caps is useless.
      • phlezk, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2yes you can.
    • mcduck, on 05/02/2008, -1/+46http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/01/dells-vostro-ke ...

      Engadget story with response from Dell.
      • teh_techie, on 05/02/2008, -11/+5This isn't a reply to the interchangable comment... so why post it as a reply instead of as a new comment?
        • alittleroy101, on 05/02/2008, -0/+8I think we all know the answer to that one.
      • bradleyland, on 05/02/2008, -1/+10The article has a nice comparison photo of the two layouts, but they got the captions wrong.

        [PIC]
        US Layout

        [PIC]
        CPT'N RETARDO Layout
    • over900000, on 05/02/2008, -6/+4I thought the same thing. You just have to take out the offending key, move all the keys from z to / one lace to the left and stick the remaining cap into the left over space. And do a firmware upgrade to fix the keymaps.

      edit: the poster confims that the keymap is normal so you don't even have to do anything except change the key caps.
    • noseeme, on 05/02/2008, -3/+62I just tried to pull out my Z key. Now my keyboard is broken and a commercial jet engine fell through my roof.
      • sumguy231, on 05/02/2008, -1/+28Is your name by any chance 'Donnie Darko'?
        • noseeme, on 05/02/2008, -0/+29What the hell are you talking about. I'm far too busy researching time travel to listen to your random *****.
          • adamantium, on 05/02/2008, -3/+4Forget about Obama '08

            I'm voting for Dukakis '88; at least he has some "good *****"
    • megagram, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2Looks like a U.S. layout keyboard (hence large left shift key) with a U.K. layout superimposed on it (no change in key-shapes).
    • aywwts4, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1Laptop keys are not easily replaceable, http://www.laptopkeys.co.uk/replaceKey.html and I would give the average consumer a roughly 70 percent chance of breaking their keyboard completely trying to replace the keys. Replacing the entire keyboard can also be a bitch with dells, all the (older model) dell keyboards I have had to replace involved removing almost every single screw from the entire computer and then some screwdriver work.
      • tehrich, on 05/02/2008, -0/+3How old is your older model? All the ones I've seen in at least the past 5 years you only have to remove one piece of plastic from just below the screen (that has the num, caps and scroll lock lights) and two screws that hold the keyboard down.
      • fsweep, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1of course they are easy to replace, unless you are a hamfisted aywwts4.
    • diggimator, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4Now I know what a "right" layout looks like for UK users:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#UK_an ...
  • TracerBulletNPI, on 05/02/2008, -66/+4I would imagine that some korean or whatever company just sent Dell the wrong keyboard, and no one noticed. Isn't a design flaw. You just got a unit with a funky keyboard that made it through un-noticed.
  • jakegordon, on 05/02/2008, -30/+48TracerBulletNPI: no, you're missing the point here. EVERY SINGLE QWERTY keyboard has Z between AS not SD, and so on for the bottom row. The | key to the left of Z is common on UK keyboards, but when it is there, the left shift key is made smaller so it fits in to the left of the A, not the right of it.
    • TokenWhiteGuy, on 05/02/2008, -1/+41This is what the reply option is for!
    • podwich, on 05/02/2008, -6/+15Not that you or anyone else cares, but I dugg you down simply for being stupid. The "reply" option isn't all that hard to find.
    • rkzda, on 05/02/2008, -12/+10This is what digg has come to, a bunch of babies digging people down for not using the reply button, and informing everyone about it as well.. I personally hate digging through replies, so I don;t mind at all, but I'm not going to bury someone because they used the reply button that I so dislike.

      Grow up.
      • s3rgi0, on 05/02/2008, -0/+3Yeah, but now I'm going crazy trying to find TracerbulletNPI's original comment. When a comment is a reply but not connected to the original it gets to be very disjointed.
        • Black6x, on 05/02/2008, -2/+2It's the one IMMEDIATELY above his comment. It was Dug down for being completely stupid.
    • DreKor, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2to jump back on track for a moment:
      Dell isn't too helpful here. They don't really have a UK site, they just have a "Euro" site. Even so, the listing for the Vostro with a USA keyboard layout. I'm not sure how you'd know what you were getting.
    • D14BL0, on 05/02/2008, -3/+5Reply directly to the poster. We don't need a separate comment thread just because you want to be heard and want people to see your comment when it's normally buried in the proper thread.
    • moush, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1In America we have the Z key next to our shift, we don't ***** up our keyboards.
  • Steaminx, on 05/02/2008, -11/+5That is some funny *****.
    • noseeme, on 05/02/2008, -4/+1Actually, it was a keyboard problem.
    • estvir, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4The best part is when he beats down the person who suggests a Mac:

      "['Ottovelo' commented I should just buy a Mac. I have removed his stupid Apple fanboy remark. Seriously... why not say but an Acer, Asus, Lenovo,, Samsung... and whilst we're on that, where's the delete key on a Mac? And why are " and @ in the wrong places on UK mac keyboards? Not as bad a design flaw as this, but utterly frustrating none the less.] "
  • destron, on 05/02/2008, -10/+5Uh... that's retarded. Another case of "shoot the designer", maybe?
    • Browzer, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2Reminds of those old damn IBM keyboards where the BACKSPACE key is half it's normal slice and there is a slash key next to it.
    • steelese, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2This isn't a designer problem. It is more likely an engineering problem. That is the problem with engineers, they think they can engineer the answer for everything. When they do this they fail. As a former engineer I know. I left the field because of this. I now do marketing and advertising. I don't have to be able to answer everything, and I know I can't

      Massive fail.
    • GliTCH82, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Why the ***** are they still designing new key arrangements? It's already been done, find the winner and stick with the *****.
      • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1the UK arrangement is obviously not a winner what's the deal with the HUGE return key?
  • CYR1X, on 05/02/2008, -17/+9While this isn't an exceptable practice I find the length of detail by the flickr user hilarious.
  • Makaveli604, on 05/02/2008, -39/+304Dugg for:
    ['Ottovelo' commented I should just buy a Mac. I have removed his stupid Apple fanboy remark. Seriously... why not say but an Acer, Asus, Lenovo,, Samsung... and whilst we're on that, where's the delete key on a Mac? And why are " and @ in the wrong places on UK mac keyboards? Not as bad a design flaw as this, but utterly frustrating none the less.]
    • PhogHawk, on 05/02/2008, -77/+20"Delete key on a Mac" = Fn + Delete
      It's not Apple's fault that its delete functionality makes more sense than the Windows convention.
      • bowe, on 05/02/2008, -15/+87typically fan-boy response. It's thought processes like that which lead people to worship a single mouse button.
        • PhogHawk, on 05/02/2008, -10/+5 Looking over these responses, it's clear I should have phrased my comment differently. I meant to comment on the fact that "Delete" (to me at least) makes me think of the action that "Backspace" invokes.

          While I realize you were being a jokester, I must defend myself in saying that I HATED the single mouse buttons. I do, however, prefer the Fn+Del for "backspacing" on a mac to the far off "Delete" key on my PC. It's easier for me to put my left pinky on Fn and my right ring finger on Delete than to move my right hand from its resting position to the far side of the keyboard. Maybe it's because I've grown accustom to this, but I haven't even had my MBP for a year, and it just seems more intuitive.

          Obviously my comment can be easily misconstrued as a simple "fanboyism," but I did employ reasoning in the statement, even if I didn't initially demonstrate it.
        • tomato1324, on 05/02/2008, -9/+6and a typical idiot response. all macs now have a right click (without pushing another button on the keyboard, i might add). but you're too busy being stupid to realize it.
          • theeldest, on 05/02/2008, -0/+9Not laptops.

            Although the 2 finger scrolling (on a touchpad) is much better than the far right scrolling on pc.
          • PhogHawk, on 05/02/2008, -2/+1The MacBooks have a right click by tapping two fingers on the touchpad. It works marvelously.
          • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -2/+3i'm not a windows fan at all but i must say that the mac's right click is trash. it's not well integrated into aplications. i expect the right click to give me a relevant menu specific for where i click it. on windows you get that 80% of the time on a mac you get that 5% of the time. in short:
            mac's right click=trash
          • HoratioHellpop, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1@PhogHawk //The MacBooks have a right click by tapping two fingers on the touchpad. It works marvelously.// And all Windows/Linux laptops have a right click by ... clicking the right-hand button on the trackpad. Works intuitively AND marvelously.
        • LordofChaosIori, on 05/02/2008, -3/+4I can't believe people still make that one-button mouse argument. It just shows how ignorant you are when it comes to Macs.
          • theeldest, on 05/02/2008, -1/+3Look at the ***** lappy tops.

            The touchpad has a single ***** button beneath it!

            (although, according to a poster above, you can tap with two fingers to do a right-click. That's pretty neat. How do you right-click-drag though?)
        • danielsamuels, on 05/02/2008, -5/+1THE MIGHTY MOUSE HAS LEFT AND ***** ***RIGHT*** CLICK.
        • bowe, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2yes I realize that macs have improved their right click functionality, but if this were two years ago, all of these responses would be defending why only having one button is better than having a right click.

          Having to tap two fingers is just another work around, like needing to hold down an extra button. It's much simpler to press a button than it is to do some tapping motion. I always turn off tapping on my trackpad because it seems to happen by accident too much for my liking. I also use mouse gestures, which require the right mouse button to be held down, that can't be done on a Mac Laptop.

          Mac laptops already have a humongous button, why do they refuse to split it? Why do they refuse to split the top of the mighty mouse to have actual independent buttons? Why the dislike for buttons, doesn't apple realize that a keyboard usually has 104 buttons on it? If you're using a keyboard you can handle a second mouse button.
      • bumblefoot, on 05/02/2008, -10/+62since when has needing to press 2 keys made more sense functionality-wise than needing to press one button
        • Zekarus, on 05/02/2008, -5/+29Ever since he went through the compulsory lobotomy required by fanboys.

          Wasn't that obvious?
        • Scira, on 05/02/2008, -1/+13is this better?
          OR IS THIS BETTER?
          having to enable/disable capslock is such a hassle, i wish there was a way to just type a single letting capitalized.
        • jakobmakob, on 05/02/2008, -2/+5I'd LOVE to see him come up with an answer to that one. It's like saying a gun that makes you hold the safety button off and pull the trigger at the same time is better than one with just a trigger.
          • theeldest, on 05/02/2008, -1/+6Yeah, then it'd be like a circular saw or something!

            Ha!
        • chaoswings, on 05/02/2008, -2/+10Apple's marketing is a whole lot better then we first anticipated...
        • PhogHawk, on 05/02/2008, -5/+2See my post above, but my preference is that my hands aren't required to move from their resting position to reach other keys. By placing a convenient key combination (regardless of the number of keys involved) within easy reach, I am able to type at a faster rate and be more productive overall. I believe that productivity dictates good functionality, and I don't think that's an unreasonable position.
          • theeldest, on 05/02/2008, -1/+4You must have freakishly long pinkies and great flexibility to hit both without taking the rest of your fingers off the home keys.

            I just tried it, I can't do it. (no, I do not have fat fingers, they're just shorter than they should be.)
          • PhogHawk, on 05/02/2008, -2/+1It's possible that my fingers are freakishly long. The ladies tell me that's a good thing.
            In all seriousness, what works for me will clearly not work for everyone else.
          • thelostviking22, on 05/03/2008, -0/+0trust me phoghawk, he does have small hands and fingers. i tried touching both keys and had no problem.
        • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1when they do totally different things.
      • ap44, on 05/02/2008, -7/+5BTW, It's so much fun pressing 3 buttons to get a screenshot vs 1 button Good job Apple.
        • sudowrestler, on 05/02/2008, -2/+9And have the image as a "file* automatically dropped right on your desktop instead of having to paste it from the clipboard into some app and save it. And being able to either capture the whole screen or any portion. Or call the built-in Grab utility program, if you have too much trouble hitting three keys. Yes, good job, Apple, indeed.
          • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1i just wanted to add that on ubuntu i can either hold shift and click and drag to get a screen capture of a specific area, i can hit print screen to capture the whole desktop or i can use the built in screen capture program to take a screenshot after a user set delay. so yeah both of your OS's aren't that great.
      • twertyto, on 05/02/2008, -0/+132 buttons > 1 button???? GTFO
        • theeldest, on 05/02/2008, -9/+1Get the ***** Off?

          Does that even make sense?
        • estvir, on 05/02/2008, -0/+8The last word is 'out.'
          • theeldest, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1Ah ... TAoA (The Ambiguity of Acronyms).
            That does make more sense.

            It still needs something after that dangling preposition.
      • darienphoenix, on 05/02/2008, -2/+3Don't know why PhogHawk is being dugg down, personally...

        Windows also has a stupid method of auto-completing on a command line, and uses backslashes instead of forward slashes. Am I a Linux or Mac fanboy to point that out?
    • tama00, on 05/02/2008, -16/+9How does this guy get dugg down for explaining that Mac OS does have a delete forward key?
      • theeldest, on 05/02/2008, -1/+17He obviously did it with his nose in the air. You can tell by the tone in his voice.

        Are you such a n0o0b that you didn't know that?

        Pssh!
      • AlvesLopes, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0What's wrong with noses in the air when you are right?
    • Louis11, on 05/02/2008, -5/+5Ctrl + Delete . . .
    • BGog, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2Hey... I love my Mac but they have a couple little messed up things. No Second mouse button... Home/End keys. Just to name a couple. (Yes I know Apple-Arrow does home/end but it should be a key).
      • tim710, on 05/02/2008, -0/+3just get a mouses with right click. I use a microsoft mouse on my mac.
      • scarysnow, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2In case you might be accused of "not" loving your Mac, thanks for the preface. To this day, I've never met a person whose ever said, "I love my Dell." Why? Because Apple requires your entire mind, body and spirit, like any successful cult.
      • SebHughes, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1The mighty mouse can be set to right click.
        • chaosblade77, on 05/12/2008, -0/+0That doesn't mean it can do it well. I don't have anything against Apple itself or it's OS (current one at least) but the Mighty Mouse is one of the worst-designed pieces of hardware I've ever used. I had to use that thing for six months in my Photoshop class. If I had a portable wireless mouse, without the bulky receiver I don't want to tote around, I'd have taken my own USB mouse to use instead. Aside from the issues with the one button cover pretending to be two, but it's too small (yeah, my opinion) and the scroll "wheel" isn't very effective at all compared to other mice.
  • countmischief, on 05/02/2008, -53/+7All dell laptops have removable keys, just take the individual keys out and shift them each one to the left, not a conundrum, this doesn't require a genius.
    • AppleGeorge, on 05/02/2008, -2/+58You do realize that doing that will do nothing? The key input would still be programmed for the key it was originally programmed for.
      • countmischief, on 05/02/2008, -27/+2You know nothing, you do realize that one can easily change the schematics of the system with the use of a keystroke converter utility.
        Like this:
        http://www.softplatz.com/Soft/Utilities/Other/Keys
        Think before you criticize.
        • pak314, on 05/02/2008, -0/+23Or Dell could just fix it since they are the one who screwed up.
          • countmischief, on 05/02/2008, -9/+1I agree, but its a relatively trivial problem that can be solved quickly and efficiently with a little ingenuity.
          • 11oops, on 05/02/2008, -0/+8Spending $$$ on a laptop should get you a functional computer. Not one that requires ingenuity to get to work properly.
        • morguth, on 05/02/2008, -0/+18Uh..why the hell should I have to run a software program to remap keys that have been in place for how many years? Screw that...
        • twertyto, on 05/02/2008, -0/+3Dude that was pathetic. You got told.
      • countmischief, on 05/02/2008, -13/+1Sorry bad URL:
        http://www.softplatz.com/Soft/Utilities/Other/Keys ...
        • AppleGeorge, on 05/02/2008, -3/+9I realize that, jackass. But not everyone is going to install a third-party app just to change their keys. You're a moron if you think everyone who bought this should just overlook the design flaw and just take each key and move it, then install an application, then configure all the keys they moved to be something else. Wow. Just thinking about how stupid you are makes me wish you were dead.
          • countmischief, on 05/02/2008, -12/+1First of all you imbecilic little dolt I was not inferring that this would be compulsory, it is merely a recommendation and a good one at that. I'm sure theres freeware avaliable on the internet that could solve this problem in 10 minutes. It seems a little stupid to issue a recall for an entire product when it can be solved in such a trivial manner. Before you criticize maybe you should get it through your extremely thick skull just how trivial the problem is and just how irrational you are to feel Dell should spend millions of dollars to fix a problem that could be solved in 10 minutes! Thinking of your utter idiocy to the first degree makes me the cynic I hold nothing but contempt and disdain for people like you who don't utilize their ***** heads.
          • AppleGeorge, on 05/02/2008, -2/+6It shouldn't be a problem to begin with! It's their fault for the design flaw. Millions of users are NOT going to install an app just to fix the problem that isn't even their fault to begin with. Wow. Seriously, you really need to go back to school until you become a little bit smarter.
          • countmischief, on 05/02/2008, -10/+1Your stupidity is overwhelming, its baffling, incomprehensible, ineffable even. I agree they should fix it if the person is too incompetent to do it themselves, but this problem is so trivial that its a waste for a capable person to have to pay postage, spend gas money and go through all the other bureaucratic procedures when the problem can ultimately be solved with about 10 minutes of effort. Might I recommend telling your parents to wait another year until kindergarten, I suspect it will be quite a while until your head can get around such trivialities.
          • theeldest, on 05/02/2008, -0/+7Hey Guys!

            I also know big words!

            Orange!
            Monumental!
            Cripple!
            Mozilla!
            Applications!
            Countmischief!
            System!
            Places!
          • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+5listen up applegeorge and especially countmischief, both of you are retarded, did you not read the explanations above? ***** retarded. the slash key is supposed to be there, it's a UK keyboard layout. the problem is that the shift key is TOO BIG, for some god damned reason the british like a tiny shift key. pushing those letters to the left will not fix anything, the slash key would have to go somewhere else where it doesn't belong. stop being idiots and read the posts above you before you comment.
    • funkymoose, on 05/02/2008, -18/+1actually yeah.. good point.
    • dafragsta, on 05/02/2008, -1/+7uuuh... is that going to actually CHANGE the key mappings too? That sounds weird unless it was put in place to satisfy the DVORAK people who swear they can type faster.
    • Gusbob, on 05/02/2008, -2/+10Except that the signal sent when you press down the key would still correspond to the previous key you took out.
      • countmischief, on 05/02/2008, -12/+1Not if you change the programming, case and point:
        http://www.softplatz.com/Soft/Utilities/Other/Keys ...
        • chabs39, on 05/02/2008, -0/+11The point is you shouldn't have to do that.
          • countmischief, on 05/02/2008, -11/+2I'm aware of that, but its such a trivial problem that can be solved so easily, its not like building a replica of the Sears Tower out of toothpicks and hamburger meat while upside down in the middle of a hurricane, on MARS!
          • dacheetah, on 05/02/2008, -0/+5That would be hard given that you can't have a hurricane on Mars. (You need a lot more water and atmosphere for that.)
          • qber, on 05/02/2008, -0/+6It's not about how trivial the problem is and how easy it is to fix. It's that this should not be a problem AT ALL.

            Computer manufacturers should just start making keyboards with keys arranged however the ***** they want, and people will still buy them, because it's such a trivial problem to fix, right?
    • calvmari, on 05/02/2008, -3/+12and the blonde of the year award goes to...
    • 35263526, on 05/02/2008, -1/+7Aside from having to remap the keys, the issue here is that the shift key is actually bigger than it should be, so shifting everything to the left wouldn't work.
      • bjs3171, on 05/02/2008, -5/+2uh...no it's not.
        • dacheetah, on 05/02/2008, -0/+3For the UK layout I think it is...
          Based on previous comments, the UK keyboard layout is basically what is in that image, but the left shift is one key smaller, so that everything else fits into the right place.
      • countmischief, on 05/02/2008, -10/+2Look at the shift key again it is NOT bigger, and yes this would work if you used a computer program to fix the problem like the one available here:
        http://www.softplatz.com/Soft/Utilities/Other/Keys ...
        • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+5listen ethnocentric idiot. it's bigger than it's supposed to be in the UK. they have different keyboards than you. the shift key in the picture IS bigger than its suppoed to be in the UK. not yours. all keyboards in the world don't look like yours. please.
      • over900000, on 05/02/2008, -4/+1the shift key on my toshiba is the same size. if you mean the right shift key, then you just leave it where it is.
    • bitcloud, on 05/02/2008, -5/+3the key remapping software is a good solution, and likely the one dell will offer (in secret) to customers who want a fix..

      you needed to specify the software remap in your original comment to avoid the "holier than thou" responses though...
      • countmischief, on 05/02/2008, -5/+1I know its unreal, Unfortunately once a comment is submitted you only have 120 seconds to edit it.
    • twertyto, on 05/02/2008, -0/+12Actually this works. I just replaced my left shift key with a picture of a taco. Now I can eat tacos anytime I want.
      • xz9925, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4tacos rule
        • theeldest, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4What the *****'s an aluminum falcon?
          • xz9925, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1Who dares question my....daring....of his....dare....JERK!. common lets fight!
    • AROZ, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2I have a Dell laptop, and I'll tell you in taking out a key you risk breaking the plastic 'platform' that the key rests on. It's three bits of plastic and a little foam. Break the thin plastic, and you'll have to buy a new keyboard. Fortunately new parts for Dell laptops in general are cheap and plentiful on Ebay.
      • logan074, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1I would be willing to bet that is a lot more effort than 75% of regular computer buyers would be willing to expend to fix Dells mistake.
  • mark076h, on 05/02/2008, -5/+177Somebody is getting fired
  • Mist0r_Wiggles, on 05/02/2008, -11/+3EPIC FAIL
  • mofw, on 05/02/2008, -7/+232Dude, you're getting a dell.
  • Munkym, on 05/02/2008, -1/+37oops. Wrong story

    • Intamin, on 05/02/2008, -0/+36I hope you find the right one, sir. Godspeed...
  • quantumslip, on 05/02/2008, -4/+118fyi, this is a UK keyboard layout:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#UK_an ...
    Notice the small SHIFT key.
    • twiztidsinz, on 05/02/2008, -20/+2But notice the story has a LARGE shift key?
      Notice that on the UK keyboard the Z is between the A and S like NORMAL, however in the story the Z is between S and D?
      • LoveAndSeagulls, on 05/02/2008, -1/+17no ***** sherlock that's what the whole ***** story's about
        • jakobmakob, on 05/02/2008, -2/+3Commented so I can come back and laugh at twiztidsinz later.
      • Jeeum, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Oops
    • Fmunkey, on 05/02/2008, -0/+15Thanks for that, i knew the enter key was different, but i didnt know about the smaller left shift key. Thats odd though, that they mixed US and UK shift keys.
      • marciot, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Could it be that the keyboard manufacturer was making US keyboards, so when they got an order for an UK layout, they simply shifted the bottom row over by one and moved the "|" key where the "Z" used to be? (and presumably changed some of the other key caps as well, to account for other differences). This would have been cheaper than designing an entirely new keyboard layout, and maybe they didn't realize their mistake.

        If this is the case, perhaps they will recall these keyboards and just make them back into the US keyboards they were meant to be?
        • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1think of how much all that shipping would cost. a lot.
    • over900000, on 05/02/2008, -7/+1Well my toshiba laptop has equal sized shift keys.
    • Sawta, on 05/02/2008, -1/+3That layout looks bizzar...and this is coming from someone who got used to the Dvorak layout.
    • warriorscot, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Actually the guy is talking about a UK keyboard, the shift key hasnt been made smaller thus making the Z key to far along even for a UK keyboard.

      Mind you I dont really think it matters to be honest.
    • shadowmoose, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1Why can't American keys have the letters with accents over them? Do companies assume we just never need them?
  • twiztidsinz, on 05/02/2008, -23/+16['Ottovelo' commented I should just buy a Mac. I have removed his stupid Apple fanboy remark. Seriously... why not say but an Acer, Asus, Lenovo,, Samsung... and whilst we're on that, where's the delete key on a Mac? And why are " and @ in the wrong places on UK mac keyboards? Not as bad a design flaw as this, but utterly frustrating none the less.]

    HAHAHAHAHA!!!
  • narcofiche, on 05/02/2008, -17/+5Couldn't the new owner just remove the keys, shift them down, and then Dell release some kind of update that automatically changes the computers that were already released? It's definitely a big screw up, but seems to me it's relatively easy to fix. But what do I know, I suck dick for coke.
    • kainan32, on 05/02/2008, -2/+3No...no he can't.
    • teh_techie, on 05/02/2008, -0/+3Right... what do you know?...
    • bitcloud, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1yeah they could easily do this... i would say this is exactly what dell is going to do...

      incidentally you should get a job and get off the coke. You're walking down the dangerous road of addiction my friend.
      • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1no they can't do that, please read the comments above before commenting.
  • AppleGeorge, on 05/02/2008, -7/+7It's not the Shift keys fault. The key could be placed anywhere else other than there. That's gotta be rough to type on.
    • bitcloud, on 05/02/2008, -1/+6it's just keyism... the shift key is used to the constant blame and humiliation...
  • uberAileen, on 05/02/2008, -14/+8i hear dell headquarters are obscured by a cloud of pot smoke. which would explain why all their products fail in less than a year
    • Burn, on 05/02/2008, -4/+7Huh? Have you ever actually used a Dell product? In my experience they are very reliable compared to other OEM laptops.
      • Amiga500, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2Yes, they suck ass. Michael Dell giving you hand jobs or something? Idiot.
    • ExRe, on 05/02/2008, -2/+6ORLY?

      I guess I've been using a non functioning desktop for the last 3 years, and a non-functioning laptop for 1/2 a year. I guess this comment will never show up on digg then.
  • captoftheworld, on 05/02/2008, -15/+1What do you expect from the makers of the exploding battery?
    http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6105486.html
    • DuxDucis, on 05/02/2008, -0/+11Dell did not make the batteries that were exploding, a common misconception. They were manufactured by Sony.
      Dell was the only company that had the balls to recall the Sony-made batteries, and they took the negative PR along with it.
    • noseeme, on 05/02/2008, -1/+3Hey, that was a FEATURE.
  • bassman12593, on 05/02/2008, -5/+159I can imagine the first email sent on this thing:

    Hey, I just got this bew laptop fron dell...wtf?
    • Steamster, on 05/02/2008, -3/+2lmao
    • RageRX, on 05/02/2008, -0/+0I rarely laugh out loud at the office, but that put me over the edge
  • RetroEvolute, on 05/02/2008, -7/+2That's a bummer. My Kensington keyboard is setup the same way except they cut the Shift key short so that z is still in its normal place.
    • AnonSpangly, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2That would be a "fairly normal UK keyboard" then - UK keyboards should all have that truncated left-shift to make room for the ""-and-"|" key.
  • doctechnical, on 05/02/2008, -4/+3Ergonomics sacrificed in the name of saving space?
  • NightOwl4, on 05/02/2008, -10/+3FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • porplem, on 05/02/2008, -7/+188Who really uses the last row ayway?
  • MagMan68Classic, on 05/02/2008, -18/+6Just another reason to hate Dell....what did you expect?
  • whiteboyrob, on 05/02/2008, -3/+3not the first epic keyboard fail by dell in my book...anyone with a 600m will tell you that there is a solid imprint of the keyboard on the LCD because somebody either forgot to recess the keyboard or the LCD. My roommate and I both have 600ms and you can see an outline of every key on the LCD.
    • bowe, on 05/02/2008, -0/+5a lot of older laptops will give you that.
    • gr3yn3t, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2macbooks have that problem.. =(
      • wet_napkin, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1They do? I haven't noticed it.
      • gr3yn3t, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Well, not every key, but there are specs and lines on my LCD every few days because of the keys.
        • wet_napkin, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2But is is caused because of the keys themselves pressing hard into the LCD, or is it just dirt from the keys?
      • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2shhhh , you're not supposed to do that.
      • matt.rubin, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1just but a mac.... wait damn it
    • twertyto, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1I have an Inspiron 8100 and I get a little of that
    • Brutusfly, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1I had that problem in my last PowerBook. Turns out it was finger oils that could be removed. Just have to be very gentle and careful when cleaning, and start using a thin pice of cloth or something over the keyboard when closing to avoid repeated screen cleanings.
  • sexysadie86, on 05/02/2008, -2/+4If you moved everything down one, the shift would still be too big. This is a huge ***** up and if I had bought one, I wouldn't settle for anything less than a brand new one with a functional keyboard.
    • teh_techie, on 05/02/2008, -0/+5I'd take the replacement keyboard. Pop up the plastic flap, undo like 2 screws and you're golden.
    • ExRe, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1Ok, I've just sent your replacement keyboard to you via UPS. Once you get it, just pop off that plastic shield, take out two screws, put the keyboard in, then put in the new keyboard repeating those steps in reverse.

      I WANNA NEW WAPTOP!!!! WAAAAAA
  • Mohdoo, on 05/02/2008, -6/+3Who the ***** was the idiot behind that idea? Wow, unbelievable.
  • Jforsyth89, on 05/02/2008, -5/+4Well, someone from QC just lost his job.
  • n0sferatu, on 05/02/2008, -7/+10You could just remap the keys as a quick temp fix.
    • MasterChief4134, on 05/02/2008, -2/+3are you ***** me?
    • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -3/+1NO, YOU ***** CAN'T , it's UK KEYBOARD FOR GOD SAKES, HOW MANY OF YOU IDIOTS ARE THERE ON HERE, THE DAMN SHIFT KEY IS TOO BIG. READ THE POSTS ABOVE YOU BEFORE OFFERING YOUR ***** ADVICE ASLKDHASIUDA*&DTASD&^RSD&$^^DS&UOYj
      • HoratioHellpop, on 05/02/2008, -0/+0Damn ....
        • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1i was a little pissed, not sleeping makes one cranky.
      • moush, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1I think UK should fix their ***** layout instead of the keyboard being fixed.
  • CodeCobalt, on 05/02/2008, -8/+1granted I've never seen a | key so small, but to me it looks like he just popped out the Z replaced it with the | , and then moved every key on the bottom row over one.
    • teh_techie, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1except, where did he get the | key from then?... magically out of nowhere? There are no other missing keys visible there...
    • iDiggIt42, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2That's how UK keyboards are. All of them.
  • FredDurst, on 05/02/2008, -6/+12perfect opportunity to learn dvorak?
    • Versh, on 05/02/2008, -3/+7Apparently all the studies for dvorak yield higher typing speeds than qwerty. It's a shame the mainstream gets attached to transitional systems-- maybe a day should be set aside, an International Conversion Day, where everyone switches to the more efficient hierarchies: Dvorak, Metric, 1080p broadcast, etc.
      • zbarnett, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2That's actually a very good idea.
      • area5x1, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1I type around 140wpm with a qwerty. Do I really need to go any higher?
        • maxbaumann, on 05/02/2008, -0/+3its not just about typing faster, with dvorak you could type at the same speed, but your fingers will have to do less traveling
      • Garofoli, on 05/02/2008, -0/+0That day was a couple of weeks ago. +1 for Dvorak!
      • moush, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Dvorak is just a special fanclub nerds want to belong to. It's kind of like a 12inch dick club for nerds.
    • yorkseo, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1apparently the only evidence for the Dvorak keyboard's superiority comes from unfair, unscientific tests conducted by members of the designer's family... there is no real increase in typing speed
    • rootneg2, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1@versh and @yorkseo
      The main advantage to dvorak is not speed, but reduced risk/prevalence of RSI. Generally people tend to top out at the same wpm regardless of keyboard; but a dvorak requires less finger travel, and concentrates typing on your "strong" fingers; hence less joint and tendon stress after hours of daily use.


      (and in b4 "use the reply button"; unless digg figures out how to arrange comments in an acyclic digraph (rather than just a tree) i'm not abusing things yet...)
  • Lubinski, on 05/02/2008, -10/+1I call BS till i see the rest of the photo. How do we know that he just didnt move the keys. Thats assuming that you dont believe the story of course. I want to see if the key is there or if he just moved it.
    • teh_techie, on 05/02/2008, -2/+2Ummm, how about the next photo in the flickr photostream?

      Oh... too much work for you...
      • Lubinski, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Didnt realize at the time there was another photo, my bad.
    • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1or how about the fact that dell has come out and said that they ***** up and did this to a lot of laptops. i call ***** on your parents' claim that you aren't a mistake.
      • Lubinski, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1Didnt read anythign else about this story, sorry that I dont read the same stuff you do.
        • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1i read through the threads before i chime in with my piece because all too often ridiculous claims like yours are made or people keep saying the same stuff. there's a link above to the full story.
  • lrony, on 05/02/2008, -7/+1This xonnet is typed sinulatibg that keyvoard.-This comment is typed simulating that keyboard

    Ya, I would seriously type like that.
  • basevillin, on 05/02/2008, -3/+83Dude you're getting a retarded keyboard.
    • noseeme, on 05/02/2008, -0/+27That's not very nice. It's a special keyboard.
    • SickofSects, on 05/02/2008, -0/+9It's a spatially challenged keyboard.
    • theendlessnow, on 05/02/2008, -1/+9Uh... that's "Dude you're getting a retarded keynoard/" Learm how to type/
    • scarysnow, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Yes, who are you to judge you "/ealot!"
  • bjs3171, on 05/02/2008, -14/+4it's not that the Shift key is too big, it's that the Back Slash key is where the Z should be, thus moving everything over. can't dell just move some keys around and remap it?
    • Sawta, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2There's a post with a link somewhere above you, to explain why you are being dugg down.
    • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1ultimate fail.
  • NLS87, on 05/02/2008, -11/+6Get Das Keyboard II


    It's awesome!
  • smcnic10, on 05/02/2008, -10/+2Am I a complete idiot or is the shift key not the problem? Looking at my keyboard, the shift key is similarly sized and spaced, but the key to the right of the shift is z, not backslash. The picture shows the backslash inserted between shift and z. A ***** up regardless, but still...
    • str1fe, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4The | key on UK keyboards is next to the left shift and the left shift is made smaller to compensate. This keyboard just didn't shrink the shift key.
    • AussieFox, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2Dunno why your getting dugg down. Its a valid question

      I'm in Australia, and for us the shift key is the same size, and the backslash button under the backspace
  • Shenzhov, on 05/02/2008, -12/+3He removed the "stupid apple fan boy remark."
    OK...always so much bitterness from windows users when one of their fine pieces of machinery goes bad. But hey, you buy cheap you get cheap so what's he complaining about?
    • bowe, on 05/02/2008, -2/+3you mean like all the macbooks which warp out of shape with janky cases?
      • Shenzhov, on 05/02/2008, -2/+2No. I've owned 2 Macbooks and 3 Macbook Pros and I've never had a problem with the cases. Maybe you have. Or better yet, maybe you've never owned a Mac and just listen to other people's fud and let them make your opinions for you. Yea, that's it I'm sure.
        • EtherGnat, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1I've purchased at least 100 computers from Dell (for work and personal use) and I've never had a problem with an incorrect keyboard. Maybe you have. Or better yet, maybe you've never owned a Dell and just listen to other people's fud and let them make your opinions for you. Yea, that's it I'm sure.
    • RedHerringHack, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Yeah, dell haters are idiots. I have had 4, and they have all rocked and even the oldest ( at 5 years ) still work and are still relevant.
      • Shenzhov, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1I never said I was a Dell hater. I said you buy cheap you get cheap. I'm looking at a dell monitor as I type this.
  • jaalin, on 05/02/2008, -5/+5this is why we should spend 2 grand and get the optimus maximus keyboard!
  • TomTruelle, on 05/02/2008, -3/+3Im currently using a Vostro 1000 and had to check my keyboard
    • BoonTobias, on 05/02/2008, -0/+0i bought one of these for someone a few months ago, hope i don't get blamed
    • ExRe, on 05/02/2008, -0/+9Nee toom vut I thibk ny keyvoard is just fibe, :)
      • TomTruelle, on 05/02/2008, -2/+1yeah, i dont see wut you did thar...
  • kmb1794, on 05/02/2008, -9/+2you get what you pay for. Plus, didn't you look at it before buying it?
    • Jibberwalk, on 05/02/2008, -0/+4The the Dell Store UK portal used images from the US site.
    • RedHerringHack, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1With my dell XPS 630, I got more than you.
    • Soave, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1Except when you buy a Mac. Then, you get what you paid twice for.
  • christopherRB, on 05/02/2008, -19/+1GET THE ***** OVER IT! Your the one who bought it dumbass!
  • OUChevelleSS, on 05/02/2008, -2/+3I usually don't care about stuff like this, but...rofl. Way to go, Dell.
  • coltraning, on 05/02/2008, -7/+2Don't these people try out their own products first? Did they even bother to take the laptop home for a night to try it out? Maybe even check Digg, post a few comments and go "Holy *****! We can't sell this *****...it's totally busted!" Can you imagine Jonathan Ive and the iPod design team just forgetting to put a scroll wheel on the iPod? Where in the hell is the pride in these people's work? What if this computer ended up being the system that was attached to the goddamn Football? (and I'm not talking about sports) Let's even assume that the operating system was installed via Ghost or a disk image, something which wouldn't require a person to get acquainted with the individual machine in order to set it up. Would whoops cut it when the guy hits the wrong button? I honestly think that humanity will be destroyed by its own lack of attention to detail coupled with our arrogance that we think we know it all.
    • Wolf04, on 05/02/2008, -2/+2Most of the Dell laptops are sold online. And even if he ordered it from a kiosk, it would still come at his address, so unless he wasn't careful when checking the laptop sample at kiosk (if he bought it from a kiosk), he had no way of knowing what he was getting. Either way, I agree that while it is a huge design flaw, the problem is not as huge as this guy is making it out to be.
      • coltraning, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2Folks, we're misinterpreting what I said.

        "Don't these people try out their own products first?" was meant towards the designers, not the guy who thought he was getting a decent laptop? I think that is clarified by my fourth sentence.
    • amirman, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1welcome to inarnets!
  • HolyJuan, on 05/02/2008, -7/+153Epix fail,
  • dinkydoink, on 05/02/2008, -28/+5Buy a Mac.
    • paulajohnw, on 05/02/2008, -1/+3I delete this comment
    • RedHerringHack, on 05/02/2008, -1/+8How about ***** yourself?
      • Terasiel, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1You win the internet, today...but for how long?
    • Shenzhov, on 05/02/2008, -1/+3Careful. Mac's worldwide market share is up and going up every month now and the windows IT zealots are about to move into panic mode.
  • SealandRes1, on 05/02/2008, -2/+8So much for Dell supposedly spending millions on R&D.
    • noseeme, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1I think you misread the press release. Dell said they were spending millions of 1/100 pennies.
    • freshgrease, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1They wanted to compete with Apple and "Think Different". Good job, douchebags.
  • gpcprog, on 05/02/2008, -15/+9Dells are garbage anyway
    • RedHerringHack, on 05/02/2008, -5/+4Idiot. Eliteist. If you are american, I bet you are voting for obama.
    • darkism, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2True.
      For laptops...get a Mac.
      For desktops...build your own or, better yet, get another Mac.
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