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XPS 13 9315, poor keyboard design choice?
XPS 13 9315
More of a rant than anything as there's literally nothing that can be done about this.
Clearly not someone who's ever used a keyboard properly before designed this. They really messed the people who use a keyboard to navigate quicker than mouse/touch pad with this version.
Combining the Page Up and Down keys with the Up & Down arrows? Useless. Working in Excel and Google Sheets you used to be able to click ctrl + pg up/down to navigate quickly between tabs.
Now you have to click ctrl + fn + pg up/down for Excel. Why use 2 keys when 3 will do eh? SO efficient.
And Google Sheets? So far I've googled and no luck how to move between tabs, have to use the mouse to change tabs, massively decrease in efficiency.
Then the actual function buttons. Home & End used to be standalone buttons (awesome for navigating quickly to the start or end of a sentence, or ctrl + home/end to move around a workbook quickly), but now they're combined with F11 and F12.
So again we have to use ctrl + fn + home (3 keys) instead of a quick and simple universal 2 key move.
But wait, you can switch the Fn keys off so that you can use them as they used to be. Great! Until you realize that means F2 and F9 need an additional fn push instead of the old and simpler 1 click.
And why switch Insert and put it next to Delete? That adds no value, it was fine where it was. And of all the keys this one is used the least, but no no let's not combine this one with a Fn, that would be too thoughtful...
Someone clearly thought they'd done something useful here but really didn't think about the end user and it shows.
I realize this is opening the window and screaming into the night, nothing will come of it, but just had to get it off my chest.
I miss my old XPS keyboard setup and absolutely loathe this new keyboard setup. It's made me noticeably less efficient, well done Dell.
filbert
4 Operator
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July 13th, 2023 08:00
I agree with you. I dislike the current keyboard layouts.
I created a post about how XPS laptop keyboards used to have an excellent layout.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
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July 14th, 2023 11:00
I am confused. Prior to purchase, how could you not see on the Dell sales page that XPS 13 9315 keyboard layout had changed?
SkinnyMike
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July 17th, 2023 00:00
It's not confusing really; when someone upgrades their laptop they usually look at the performance specs and make a choice based on improvements to hardware/software.
You don't think you'd need to do a microscopic audit of the keyboard to ensure that someone from the design team didn't make a terrible decision based on their own preferences rather than actual usability.
ejn63
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July 17th, 2023 04:00
If you're not happy with the system, and would rather solve the problem than complain, you do have 30 days to return a system that's unsatisfactory for a refund.
SkinnyMike
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July 19th, 2023 02:00
Sadly the 30 day return ship sailed a while ago, so unfortunately I am left with no other option but to plod on with this steaming pile of useless design until my next laptop upgrade.
Lessons have been learnt though and I will inspect the keyboard before making my next purchase (again, who'd a thought that would be something to worry about eh?!), but sadly I doubt Dell will change it back, so any suggestions on alternate brands that meet the same performance but have actual useful functioning keyboards?