Please offer US keyboard layouts outside the US

Hi Adrian,

I will pass this feedback along.  Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

+1 for this!

Some EU layouts are very inconvenient when it comes to coding: for example, on an Italian keyboard you have to press a combination of 3 keys to get curly brackets.

I've switched to US keyboards on my desktop PC and it would be nice to have this option on the XPS13 as well.

Thanks for hearing our feedback!

Hi Dejot!

I actually talked to a German Dell representative using the chat window and they told me that choosing a different keyboard layout is limited to the Precision and Latitude models only, thus I would be forced to buy a German layout in Germany if I wanted to buy the XPS 13 Developer Edition.

It actually bothers me that I cannot buy the XPS 13 Developer Edition right now because it's available with a German keyboard layout only here in Germany. Apple, on the other hand, despite not targeting business users has even made additional keyboard layouts available (previously they offered US and English International layouts additionally to the respective domestic layout) which can be directly ordered from Germany, ranging from the standard German layout through French, Italian, International English, UK and most developer's beloved US keyboard layout.

But I really don't want to buy a Macbook and ThinkPads aren't holding up to their name anymore with their cheap plastic and lousy manufacturing quality, so there isn't really any laptop on the market for me right now which means I have to continue using my venerable IBM ThinkPad T60 :(.

Adrian

+1

I work in Germany, but don't speak german. And I can't order on dell.de xps 13 with US keyboard.

I also struggled to find a way to ask support about this.

Tried to use dell.nl but I'm not sure if they deliver from Nederlands to Germany.

Please let me know if there is a way to buy xps 13 in Germany with US keyboard.

Kind regards,

Maksim.

Hi Adrian,

You could try to change the first letter in the model name in the url. For example from cnx4313 to bnx4313.
It then goes to the business version of the model, there you usually can choose the US International keyboard version.

www.dell.com/.../pd;model_id=xps-13-9343-laptop

Kind regards,
Nathan

Hi Nathan!

Interesting, this does actually work. Changing the model number to bnx4313 allows me to change the keyboard layout to "English US". However, I get a strange error message that the chosen configuration is not compatible. The exact error message is half German and half English and doesn't really make sense:

"The selection - MUI Etikett für Handauflage is incompatible with Tastatur"

In the end, I cannot click "Buy system". Also, the price for the business model is almost 300 Euros more for the same configuration, so I'd pay 300 Euros just for getting a US keyboard. Hmm.

But, in any case, it seems it is actually possible to order the laptop with a US keyboard in Germany. I am honestly a bit surprised that Dell, unlike Apple, won't let you choose from different keyboard layouts by default. I mean, this is a laptop that is supposed to appeal developers, after all.

If someone from Dell is reading this, please just give us the option to buy the XPS 13 Developer Edition with a US keyboard without having to travel to the US!

Cheers,

Adrian

Hi all,

You can try to reach out sales department by chat.

dell.de -> Privatkunden -> Notebooks & Ultrabooks -> Shop -> Kontakt -> Jetzt chatten -> Verkaufsberater

At least I tried and after a short discussion they suggested to make an order manually. My request was like "I want a basic xps 13 configuration for 1199EUR (i5-5200 CPU, FHD 1920x1080, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD)" but with "International US backlit keyboard" and Windows (English version). In 5 minutes they registered me as a customer and sent me an order by email with purchase descripions.

But in my case there was a mistake, I've got an order for Ubuntu version, so I'll try to change this. For those of you who wants Linux version this might be a workaround.
Please let me know if that helps.

Good luck!

Hi, cbmuser

As I already said I was given an order for Ubuntu version with international US keyboard (CNX4313 model) without any additional fee. On the contrary, the total cost in the order was a bit less - 1129 EUR.

Try contact sales department by chat as I described and make sure you speak to Jan_Jancso.

Good luck!

Ah, sorry, I guess I missed that. That's amazing. Thanks a lot for the heads up!

Adrian

Hello mrt!

Thanks for your suggestions!

I actually tried contacting sales department before by chat and the representative apparently didn't know about the possibilities to buy the laptop as a business edition. This actually sounds like a reasonable compromise even though it's a bit sad that the US keyboard effectively costs an additional 200 Euros.

Anyways, what would still interest me: Do you know what the differences between the Developer Edition and the regular XPS-13 are? I like the idea of having a Linux-branded laptop so I'd prefer getting the Developer Edition if possible but if the business model is basically the same with Ubuntu pre-installed and a nice Ubuntu logo at the bottom, I'd buy it as well.

Adrian

I also wish I could buy an XPS 13 with US keyboard... trying to place an order from Switzerland without success:

* non-dev edition: I can select US keyboard but get a funny error message “The selection – MUI Etikett für Handauflage is incompatible with Tastatur”. Whatever that means...

* dev edition: I cannot even select a keyboard - who knows what keyboard layout you get then (there's 3 languages in Switzerland)

Unfortunately there's no online chat option available in Switzerland. I've sent them feedback by using the feedback link, but since you can't really specify how they can contact you, I'm not surprised they didn't contact me yet. :)

Sending email to them is useless in my experience, since they only help if you already placed an order.

So sad I can't order a seemingly great piece of hardware because of the stupid online store... :(

Daniel

Hi SargonX,

Open dell.de, change country to Schweiz -> Privatkunden -> Notebooks & Ultrabooks. Now you are on the shop page, on the top there is a link 'Kontaktieren Sie uns hier' that leads you to the 'Kontakt' page:

www.dell.com/learn/de/de/dedhs1/campaigns/contact-us-switzerland

Then chose Kontakt -> Jetzt chatten -> From this point it should be not that difficult to start chatting. And today they are available from 11:00 to 19:00, so you can start without waiting for the next Monday.

Good luck.

Hi everyone!

Just a short follow up with some interesting tidbits on the topic.

I happen to talk to a guy on IRC who is actually part of the project at Dell responsible for the "Developer Edition" laptops. I told him about the issues I had not being able to get a US keyboard and I also told him that I was able to order the XPS-13 with a US/International keyboard with the help of chat support where interestingly the chat representative was still insisting on that the XPS-13 is not available with a US keyboard. After I showed him mkrt's screenshot, he realized he was wrong and was able to send me the offer.

Anyway, the guy I talked to from the program told me that he actually didn't know that it would be possible to order the XPS-13 with Ubuntu outside the program, e.g. without the "Developer Edition" branding. He said, that was not supposed to be possible as these "Developer Edition" laptops are particularly counted and Dell is measuring the success of the program. If a customer wants to buy a "Developer Edition" laptop but has to resort to the more expensive XPS-13 with Ubuntu and US keyboard instead, then the sale will not counted towards the "Developer Edition" branding and their measurement gets distorted.

However, he has understood that there is a need from international developers to get the "Developer Edition" XPS-13 with a US keyboard and he is therefore now communicating the issue internally, trying to resolve it, i.e. adding a US keyboard option to the "Developer Edition" laptop at possibly no additional cost.

I will also send him a link to this thread now in the hope that he will come back to us and possibly announce that we can get the US keyboard at no additional cost. This might be good to know for anyone pondering to buy this laptop and now just considering ordering it through phone or chat sales support which will make the laptop more expensive. In my case, I will contact my sales representative on Monday and tell him that I am holding back a few more days until we got any news.

Cheers,

Adrian

Hi Adrian et al,

Although online no configs changes can be made, an English keyboard should be possible to order offline (via chat or on the phone).

Please let me know if this doesnt work (it sounds like not all the sales folks know about this :(.

Let me fwd this to the European team (I can also talk with Jared, who you chatted with on IRC)

thanks